If you’ve ever sent out an RFP and thought, “Why do all these proposals feel wildly different… and none quite right?” — you’re not alone.
Over the years, organizations like Harvard Business Review have pointed out that when stakeholders aren’t aligned and expectations aren’t clearly defined, projects can quickly become confused and conflict-prone. Clear inputs and aligned expectations are critical to better decision-making — especially in complex, strategic initiatives.
For instance, HBR emphasizes that when project stakeholders have competing visions, clarifying success criteria and establishing a common goal early can reduce confusion and improve outcomes.
Writing a strong request for proposal (RFP) is harder than most people expect. It’s not because you’re doing anything wrong. It’s because most RFPs are written under pressure, with incomplete information, and without much guidance on what agencies actually need to respond well.
At media junction, we’ve responded to (and helped shape) hundreds of RFPs across website design and development, branding, marketing strategy, sales enablement, HubSpot onboarding, integrations, and everything in between. We’ve seen the good, the bad, and the why did you make us guess this?
This guide is here to change that.
It’s built on real-world experience responding to RFPs for website redesigns, branding initiatives, HubSpot onboarding, and long-term marketing partnerships — not theory.
Whether you’re issuing an RFP for a full website redesign, a HubSpot onboarding, or something more specialized, this article will walk you through:
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What a great RFP actually includes
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Why budget transparency matters more than you think
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How a short intro call can dramatically improve proposal quality
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A practical, agency-friendly RFP checklist you can reuse
Let’s dig in.
what is an RFP (and what it should do)
If you want a deeper, framework-style reference on building results-driven RFPs, Harvard Kennedy School’s Government Performance Lab has a solid guidebook you can borrow ideas from.
At its core, an RFP is not a pricing document.
It’s not a formality.
And it’s definitely not a way to “see who comes back cheapest.”
A good RFP is a decision-making tool. It helps you:
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Clarify your goals internally
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Evaluate potential partners objectively
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Give agencies the context they need to propose the right solution
When RFPs fail, it’s usually because they’re treated like a task list instead of a conversation starter.
The best RFPs don’t just describe what you want built. They explain why the project exists, who it’s for, and how success will be measured
before you write a single word: get aligned internally
Before we get into structure and sections, here’s an important reality check:
If your internal team isn’t aligned, your RFP won’t be either.
Before issuing an RFP, make sure you can confidently answer these questions internally:
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Why are we doing this project now?
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What problem are we trying to solve?
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Who owns final decision-making?
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What happens if this project doesn’t succeed?
You don’t need perfect answers — but you do need shared ones.
Agencies can work with ambiguity. They can’t work with contradiction.
the anatomy of a great RFP
If you want a broader “what good looks like” reference for RFP process hygiene (especially around fairness and follow-up), check out this resource from ICMA that outlines helpful best-practices.
Below is a practical, agency-tested RFP structure you can adapt for almost any B2B engagement — whether that’s website design, branding, HubSpot onboarding, or integration work.
1. company overview
Start with context. Not marketing fluff — clarity.
Include:
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Company name and industry
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A brief background (what you do and how you make money)
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Your business model and primary target audiences
This helps agencies quickly understand your world, your customers, and the complexity you’re operating within.
Tip: If you already have a clear positioning statement or brand narrative, link to it. That context is gold.
2. business context and goals
This is one of the most important — and most often rushed — sections of an RFP.
Explain:
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Why this project exists now
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The primary business objectives behind it
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How success will be measured
For example:
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Are you trying to increase qualified leads?
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Improve sales efficiency?
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Modernize outdated systems?
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Prepare for a product launch or acquisition?
The clearer your goals, the better agencies can tailor their recommendations.
3. project scope (and non-scope)
Project scope creep is one of the most common reasons initiatives stall or exceed budget. The Project Management Institute (PMI) consistently highlights that unclear or poorly managed scope and requirements are major contributors to project failure.
Clarity here saves everyone time.
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Your scope should outline:
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What’s included in the project
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What is explicitly out of scope
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Channels, systems, or platforms involved
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Known constraints or assumptions agencies should make
If you’re not sure about parts of the scope, that’s okay. Say so.
Ambiguity is better than false certainty.
4. Audience and use cases
Great agencies don’t design for companies. They design for people.
Help them understand:
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Primary and secondary audiences
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Key buyer journey considerations
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Important use cases the solution must support
For websites, this might include:
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How prospects find you
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What actions matter most
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Where friction currently exists
For HubSpot or sales enablement work, it might include:
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Internal users and workflows
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Reporting needs
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Adoption challenges
5. technical and platform requirements
For marketing and sales technology projects, platform decisions matter. HubSpot, for example, recommends clearly documenting system ownership, integrations, and internal capabilities before engaging an agency.
This section helps agencies understand complexity and risk.
Include:
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Your current tech stack
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Required integrations
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Compliance or regulatory considerations
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What will be owned internally vs. by the agency
You don’t need to list every tool you’ve ever used. Focus on what matters to delivery.
6. timeline
This section is less about “dates on a page” and more about setting realistic expectations — for both sides.
A clear timeline helps agencies plan resourcing, recommend the right approach, and flag risks early (like content dependencies, stakeholder availability, or integration complexity).
It also prevents the classic scenario where everyone nods at a deadline… and then quietly panics two weeks later.
Include:
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Target start date
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Desired launch date or milestones
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Your agency selection timeline
If the timeline is aggressive, say so. Agencies can help you assess what’s realistic — but only if they know the constraints.
7. budget (yes, this is required)
Let’s talk about the biggest gap we see in RFPs.
