How to Write a PR Proposal That Wins (Examples & Templates)

This should apply video or animation to grab attention and stand out from your competitors’ proposals.

If you’ve met the client for a discovery call should know the prospect’s name, concerns, and needs. Compile a personal note that addresses your prospect by name and touches on what they care about in a nutshell.

Briefly cover the main points of the proposal. Specifically focus on your analysis of the prospect's PR need, an overview of your proposed solution, the expected outcomes, and timeline.

Quickly cover your company and team in the context of what the prospect cares about. Try to answer why you’re the best for the job, why you can be counted on, and why similar clients to your prospect love you.

Show your prospect that you did your research and that you understand their situation and PR needs (at least as well as they do if not better).

Back up your claims with solid numbers about the market, audience, and company. Use original research if possible, but 3rd party information will work too.

Outline your PR strategy for the prospect while keeping it as simple as possible. We recommend that you use this format: If we do X, this will result in Y because Z.

E.g. If we run a [TikTok campaign with 15-16-year-old female influencers about writing a diary and introduce your notebooks as a favorite diary option] we could [increase your notebook brand recognition among teenage girls] because [this is a trending and important topic for this target audience].

Your plan is the core of the PR proposal. It’s the details that the prospect will have to assess and agree to for the deal to go through.

Your plan has to be meticulous yet simple. It needs to show that you know what you’re doing and why and communicate it in a way that a non-professional would understand with ease.

• Target audience - These are the people you want to reach and influence with your PR. A deep understanding of the target audience will help you connect with them and improve your chances of successful campaigns.

• Campaigns - Specify the media channels in which you plan to execute your plan. The right channels make it easy for you to reach your target market. The channels could be online news stories, the client’s website, or social channels.

• Game plan - These are the precise tactical actions you will take to execute your PR strategy. Provide enough details to disclose what measures you intend to take and why, but don’t give away your exact plan of action and creative ideas for free.

• Key messages - Highlight the key message you want to communicate to the target audience. What do you want them to think of the potential client once they see your campaign?

• Key performance indicators (KPIs) - These are metrics that help you measure performance. Your KPIs should align with the campaign objectives and provide clear performance insights. E.g. media impressions, engagement rates, and return on investment.

• Expected outcome - Outline some realistic outcomes your clients can expect. The outcomes show them how their investments will pay off. For instance, provide an estimate of the leads and sales your PR campaign will generate.

• Timeline - Provide a rough timeline for the project to roll out with notable milestones. Break it down into a number of weeks (milestone 1 within 2-3 weeks from start, etc,). Try to avoid precise dates because those can change unexpectedly.

• Budget - Provide prospects with a specific breakdown of the budget into the various expenses involved in your PR plan. This will make sure the prospect agrees to every cost (or otherwise asks to remove low-priority parts of the plan).

Adding a case study to your PR proposal near the end of the document will help ease lingering doubts regarding your ability to deliver. Showing that you’ve delivered before with flying colors will help defuse these doubts.

This part should quickly introduce the PR team that would take care of all the prospect’s needs and report to the prospect throughout the PR project.

This section should humanize the team while showcasing their expertise, professionalism, and know-how. Linking to their LinkedIn profiles would be a good idea in case the prospect wants to take a closer look.

This is literally the money-time within your PR proposal. This section should clearly break down the pricing for the various components of your plan.

Make the costs for all the moving pieces clear so that the client can review each expense and agree to it (you don’t want them to say later on that they didn’t know).

This is standard procedure. Any legal document has to have these to be legally binding. Don’t forget this. Cover your bases.

This is where the client can accept your offer and e-sign the proposal to finalize the deal. This can be an initial agreement that leads to a final more detailed contract. In any case, if you get the prospect past this last obstacle, they are now a client.