The Illusion of Convenience
For many brands and marketing managers, reaching for a ready-made advertising agency RFP template feels like a shortcut to efficiency. These templates promise a structured way to collect proposals and vet agencies. However, the convenience is often deceptive. Relying blindly on generic templates can introduce significant risks, as they rarely capture the unique nuances of your business, audience, or goals.
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Consider a mid-sized e-commerce brand that downloaded a free RFP template from an online marketing blog. The template asked standard questions about agency size, capabilities, and cost, but failed to probe deeper into e-commerce-specific issues like attribution modeling, cart abandonment strategies, or platform integrations. As a result, the brand received proposals that sounded impressive yet lacked practical relevance, causing them to waste weeks on unsuitable agency conversations.
To avoid this pitfall, marketing teams should treat templates as starting points, not definitive guides. Before sending out any RFP, review each section critically. Customize questions to probe for knowledge of your industry, technical challenges, and desired outcomes. Make sure agencies tailor their responses to your business reality, rather than simply copy-pasting their usual sales pitch.
One Size Fits None
A fundamental flaw of generic RFPs is the “one size fits all” approach. Every brand operates in a unique ecosystem with specific products, customer journeys, competitive landscapes, and growth challenges. A template designed for broad use rarely accounts for these complexities.
For example, a SaaS company seeking a digital marketing agency to help drive B2B lead generation might send out a template originally intended for retail-focused digital advertising. That template could emphasize consumer campaign experience, neglecting crucial B2B concerns like lead scoring, nurturing workflows, and ABM strategies. Proposals returned under such an RFP often miss the mark entirely.
Instead, start your RFP process by documenting your business context in detail. Identify the business objectives behind hiring an agency: Is it scaling awareness? Improving ROAS? Breaking into new markets? Use that context to frame your RFP sections, ensuring that the agencies you engage truly understand your market and needs.
Lack of Strategic Depth
Many templates focus heavily on logistics—like budget, timeline, and deliverable lists—but skimp on strategic thinking. This results in proposals full of executional details but lacking big-picture insights. Agencies might detail how they’ll set up campaigns but never explain why their approach is right for your brand.
An example: A hospitality brand issued a templated RFP listing required media channels—search, social, display. All agency responses included impressive media plans. However, none addressed brand positioning, shifting traveler behaviors post-pandemic, or differentiating against big competitors like Airbnb. The brand realized too late that the proposals were tactical checklists rather than strategic roadmaps.
To add strategic depth, include RFP questions such as: “How would you approach our brand’s specific challenges?” or “What strategic insights shape your recommended tactics for our audience?” Request examples of how agencies solved similar problems for comparable brands. This helps reveal which agencies can be true partners, not just service vendors.
Overlooking Compatibility and Culture
A generic RFP rarely investigates cultural fit or collaboration style, yet these factors often make or break agency relationships. How an agency works, communicates, and handles challenges can be as important as their technical skills.
Take the example of a consumer goods company that hired an agency solely based on impressive credentials listed in an RFP. Six months in, the brand struggled with constant miscommunication. The agency favored formal reports and long timelines, while the brand valued agile collaboration and frequent informal check-ins. Misalignment in working styles created friction, stalling progress on major campaigns.
To assess compatibility, build questions into your RFP such as: “Describe your preferred communication cadence,” or “Share examples of how you’ve navigated a challenging client-agency relationship.” Also, request a hypothetical scenario and ask how the agency would handle it. This surfaces clues about their approach to problem-solving and flexibility.
Missing the Metrics That Matter
Another trap of generic RFPs is focusing on standard KPIs that may not align with your brand’s true definition of success. Templates often list metrics like impressions, clicks, or basic conversion rates—but these may be shallow indicators for complex businesses.
For instance, a fintech startup used a standard template and specified “increase conversions.” Agencies proposed strategies to drive sign-ups, but none addressed lifetime value, churn rates, or customer acquisition cost relative to revenue. The brand ended up with short-term wins but long-term losses.
When drafting your RFP, clarify what success truly means for your business. Ask agencies how they would measure and report on deeper metrics—such as customer quality, retention, and ROI. Request sample reports and dashboards to ensure their tracking capabilities match your expectations.
The Cost of Clarity
Generic RFPs can leave room for ambiguity, causing confusion during the bidding process and leading to incomplete or mismatched proposals. When agencies don’t fully understand what you’re asking, they either overcompensate with bloated proposals or under-deliver, making fair comparison difficult.
An entertainment brand recently issued a templated RFP with vague requirements about “digital media support.” Agencies returned proposals with scopes ranging from minimal social posts to full-scale omnichannel campaigns—a span of costs from $50,000 to $500,000. The brand had to redo the entire process to avoid mismatched expectations.
To ensure clarity, write precise and detailed descriptions for each requested service. For example, instead of “SEO services,” specify “Technical SEO audits, content gap analysis, and backlink acquisition with monthly reporting.” Provide context about your current state and any limitations or integrations needed. The clearer your brief, the better quality and comparability of responses you’ll receive.
Customization Is Your Competitive Advantage
Ultimately, using an advertising agency RFP template is not inherently bad—it can help you stay organized. The danger lies in treating it as a one-size-fits-all solution rather than a customizable tool. Every brand is unique, and your RFP should reflect your specific goals, challenges, and ways of working.
Instead of copying templates verbatim, use them as frameworks to build your own bespoke document. Define your brand’s identity, strategic priorities, and success metrics. Ask probing questions that force agencies to demonstrate knowledge and creativity tailored to your needs. A well-crafted, custom RFP is your first step toward forging a partnership that delivers meaningful results.