How should a dietitian practice write a marketing agency RFP?
A dietitian practice should write its marketing RFP in eight parts: background, goals, scope, a budget range, compliance requirements, weighted evaluation criteria, a timeline and a fixed list of questions. The background should state your credentials, the states you can serve and your payer mix. The compliance section should require a BAA, clinical sign-off on claims and state-limited targeting.
- Same questions, same order: every agency should answer an identical list so responses can be scored side by side.
- State where you can serve clients: list credentials and licensed states so telehealth plans stay legal.
- Make compliance a condition: BAA, HIPAA-safe tracking, clinical approval of claims and documented consent for email and text.
- Set weights before reading: score each criterion, multiply by its weight and compare scores from more than one reviewer.
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What should a dietitian marketing RFP include?
A dietitian practice's marketing RFP should cover eight things: practice background, goals, scope, a budget range, compliance requirements, evaluation criteria with weights, a timeline, and a fixed set of questions for every agency. Writing these down first makes proposals comparable. It also stops agencies from pitching what they sell instead of what you need.
An RFP does not need to be long. For a solo or small group practice, a few pages is enough. What matters is that every agency answers the same questions in the same order, so you can score them side by side.
| RFP section | What to include | Why it matters for a dietitian practice |
|---|---|---|
| Background | Credentials, states served, specialties, in-person or telehealth, payer mix, referral sources | Agencies need to know where you can legally see clients and how clients pay |
| Goals | Booked initial consults, physician referrals, program sign-ups, retention | Keeps proposals focused on outcomes, not clicks |
| Scope | Channels in and out of scope, content volume, who writes and who approves | Prevents "full-service" proposals with no outputs |
| Budget | A range for management fees and a separate range for ad spend, filled in by you | Lets agencies size a realistic plan |
| Compliance | BAA, HIPAA-safe tracking, claims approval, state-limited targeting, email and text consent | Filters out agencies new to healthcare |
| Evaluation criteria | Criteria and the weight you give each | Tells agencies what you value before they write |
| Timeline | Question deadline, response date, shortlist calls, decision, start date | Keeps the process short and fair |
| Questions | A fixed list every agency must answer | Makes responses comparable |
What should the background and goals sections say?
The background section should tell an agency who you serve, where you can serve them and how they pay. Give your credentials and state licenses, your specialties, whether you see clients in person or by telehealth, which insurers you are in network with, and where clients come from today. Without this, every proposal will be generic.
Facts worth stating plainly
- Credentials and states. List each clinician’s national credential and state license, for example "RDN, LDN (Illinois)". State rules vary, as our dietitian licensure by state overview explains.
- Payer mix. Say which plans you accept, whether you bill Medicare, and what share of clients pay cash, in your own words. Medicare Part B covers medical nutrition therapy for diabetes and kidney disease with a physician referral under 42 CFR § 410.130 and the sections that follow.
- Referral sources. Name the physician groups, clinics or employers that already send clients. Agencies should build on these, not ignore them.
- Specialties. Diabetes, kidney disease, PCOS, eating disorders, sports nutrition, pediatrics or GLP-1 support each need different messaging and different safeguards.
- Current assets. Website platform, Google Business Profile status, email list size range, social accounts, booking software category and any tracking in place.
Goals that an agency can be held to
State goals as outcomes you can count. Booked initial consults per month, physician referrals received, and program enrollments are good examples. Avoid goals such as "more visibility" or "go viral". If you are unsure what to track, our list of marketing KPIs for dietitian practices is a good starting point.
Which compliance requirements should the RFP set?
Compliance requirements should be listed as conditions, not preferences. Ask every agency to confirm in writing that it will sign a BAA, keep advertising pixels off booking and intake pages, route health claims to your clinicians for approval, target only the states you name, and follow email and text consent rules. An agency that hedges on any of these is a risk.
Requirements to copy into your RFP
- The agency will sign a Business Associate Agreement before receiving any protected health information. HIPAA sets the required contents of that agreement in 45 CFR § 164.504(e).
- No advertising or analytics pixels that send identifiable data to third parties on booking, intake or client portal pages, in line with HHS guidance on online tracking technologies.
- All health claims, condition pages and nutrition resources are approved by a credentialed dietitian at the practice before publication.
- Claims will be truthful and supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence, as the FTC’s Health Products Compliance Guidance expects.
- No fake, paid-for-sentiment or undisclosed insider reviews or testimonials.
- Ads, state landing pages and booking forms limited to the states listed in the background section.
- Email follows CAN-SPAM; texts go only to people with documented consent; opt-outs are honored.
- The practice owns all accounts, content, data and phone numbers.
Ask agencies to describe how they meet each item, not just to tick yes. A short paragraph on how they set up HIPAA-safe conversion tracking will tell you more than a logo slide. Our guide to HIPAA-safe website tracking explains what a good answer sounds like.
What questions should a dietitian practice ask agencies?
Ask every agency the same ten to twelve questions, and require answers in your order. Focus on how they would reach your goals, how they handle claims and state licensure, who will do the work, how they report, and what happens if results fall short. Specific answers beat polished decks.
Questions for agencies
- Which healthcare practices have you marketed, and have you worked with dietitians or nutrition practices? Describe the work without naming clients if you prefer.
- Based on our background, what would you do in the first three months, and why in that order?
- How would you generate physician referrals as well as direct client bookings?
- How do you keep telehealth ads, pages and booking limited to the states where we are licensed?
- Who writes our content, what are their qualifications, and how does our clinical approval step fit your schedule?
- How do you handle content about eating disorders, weight and GLP-1 medications?
- How will you track booked consults without sending client data to ad platforms?
- What will we see each month, and can we access the raw data at any time?
- What is your fee structure, and how is ad spend billed?
- What is the contract term, notice period and handover process?
- What goals would you commit to, and what happens if they are missed?
- Who will be our day-to-day contact, and in which time zone do they work?
Leave room for agencies to ask you questions too. Good ones will ask about intake capacity, no-show rates and how quickly your team responds to enquiries. Those questions are a sign they understand that marketing only works if bookings are handled well.
How should you score agency responses?
Score responses against the criteria and weights you set before you open any proposal. Use a simple scale for each criterion, multiply by its weight, and add up. Two or three people should score separately, then compare. This keeps the decision on the evidence and away from whichever pitch was the most confident.
The weights below are blank on purpose. A practice that relies on physician referrals might weight referral strategy heavily. A cash-pay telehealth practice might weight paid search and state targeting more. Decide before you read.
| Criterion | What a strong answer shows | Your weight | Score (1 to 5) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Healthcare and nutrition experience | Relevant work described clearly, with no exaggerated claims | ||
| Understanding of your goals | A plan that starts from your background, not a template | ||
| Compliance approach | Clear BAA, tracking, claims approval and state-targeting processes | ||
| Referral and channel strategy | Realistic mix of search, profile, referrals, email and social | ||
| Team and process | Named roles, approval workflow, time-zone fit | ||
| Reporting and data access | Outcome metrics, live access, regular cadence | ||
| Commercial terms | Clear fees, separate ad spend, fair term and handover |
Shortlist and check
- Shortlist the top two or three by weighted score.
- Hold a call with each, and ask them to walk through one answer in detail.
- Ask for a sample monthly report and a sample content approval request.
- Read the draft contract against our dietitian contract checklist before you decide.
What does a copy-ready dietitian RFP outline look like?
Here is a copy-ready outline. Paste it into a document, fill in your details and send the same version to every agency. Keep the timeline short; long RFP processes rarely produce better proposals for a small practice. Set the dates to suit your own calendar.
RFP outline
- Introduction. Practice name, location, contact person, and the purpose of the RFP.
- Practice background. Clinicians and credentials, states licensed, specialties, in-person or telehealth, payers accepted, referral sources, current marketing assets.
- Goals. Up to three measurable goals, with how you will count each one.
- Scope. Channels in scope, channels out of scope, content volume, approval process.
- Budget. Monthly management fee range: ______. Monthly ad spend range: ______.
- Compliance requirements. The conditions listed earlier on this page.
- Questions for agencies. Your fixed list, to be answered in order.
- Evaluation criteria and weights. Your table, shared with agencies.
- Timeline. Questions due: ______. Responses due: ______. Shortlist calls: ______. Decision: ______. Start: ______.
- Submission format. File type, page limit, and who to send it to.
If you want a second opinion before sending, or want Ichelon Consulting US to respond, book a call with the US team. Retainers start from $499/month, custom-scoped, and we sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with every US client. You can see how we approach this work on our dietitian marketing agency page.
Compliance points here reflect federal sources as of October 2026. Confirm the details with your counsel.
Related pages from the US team
Dietitian marketing agency USA
How Ichelon Consulting US scopes and runs dietitian accounts.
Dietitian contract checklist
Check the contract clause by clause before you sign.
Agency or do it yourself?
Decide whether to hire before you write the RFP.
Dietitian marketing plan 2026
Set goals and channels you can put in the RFP.
Every practice welcome — Goals-Driven engagements from $499/mo
We benchmark your last 90 days, agree monthly goals with you, and track them live on Ichelon Agency OS with a report every Monday. Performance-Linked Payout Models are available. Our US leadership is based in Dallas, and strategy calls run in US business hours.
Common questions
Does a small dietitian practice need a formal RFP?
A small dietitian practice does not need a long RFP, but it benefits from a short written one. A few pages covering background, goals, budget range, compliance conditions and fixed questions makes proposals comparable. It also shows agencies that you will judge them on outcomes and compliance, not on how polished their presentation looks.
Should a dietitian RFP include a budget?
Yes. Include a range for the monthly management fee and a separate range for ad spend. Without a range, agencies guess, and proposals become impossible to compare. Keeping the two ranges separate also makes clear that ad spend should be billed to the practice transparently, apart from the agency fee.
What compliance items belong in a dietitian marketing RFP?
A dietitian marketing RFP should require a signed Business Associate Agreement, no ad pixels on booking or intake pages, clinical approval of every health claim, truthful and supported claims, no fake reviews, ads limited to licensed states, email and text consent, and practice ownership of all accounts, content and data.
How many agencies should a dietitian practice send an RFP to?
Send it to a small number of agencies with real healthcare experience, enough to compare approaches without creating a reading burden. Shortlist the strongest two or three by weighted score, then hold calls and ask each to walk through one answer in detail. Quality of response matters more than the number received.
How should a dietitian practice score marketing proposals?
Set criteria and weights before opening any proposal. Score each criterion on a simple scale, multiply by its weight and add up the totals. Have two or three people score separately, then compare and discuss differences. Finish by reading the shortlisted agencies’ draft contracts against a clause-by-clause checklist.
A note on this guide: it explains marketing practice, not legal advice. Rules on privacy, advertising and insurance change and vary by state, so confirm anything compliance-related with your own counsel.
Writing a dietitian marketing RFP?
Book a call with Ichelon Consulting US. We can review your draft or respond to it, and show how we handle the BAA, claims approval and state targeting. Retainers from $499/month, custom-scoped.