Not including a budget is a disservice to everyone involved.
Responding to a thoughtful, detailed RFP takes significant time, energy, and senior-level resources. When agencies are asked to do that work without any sense of budget, they’re forced to guess.
That leads to:
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Misaligned proposals
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Wasted internal effort
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A blindfolded pricing battle
Including a budget doesn’t mean you lose leverage.
It means:
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Agencies can qualify quickly
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Proposals are scoped appropriately
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Tradeoffs can be discussed intelligently
If you want third-party backup on this (and you do), these are worth a read:
If scope exceeds budget, your RFP should clarify how those tradeoffs should be handled.
Transparency here leads to better outcomes — for you and the agencies responding.
8. engagement expectations
This is where you describe the working relationship, not just the deliverables.
Help agencies understand how you want to work together so they can propose the right rhythm, team structure, and level of involvement — and so you don’t end up with a great proposal that’s a poor fit operationally.
Include:
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Engagement type (project, retainer, hybrid)
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Expected level of strategy vs. execution
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Internal stakeholder involvement (who’s involved, who approves, and how often)
This avoids mismatched expectations and sets the tone for partnership.
9. evaluation criteria
Agencies shouldn’t have to guess how they’ll be evaluated — and your internal team shouldn’t have to reinvent the scorecard halfway through.
A clear set of criteria helps you compare proposals apples-to-apples, reduces internal debate, and signals that you’re running a thoughtful (and fair) process.
Be clear about:
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How proposals will be assessed
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Who is involved in the decision
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What matters most (experience, approach, price, cultural fit, etc.)
This creates a more respectful, transparent process for everyone.
10. agency qualifications requested
This section is your chance to steer agencies toward the proof that matters — instead of getting a generic “greatest hits” deck.
Ask for the qualifications that will actually help you build confidence, reduce risk, and see how an agency thinks (not just what they’ve done).
This is where you can ask for:
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Relevant experience
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Case studies
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Proposed team and approach
Be specific about what relevance means to you (industry familiarity, platform experience, regulated environments, complex integrations, similar deal size, etc.).
11. submission requirements
Finally, make it easy for agencies to respond the way you want them to respond.
When guidelines are vague, you’ll get proposals that vary wildly in format and depth — which makes evaluation harder and slows everything down.
Set clear expectations:
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Format and length expectations
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Deadline and submission method
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Point of contact for questions
Clear instructions reduce friction and improve response quality.
If you want, paste the exact headings as they appear in the canvas (even just the heading lines), and I’ll give you a version that matches exactly so it’s a clean swap.
two things that dramatically improve RFP outcomes
If you take nothing else from this article, take these two points. They’re simple, but they’re the difference between an RFP process that produces clarity… and one that produces confusion (and a spreadsheet full of proposals you can’t fairly compare).
1. always include a budget
We’ll say it again, because it matters that much.
No budget = blind guessing.
A budget turns an RFP from a lottery into a conversation. It allows agencies to propose smarter solutions, not just cheaper ones — and it helps you avoid wasting time reviewing proposals that were never going to fit your investment level in the first place.
If you’re worried that sharing a budget will “anchor” pricing, frame it as a range and include a note about priorities (what’s flexible vs. non-negotiable). You’ll get more accurate scoping, better tradeoff recommendations, and fewer surprises once the work starts.
2. encourage a short intro call
RFPs are efficient. They’re also limited.
A 20–30 minute intro call:
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Connects missing dots
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Surfaces assumptions early
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Helps assess culture fit
It’s also your chance to quickly clarify the stuff that’s hard to capture in a document: internal constraints, decision-making dynamics, what’s already been tried, and what “success” really needs to look like on the other side.
You’ll get better proposals. Agencies will know whether they’re a good fit. Everyone wins.
optional (but highly recommended)
If you want your RFP process to feel less like herding cats (and more like making a smart decision), add one or both of these steps up front.
Some of the best RFP processes we see include:
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A short pre-RFP intake form (5–10 questions) to confirm basics like goals, budget range, timeline, and required integrations
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A discovery or qualification call before proposals to clarify assumptions, reduce back-and-forth, and help agencies decide if they can genuinely deliver what you need
These steps reduce noise, improve alignment, and respect everyone’s time — including yours. They also tend to produce fewer “cookie-cutter” proposals and more responses that actually address the real problem you’re trying to solve.
bringing it all together
A great RFP doesn’t magically produce great work.
But a clear, thoughtful, and well-structured RFP dramatically improves your odds.
By the time someone finishes this guide, they should walk away with a very different mindset about the RFP process.
Not as a box to check or a document to rush through — but as a strategic tool that:
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Aligns internal stakeholders before outside vendors ever get involved
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Sets realistic expectations around scope, budget, and timeline
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Respects the time and expertise required to respond thoughtfully
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Leads to proposals that are easier to evaluate — and far more useful
When you clarify goals, define scope honestly, include a budget, and invite conversation, you don’t just get more proposals. You get better ones. Proposals that reflect your reality, surface smart tradeoffs, and help you choose a partner — not just a price.
And if you’re ready to put this into practice, that’s where we come in.
At media junction, we work with organizations on projects like:
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Website design and development
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Branding and rebranding initiatives
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Marketing strategy and execution
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Sales enablement
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HubSpot onboarding, integrations, and optimization
If you’re planning an upcoming project and want a partner who values clarity, collaboration, and doing things the right way, we’d love to see your RFP.
Submit your RFP to media junction and tell us about your goals, your challenges, and where you want to go next.
A better RFP is the first step toward better results — and better partnerships.
