So far I’ve published both my “GPA” Upwork proposal template and a breakdown of my “Moneyball” proposal writing strategy.
But for as long as I could, I’ve avoided the #1 request: Some actual examples of Upwork proposals.
The reason is simple… Without the right context, looking at proposal samples usually does more harm than good.
For example, I have a collection of my own cover letters that won jobs at $999/hour (Upwork’s maximum rate). Obviously those are the best to learn from, right…?
But my $999/hour proposals are not necessarily the best for teaching beginners, and may even create some bad habits if they’re copied blindly.
To make this post more useful, I’m going to tackle the issue from a variety different angles, starting with an interactive proposal “game” of sorts (you’ll see).
But don’t worry: If you’re really curious, I’ll tell you where to go to see one of my $999/hour proposals (for free) at the end of this post.
Ready to get started?
Part 1: Proposal Showdown ($20/hour vs $200/hour)
Here in part one, I’m going to show you a REAL job post I made, along with eight different proposals I got ranging from just $20/hour all the way up to $200/hour.
This is an interactive exercise:
First, try to guess what price each proposal quoted (in terms of hourly rate). You can check your answer by clicking “see more” to reveal the hidden text.
Then, try to guess which (two) freelancers actually won the job. Again, the answer is hidden – click to reveal!
Here we go:
The Job Description:
Expert-only Ecom Facebook Ads Audit – review another agency’s work
We’re a marketing agency looking for another Facebook Ads expert to look at one of the ad accounts we’re managing and advise us on how you would improve it.
Our client is an ecommerce skincare brand operating in Asia, and the current spend is around $500/day.
Results have already improved over 3x from when we took the account over from the previous agency, but there’s been a recent dip and we want to see if there’s anything else we can do to improve things.
That means we need more than just the basics and best practices, and we are NOT looking to hire someone just so they can advertise their ad management services to us. Don’t apply if you’re going to be super vague about everything in hopes of hiding your “secret sauce”.
Start your proposal with the word “jellyfish” in all caps so we know you read everything.
The deliverable doesn’t need to be fancy, and the entire job should only take an hour or two. This can be as simple as throwing some notes into a doc OR ideally a zoom call where you screen share as you audit the account and tell us your suggestions live.
Proposal 1
Hey I have the Facebook Ads experience you are looking for to do an audit for your facebook ads account.
I have done this for 300+ businesses and on multiple ad platforms as well.
Drop me a line if you’d like to discuss or grab a time here – [CALENDAR NAME]
[NAME]
Proposal 2
Hi!
My name is [NAME], and I would love to offer you a full ad account audit. I will audit and analyse the strategy, campaigns, targeting, creative testing and copy in order to identify any areas for improvement, and present this to you via zoom. I have over 25 clients worldwide for multiple paid social and search platforms, and management a spend of just over £500K per month. I’m well used to working with other languages in terms of copy, and have extensive experience in the cosmetic industry. I’m very new to Upwork, hence I have no hires / reviews, but if you’d like to check out my agency page (i own this with my partner), it is [WEBSITE LINK] . One of our current clients are [BRAND NAME], incase you’d like to check them out. If you’d like to proceed with the ad account audit, and there is potential for a future working relationship, I can provide a client email / phone number for referencing.
I hope to chat soon!
[NAME]
Proposal 3
JELLYFISH I’m the Facebook Advisor for businesses who want 1:1 consultations with insiders!
We just need 1h (all screen shared) to expose what made the agency campaigns tank and identify how to scale your account. My specialty on UpWork is to be an external advisor, so I have no plans on pitching anything else than a consultation.
I have 10 years of Paid Media experience in the agency world, 8 Google certifications, 2 Facebook/Meta Blueprints (unique on UpWork), Apple and Microsoft certified, and I went gold for “Best Social Media Campaign” at the Emerging Media Awards (USA).
I’m available right away to schedule a discovery call. Let’s get in touch.
Proposal 4
JELLYFISH
Hi. I’d love to audit and review your facebook ad account. You can check my profile for my experience and my reviews, where you’ll also see that I have a Top Rated Badge, and a 100% Job Success Score. And don’t worry, I won’t advertise my ads management services haha.
Anyways, looking forward to hearing from you! Have a great day.
Proposal 5
Hi there! Jellyfish
I’m an Australian based facebook advertising expert. – Funny I actually work on an account spending around $500 / day in the Asian market in foreign language, initially thought this was my clients job post hahah!
I specialise in direct response, results focused marketing. (8+ years experience)
I have managed well over $5M in adspend across a broad range of industries ranging from ecom, SAAS, infoproduct, lead gen & more.
I would love to jump into the account & conduct a deep dive audit & share any insights.
Here is a quick video introduction – [LINK TO PROFILE VIDEO]
Regards,
[NAME]
Proposal 6
“JELLYFISH” … (with no secret sauce. Tartar is better.)
I just came across this and found it interesting. I do, routinely, do audits for agencies as well as other eCommerce brands. I have friends who run agencies, too, and I’m used to giving them my best input if I can help them help their clients.
I/we don’t take on much ‘done for you’ work at the moment. I’m mainly into coaching and education. So I’m totally uninterested in pitching you anything or offering to run your client’s ads. Besides, we don’t white label at all.
