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11/29/2009 09:33:08 AM · #1 |
I'm sort of lost on how to put together a proposal for a marketing firm. I've been asked by a friend of mine to put together a proposal that shows I know what I'm doing with my photography, but he never gave me any specificc products to put a proposal together for! I know that the firm does a beer company and I've gathered some ideas of how I would shoot the beer, but they work with so many different products. I'm curious as to how to even start the proposal. So anyone willing to 1) Share a proposal they put together so I can get an idea of format or 2) give advice on how to format and start it?
Thank you. |
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11/30/2009 07:10:41 AM · #2 |
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11/30/2009 10:22:13 AM · #3 |
typically, a proposal is an offer to do a specified work. when a prospective client requests a proposal, they should be detailing for you the parameters of the work; your proposal would detail how you intend to meet their request and what you would charge to do it.
if you see a particular problem that is not being addressed and you think you have a unique solution, you might prepare a speculative proposal that details the problem you see and how you would solve it.
you might simply google for proposal templates and see what turns up. you might need to get more details from your friend.
just as a frame of reference, proposals basically outline "this is where you are, this is where you want to go, this is how i can help you get there, and this is what it will costs."
good luck! |
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12/01/2009 05:21:10 PM · #4 |
ask for a creative brief from the art director. Secondly, ask if they have a budget in mind for this project.
I think submitting a proposal when you don't know all the details will be short sighted and speculative and will say to the client that this guy doesn't know what the jobs is or what it entails but it will cost $xxxx. That seems a bit weird to me. I think it would look better if you actively seek out as much information as you can to obtain a clearer picture of the costs involved- will you need assistants, need to rent lighting, is it in a studio, on location, how many people, what time of day.
I would be more inclined to hire the guy who has an interest in the project by asking for details rather than someone who just faxed me some numbers without even knowing the look I was going for.
I have to write 3 proposals this coming week so I'm sort of in the same boat, except I drilled them for information, and if they didn't have it to hand I asked them to please forward it to me as soon as they could as I don't want anything to be missed or left to chance and wanted everything nailed down before we went anywhere. So we both know what we're shooting, how we're shooting, why we're shooting it, how long it will take, what the rights are and everything else.
Call the company yourself. Take the initiative to make your name be the name they remember. I understand your friend is the middle-man? Can you cut him out and go to the source yourself.
The format you need should be clear and concise. Itemize the expenditure.
Firstly, you'll need your details at the top and also the details of the shoot (date, time and location).
Then a creative brief (try to keep it less than 4 sentences- chances are the person your sending this to already knows about it)
Itemize your stuff, into boxes or sections. 1- your rate. 2- extras (travel, assistants, equipment rental, processing, food, overnight stays, etc) 3- taxes.
At the bottom, I would include something that mentions copyright. Say the copyright of them images is sole property of the photographer and you retain rights to use images created for your portfolio. They will not be printed but can be displayed on your web site unless negotiated, because if you dont have the work to show future clients, then they should pay more.
This gives a starting point for a negotiation. If they say 'well give you a photo credit' tell them to go to hell, or try that with their doctor when their kid breaks a leg- 'hey, for the medical bills, i'll give you a photo credit!'. Sorry. You cant eat a photo credit. Photo credits dont pay the bills. They might try this if you're just starting out but please please refuse unless its such a job you cannot turn down and it will be step 1 in the route you want to go on. Because everything is itemised, you can negotiate further and see where amounts can be changed instead of them just saying 'well, thats too much' you can figure out if you really need an assistant or to rent this or that.
I say that because if you work with the company in the future you're setting yourself a precedent. They'll expect this rate the second time and the third time and so on, so stick to your guns. I once did a free shoot because of the dangling carrot that it would help my portfolio. It was a pain in the ass, the woman was a bitch and nothing was organized (their bag, not mine), and they said they couldn't pay me because it was for a charity promotion. I sure fell for that one... I said the pics would be 2 weeks, they called me the next day to ask where they were. I said if you wanted them early, i'll have to take time off work, so you pay double my day rate at work and I'll take time off. They said no, so I said fine, then its 2 weeks. Eventually they caved in and I took 2 days off work, did the pics. I told them the pics are good to go, but where is the check? They said it would be released once the pics have arrived and that this was 'corporate policy'. I told them that it was my corporate policy to not send anything out of my office (really my house) without payment because otherwise, why should I? They said 'don't you trust us?' I said trust has nothing to do with this, this is business. We're clients, not friends, please do not blur the lines.
So, they paid. Then they called me unprofessional. ha.
If you asked a budget from the start, you can find if you're totally lowballing them (not good) or highballing them (not good). Likewise, this will give you a feel for the size of the shoot and project. If they say $500, then it will be pretty small. If they say $45,000 it's gonna be a bigass campaign. This will also help you determine if its for you.
I hope this helps! But feel free to PM me if need be. |
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12/02/2009 07:05:45 AM · #5 |
Thanks...actually my friend is the GO TO guy. He owns the marketing firm. When he first mentioned it, it was casually at a bar while the two of us were out having a drink. He said that there is a photographer that he and his company use on a regular basis and that they are trying to get away from using him because he screwed them over on one project. He knows I do alot of photography work and said that he has many clients. He mentioned he had an upcoming Real Estate project and just said that i should put together a proposal for his company...which sounded like he was looking for more than just one project.
I've been thinking about it for a while and I think what I have to do is put together a portfolio of advertising examples to show what I can do and pitch myself as a photographer who can do the type of photos he wants...and then once he figures that I can do the work, i can start bidding on certain projects. I'll actually do an example shoot that could be used for one of his projects to show what I can do for him. |
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