Five Ways to Infuse Creativity Into Your Proposals

As proposal managers, we sometimes get stuck when it comes infusing creativity into proposals. Often, we are limited by our own firm brand guidelines and the client’s requirements. We can get into a creative rut, especially when we are constantly working under tight deadlines and often working on multiple proposals at once.

We know we want our proposal to be unique and stand out to put our firm at an advantage. We also understand that the proposal needs to not only meet the client’s requirements but must resonate with the client decision maker’s project needs and gaps. So that when they review all the proposals and make the award, they are convinced your firm is the one to select.

Often, we rely on or begin our proposal with boilerplate materials or a similar previous proposal. Then we take that information and customize for the new proposed project and requirements.

Ideally, we have the time, pre-proposal intelligence, and resources to create a new proposal that is 100 percent customized to the client’s situation, the specific scope, and their needs rather than using boilerplate and generic information.

Either way, you want the final proposal to clearly communicate the reasons why the client should select your firm in a convincing and easy-to-read way. To achieve this takes a bit of creativity.

If you are stuck in a creative rut and need some new ideas to shake up your proposal, keep reading!

1. Get Creative with Callouts

Callouts are a great creative approach to highlight your features, benefits, and proofs that may otherwise be lost in the long paragraphs. I like to also include them through each section of the proposal.

For example, in the Quality Control section when you write about design review meetings insert a callout next to that paragraph with a photo of the team conducting a design review meeting. Then have a caption that explains what the picture is showing and what project it was for. This allows you to incorporate some project experience and proves to the client that really do conduct the design review meetings.

2. Let Your Clients Speak for Themselves

Including testimonials in your proposals is a great idea and really demonstrates your expertise to your future client. If you are fortunate to have client testimonials, don’t just put an image of the letter. Use the actual text from the quote as a call-out box or inside large quotation marks.

You can also sprinkle these callouts throughout the document. Don’t just keep this good content in an appendix or client reference section. Pull out a piece of the testimonial that is relevant to a specific proposal section and add it there. Let’s say you have a client testimonial that talks about how impressed they were with your attention to communication and coordination. Pull that sentence or two out of the client testimonial letter and insert as a callout next to the project management or communication section in this proposal.

Below is a proposal template example I found on the website Envato Elements. The site has unlimited graphic assets including templates, icons, and infographic elements, among others.

3. Create a Prominent “Why Us?” Statement

You might already have a typical “why us?” or value proposition statement for your proposal. Often it gets buried in the cover letter or the first page of the narrative. Consider including this statement right at the beginning of your proposal and take up the first entire page.

Even better if you can overlay this statement with a photo of a project that proves your statement.

This is a great way to pique the client’s curiosity and make them want to read more. A compelling statement like this at the beginning can set the tone for the entire proposal. It will also ensure that your possible most compelling reason for the client to hire you isn’t missed or buried.

4. Include Visuals

This may seem like a no-brainer, but I have seen too many text-heavy proposals to not include this point. A few visuals scattered throughout will make your proposal more appealing and break up the long paragraphs of text to make it easier to read.

Some different types of visuals you can use are:

• Images may seem like an obvious visual. We include our project photos and possible employee headshots on resumes. Think about what other images you can include that show how your firm works. These can be planning sessions or design meetings or even safety meetings. Also think about including photos of past clients, especially if you are using their testimonial or case study in the proposal.
• Charts and graphs are another visual to incorporate. Can you turn complex information or data into a chart or graph?
• Icons are yet another way to beef up your visual impact of proposals. I like using icons to represent different sections or proposal themes. Then each time that type of item is mentioned, we use that icon next to the text with a call-out.

5. Rethink Your Proposal Packaging

If you must provide hard copies of your proposal to the client, what other ways can you bind or package the proposal? Of course, follow what the RFP specifies but if there is no specific binding or packaging in the RFP, how creative can you get?

There is the custom wrap three-ring binder and now there are machines that you can purchase to create a perfect edge like a softcover book.

Think about all the technology and multi-media ways you can package a proposal.

Has your firm started to use the augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) capabilities like with Oculus or Google’s Cardboard? Can you provide your entire proposal on one of those headsets and give each selection committee member a headset to view and virtually walk through your proposal?

This HubSpot article shares how nine different companies have incorporated VR into their marketing strategies. It’s some pretty cool stuff!

This may seem far-fetched now, but it’s coming. And it’s coming faster than we can imagine!

Stick with your Branding

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention your firm’s branding. I am a very strong believer that your firm must have strong and consistent branding elements, including with your proposals. I am a proponent of creating and using a consistent set of proposal templates. This saves you time and effort with setting up the proposal document and allows you time and creativity energy to think about the elements above.

Start Your Brainstorming

These are just five ways to start infusing creativity into your proposals. If you are still stuck or need further information, look to the previous SMPS Marketing Communication Awards winners.

Another place I also look for inspiration is the Graphic River Market Place. They have icons, infographics, and just about every other type of graphic you may need. Sometimes you can just browse and get ideas but you can purchase templates and elements at a very affordable price.

Have you tried any of these ideas? Do you have any other ways to infuse creativity into your proposals? Please share below in the comments.

Also, if your firm has created a proposal or presentation using VR or AR, please let me know. I would love to learn more to start my research on the future of A/E/C proposals.

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