Digital Marketing Agency Sales Pitch: Example and Template
Estimated reading time: 10 minutes.
Is a client asking how your agency can help their business? Open their website, show them a specific issue, and explain the work you propose. Then discuss the cost and agree on the next step.
That conversation is a sales pitch—a short introduction to your offer. You can prepare a pitch deck, or a set of slides, to support it. You’ll need a detailed document with the scope of work and terms when you move on to discussing the engagement.
Below is a complete fictional example for a local air conditioning repair business, a scope of work table, and a template you can adapt for your own client.
What to learn before the conversation
Start with which service the client wants to sell and to whom. “We need marketing” doesn’t tell you much yet. Repairing air conditioners in nearby neighborhoods, servicing offices, and installing new systems are different goals. Clarify the priority before suggesting marketing channels.
Ask how inquiries currently come in, who responds to them, and how much new work the company can take on. Are there areas their technicians don’t cover? Which services aren’t profitable to promote right now? Who approves the materials? The answers will help you put together a proposal the company can use.
Follow a potential customer’s path: open the website on your phone, find the service you need, and try to contact the company. Write down your observations in plain language. For example: “The phone number only appears at the bottom of the repair page” or “The contact form has no field for the customer’s area.”
Separate what you’ve seen from what still needs checking. You can see where the phone number is on the page. Without data, you can’t tell how many visitors left without calling. Instead of “You’re losing half your customers,” say, “I suggest checking how visitors go from viewing the page to contacting you.”
Already have access to analytics? Clarify the reporting period, traffic sources, and what counts as an inquiry. Tapping a phone button and having an actual conversation are different events. If you don’t have access yet, include a tracking review in the first phase and wait for the data before drawing conclusions about results.
How to structure your pitch
Build your pitch around the client’s question: “What exactly will you do for my business?” Introduce yourself briefly, then move on to their situation. Explain how your agency’s work relates to their goal, prepare relevant examples, and leave time for questions.
Try this order:
- Goal. Restate the client’s priority and check that you’ve understood it correctly.
- Observation. Show the specific page or data your proposal is based on.
- Work. Explain what you’ll change and how it relates to the goal.
- Evidence. Show a relevant case study or work sample.
- Terms. State the scope, timeline, price, and what you’ll need from the client.
- Next step. Suggest a clear action with someone responsible and a deadline.
Example: pitching a local business
Imagine a company called ClearAir Repair. It repairs residential air conditioners in three neighboring areas. The owner wants repair inquiries and isn’t currently promoting installation services. According to the owner, an office administrator handles incoming inquiries.
On this fictional website, repairs are described on the general services page, the phone number is at the bottom, and the form doesn’t ask for the customer’s area. The agency doesn’t have analytics access yet. All names, observations, prices, and dialogue below are fictional. This is an example conversation, not a real case study.
The full pitch
You mentioned that you want more air conditioning repair inquiries from the three areas where your technicians already work. Let me show you where I suggest starting.
Here’s your services page on a phone. Repairs are described alongside installation and maintenance. The phone number is at the bottom, and there’s no way to select an area in the form. Visitors have to work out for themselves whether your service is right for them.
I suggest creating a dedicated repair page showing which problems you fix, where you work, and how to reach your office administrator. We’ll place a call button and a short form with a service area field next to the description.
Before launch, we’ll check how inquiries are tracked. We’ll track phone button clicks separately from confirmed inquiries. Your administrator will help flag which inquiries are for repairs and within your service area. That way, we can discuss inquiry quality as well as volume.
To start, I’ll show you a sample page mockup and report. They explain the approach; we don’t have results for your specific business yet. We’ll draw our first conclusions from your data after launch.
The one-time setup costs $900, and campaign management is $450 a month. Separately, we suggest agreeing on a $600 advertising limit for the first month. That’s paid to the advertising platform. Setup will take two weeks after we receive access and materials, provided the copy is approved within the agreed timeline.
If this scope works for you, the next step is to review your analytics and confirm the list of services and areas. I’ll send you a proposal with the scope of work so you can discuss it with your administrator. Would Thursday work to go over it again?
What to open during the conversation
| What to say | What to show | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
| “You want to promote repairs in these areas” | A short description of the goal and service area | “Which services and areas should we exclude?” |
| “Here’s the visitor’s path through your website” | The services page at a mobile screen size | “Where do inquiries from this form currently go?” |
| “Here’s what a dedicated page could look like” | A sample mockup with the repair description and contact details | “What information do customers need before contacting you?” |
| “Here’s how we’ll review inquiries” | A sample report without invented results | “Who can flag relevant inquiries?” |
| “Here are the price and terms” | The scope of work with a separate advertising budget line | “What do you need to clarify before deciding?” |
How to explain the work, timeline, and price
Open the proposal and go through it line by line. The client should understand what they’ll receive, when it will be ready, and what you need from them. Include the services, process, timeline, relevant work samples, pricing, and next steps in one document.