I’ve been running an agency for the last 4-5 years, and I’ve been in eCommerce since 2008. I was a very early adopter of Facebook Ads. You name a strategy, I’ve tried it.
I actually really enjoy account audits. Don’t ask me why! I think it’s the satisfaction of finding something that can be improved ,seeing that implemented, and seeing the results come back.
You can see from my ‘value video’ here that I often do audits for store-owners, and not with any expectation of a contract at the end of it.
Typically, I would send over a Loom video with my findings, along with some written info, and then follow-up with a Zoom call to go over anything you need more input on.
I’m looking for the small hinge that swings the big door. Often we’ve completely turned around an account this way.
Best wishes,
[NAME]
Proposal 7
Hey I’m [NAME], (and most likely the only) expert who provides a Best Result Guarantee for all the campaigns I manage – I will refund 100% of the campaign management fee (up to $3,000) if you found an individual or agency that produces better results than campaigns implemented and managed by me. Btw, have generated over 20.7 Million Dollars Across All My Clients In The Past 5 Years.
To ensure you get FREE value and we get the full picture, use this link to schedule a FREE strategy session with me – [CALENDAR LINK]
That’s me – [INSTAGRAM LINK]
Over the years, I have worked on many campaigns from household name brands to small businesses around the world.
My expertise areas include:
Deep understandings and analysis of your market
Building Sales Funnels (Clickfunnels, Zapier, Landing Pages)
Building Out Automated Systems To Have Your Business Running On Auto-Pilot (Over 100+ apps we have used, just give us insight on what you are using)
Launch, optimization and management of Facebook/Instagram Ads
Launch, optimization and management of Tiktok Ads
Launch, optimization and management of Snapchat Ads
Launch, optimization and management of Youtube/Google Ads/Search/Shop/Etc.
Creative design for Facebook/Instagram ads/Tiktok Ads/Snapchat Ads/Youtube/Google Ads
(Please notice that I DO NOT provide services such as SEO, blog writing, social media management, email marketing, and other organic marketing services at this moment unless on special request, but I’d be happy to refer you to the right people)
My focus is on providing quality service at an affordable cost. For most clients, the value they receive from the additional tools we purchased for campaign optimization would cost more than their monthly management fee (if they purchase those tools individually, such as Qwaya, Clickfunnels, Activecampaigns, Zapier, Photoshop, AfterEffects, Adobe Premier, Etc.).
I’d love to hear more about your needs, and if we’re a good fit, we can start building campaigns and systems that will boost your business to the next level.
Let me help you.
Send me a message or use this link to move forward – [CALENDAR LINK]
Alternatively, you can contact me directly on Whatsapp: [WHATSAPP NUMBER] Or Instagram [INSTAGRAM HANDLE]
Talk soon,
[NAME]
Proposal 8
Hello Sir,
I just read all the details about your job posting moments ago.
I understand you need a professional marketer.
I would like you to know that I offer a five-year track record in Google Paid Ads, Facebook/IG Paid Ads, SEO and PPC-related jobs.
Display Network campaigns (Display ads)
Search Network campaigns (Text ads)
Merchant Center
Application Campaigns
Video Campaigns
Configure Facebook Tracking to track conversions
Optimise your Ads to get a high ROI.
Workflow for Search Network Ads (SOP to handle Ad words campaigns):——–
Extensive Keywords Research (Take keywords ideas from your competitor’s)
Create Search Network campaign for each service page/product + main page
Add different ad groups according to the requirements
Choose the best bid strategy to maximize the conversions
Write more effective and successful text ads
A/B split testing using different text ads per ad group
Add extensions to your ads to increase ad rank
Advanced call tracking integration (track all PPC calls)
Negative keyword implementation to reduce the campaign cost
Get a good quality score on targeted keywords
My Experience
5+ years of experience with Smart Shopping campaigns and platforms, such as Facebook, Google Shopping marketing and All social Media Platforms etc.
5+ years of experience running and utilizing detailed campaign analytics and metrics to make informed recommendations using Google Analytics, Google Ads Manager, etc.
I work on the following site on Google Ads.
1. [WEBSITE]
2. [WEBSITE]
3. [WEBSITE]
I’m always available by email and voice if you are planning to have a detailed conversation.
I am waiting for a hiring response from you.
Thanks a lot.
Warm Regards,
[NAME]
Do you notice any patterns? Who would you have hired?
Some basic things to note:
- So many people couldn’t follow simple directions like starting their proposal with the word “jellyfish” in all caps. Anyone who missed this was completely out of the running.
- Freelancers who were more expensive weren’t necessarily better at proposal writing (and cheaper freelancers weren’t necessarily worse).
- Longer proposals weren’t necessarily better – in fact, the longer ones were more tedious to read.
What else did you see?
BTW: These weren’t the only 8 proposals I got – there were a bunch more, but many were so bad I didn’t bother to include them:
But that’s a valuable lesson too: most of your competition sucks!
Part 2: Coming soon
Ok, that’s it for part 1. Part 2 will be coming soon, so make sure to check back or sign up to the C Tactics email newsletter for updates.
The email newsletter is also where you can see an example of one of my $999/hour proposals, along with a bunch more content that I don’t keep on the blog. Sign up below: