Easy Tips to Make Your Proposals Look Professional

Addy Gili
2 min readMar 11, 2022

First impressions are key in any kind of business. If you want to make it in the corporate world, then writing professional proposals is a skill you must learn. You may have the experience required but fall face flat in your proposal. And you’ll keep losing to your competition one time so many. It doesn’t have to be like this. Here is a highlight of quick tips to help make your proposals look professional.

Identify your Brand

Before you pen your proposal, think about your brand. Convey your brand in a way that your potential customer understands what it’s all about. To be clear, you have to consider the color, text, and style.

Color

Colors play a vital role in your brand recognition. Most businesses incorporate two to three colors in their brands. Therefore, stick to two or three colors to avoid confusing the reviewer and enhance recognition. Remember, your potential customer has to review numerous proposals. So it’s good to be precise with your colors. If you haven’t identified them yet, consult professionals in proposal writing to help you choose and incorporate them in the proposal.

Text

Incorporate different fonts to differentiate between headings and body text. Use standard fonts that are easy to read; hence should not be too large or too small. The aim here is to make it easy for the reviewer since proposal reviewing can be tedious.

Style

Follow a style that’s consistent with the brand. Paint the same picture in your other materials such as ads, handouts, and websites. For instance, if you use photos in your ads and handouts, use photos in your proposal.

Use White Space

White space is part of the proposal that is left blank. Help the reviewer easily read through your proposal by having breaks of blank spaces. The best way to include white space is using headings to break up the text, writing in short paragraphs, and using bullets and lists. Therefore the reviewer can quickly scan through your proposal to get your main ideas instead of reading through large blocks of text.

Make Each Section Clear

Instead of having one large explanation in one section, break it into subsections to enhance understanding. For instance, in the work section, you can break the project into different stages instead of one large block.

Don’t Forget Graphics

Graphics and images are vital in writing a professional proposal. However, they should be up to date and of high quality. Using old or unrelated images can make your proposal look unprofessional.

If you haven’t been writing professional proposals, it’s time to start. Do not be left out of a great deal just because of a poorly written proposal. Whether you do it manually or using proposal software, use the right colors for your brand and eligible text. Do not bore your potential client with long blocks of text when you can easily break them up to save their time and help them understand your points. Enhance your proposal using these tips and give your business the boost it needs.

--

--