Here’s what the proposal could look like for ClearAir Repair. All amounts are illustrative, in U.S. dollars; they don’t represent average market prices.
| Payment | What’s included | Timeline and client involvement | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-time | Inquiry tracking review, one repair page on the existing website, copy, a short form, and setup of one paid search campaign | Two weeks after receiving access and materials; the client confirms services, areas, and copy; one round of revisions included | $900 |
| Monthly | Management of that campaign, review of search terms and spending, one report, and one call | After launch; the administrator flags inquiry quality weekly | $450 per month |
| Separate advertising budget | Ads in the agreed campaign | First-month limit; changes require approval | Up to $600 per month, paid to the platform |
If the full advertising limit is used, the first month will cost $1,950: setup, management, and ads. The next month will cost up to $1,050 with the same scope and budget. In this example, these are the full amounts, with no additional taxes or fees. In a real proposal, state the applicable taxes and total amount due clearly.
Define the boundaries: building a new website, promoting air conditioning installation, and creating additional pages aren’t included in this scope. If they’re needed, the agency will first estimate the work and agree on the price. For this example, you could use monthly renewal with notice to stop before the next billing period; set out the exact rule in the proposal.
What to show instead of broad promises
Have a similar completed project? Explain the original goal, your work, the reporting period, and how results were measured. The client should understand why the example is relevant to their situation. Point out the differences too: another area, budget, or set of services.
Don’t have a verified case study? Show a sample page, an analytics review plan, or a blank report with explanations. Label sample materials clearly. They can help the client assess your approach, but they don’t replace evidence of actual results.
How to answer client questions
“We already have a marketing provider.”
“What do they currently handle, and what additional goal do you want to address?” If that provider already manages advertising, discuss whether a separate page project is needed and how responsibilities would be divided. If there’s no new need, acknowledge that. The proposal should explain the work that’s needed.
“It’s expensive.”
“Which part is over budget: setup, monthly work, or advertising?” Open the table. You can revise the scope or phases, but show what will change. For example, if the client declines ad management, agree in advance on who will manage the campaign after setup. Don’t leave the original expectations in place with a reduced scope.
“How will we know the work is helping?”
“First, we’ll check tracking, then review spending, inquiries, and their quality. We’ll agree on which inquiries count as relevant.” For ClearAir Repair, that means a repair inquiry from an agreed service area. You can discuss the cost of acquiring a job when you can connect inquiries to booked jobs; clicks alone aren’t enough.
Schedule the first results review and list the data you’ll need for it. Don’t promise a specific number of sales or search rankings without a basis for that promise.
How to show the proposal on a call
If you’re already on the phone, you can keep the call going and show the materials through Screen Share. Choose a tab or window, send the client a link, and open the relevant part of the proposal. The viewer joins in their browser without installation or registration; you stay in control of the presentation. The step-by-step guide explains how to choose a source and invite a viewer.
Zoom in on the table if the client is watching on a phone. Name the row and check that they can see it. Keep working notes and other clients’ materials outside the selected window.
A template for your proposal
Fill in the fields before the call. Remove anything that doesn’t apply and check that your spoken explanation matches the document.
You want [goal] for [service / audience / area].
Have we identified the right priority?
We currently see [specific observation and its source].
We still need to check [missing data].
We propose [work and deliverables].
Here’s how this relates to your goal: [short explanation].
Here’s [a relevant case study with a reporting period and measurement method /
a clearly labeled work sample].
One-time work: [scope, price, taxes, payment terms].
Ongoing work: [scope, period, price, renewal terms].
Advertising budget: [separate limit and payment recipient].
Not included: [boundaries]. We’ll agree on additions [how].
Timeline: [duration and conditions for starting].
We’ll need [materials, access, approval] from you.
We’ll review results [when], using [data and who provides it].
Next step: [action], owner [name], deadline [date].
What do you need to clarify before this step?After the conversation, send a short recap: the agreed goal, what’s included in the proposal, the cost, and who does what next. If the client needs to discuss the decision with a partner, ask which materials would help them do that.
Prepare your proposal for the next call. And if it’s easier to show it, install Screen Share for Chrome and walk through it with your client.
Install Screen Share for Chrome