When a tender makes sense
A tender is worth the effort when the budget matters to the company, the task is complex, such as launching a brand, rebuilding a website and sales funnel, or expanding from Tashkent to the regions, and you will need to justify the choice to an owner or partners. If you simply need Instagram ads for a small shop, two or three meetings and a trial month will do. A formal process would cost more time than it saves.
Before sending any invitations, settle three things internally: the business problem you are solving, the budget range you can discuss, and who makes the final call. Without those answers, each agency gets different input and the proposals cannot be compared.
Write a brief that allows comparison
Every participant should receive the same brief. The more specific it is, the fewer template answers you will get. Include:
- what the company does and what it sells;
- who the customer is and where: Tashkent, other regions, export;
- where you already operate: Instagram, Telegram, OLX, Uzum, offline points, your website;
- the goal in business terms: leads, sales, repeat purchases, not just reach;
- a budget range, with agency fees and ad spend shown separately;
- the desired start date and reporting format;
- scoring criteria and their weights.
How many agencies to invite
Three to five agencies is enough. With more, you struggle to read and compare everything, and the agencies know their odds are low, so they send a recycled deck instead of real thinking.
Choose by profile and scale rather than by name. A team that is strong in Meta Ads may not handle SEO and end-to-end analytics, and a large agency may hand a small account to its most junior people. Ask whether they have worked in a similar niche and with a comparable turnover.
Scoring criteria and weights
Agree on the criteria and their weights before proposals arrive. Otherwise the scoring drifts toward whichever presentation you liked best. Typical criteria are:
- understanding of your business and the task;
- quality of strategy and ideas;
- experience with similar projects;
- the specific people who will do the work;
- how results will be measured;
- price and how transparent the estimate is.
Comparing proposals fairly
Compare the scope of work, not just the total. A cheap proposal is often cheap because it leaves out analytics, content, reporting or time for revisions. Ask every agency to format its estimate the same way: services separately, ad budget separately, one-off work such as analytics setup or landing pages separately.
Price should not be the only criterion, but ignoring it would be a mistake too. Give it a weight alongside the others, and clarify disputed items in writing so you do not argue later about what the fee included.
Creative tasks and presentations
Asking for a full strategy and finished creative for free pushes strong agencies away, because they know what that work costs. It is more reasonable to ask for an approach, key hypotheses and the structure of a plan. If you want deeper work, pay the finalists for it.
Ask the people who will run the account to attend the presentation: the media buyer, the project manager, the analyst. Sometimes one team sells and another delivers. Ask how they will know the campaign works: what they track, where they record leads and payments through Click or Payme, and how they connect ads to sales in a CRM or a Telegram bot.
After the decision: feedback and a pilot
Tell every participant the outcome and briefly explain why. The market in Uzbekistan is small, and good relationships will help you later.
Start with the winner on a limited period, for example one to three months, and agree in advance which metrics will judge the pilot. Make sure ad accounts, analytics and domains are registered to your company, not the contractor.
If you want help with the brief, the scoring criteria or an independent review of the proposals you receive, markdev works on marketing strategy and consulting for businesses in Uzbekistan. Tell us about your task and we can discuss whether you need a tender at all, and in what format.
FAQ
How many agencies should be invited to a tender?
Three to five that fit your profile and scale are usually enough. More makes comparison harder and lowers the effort each agency puts in.
Should a test assignment be paid?
If it is large, compensate at least the finalists. Otherwise keep it small: ask for an approach and hypotheses instead of a finished strategy and creative.
Should we pick the cheapest proposal?
Not on price alone. Compare the scope of work, the team and the measurement approach first, and treat cost as one criterion among several.
What should we do after choosing an agency?
Begin with a pilot period and agree on metrics in advance. Keep ownership of ad accounts and analytics on your side.
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