PROJECT OVERVIEW: The University of Central Missouri (UCM) is seeking proposals to find a partner to strategically plan, build, implement and manage UCM’s paid digital marketing services on an as needed basis for an estimated term of April 10, 2025 through June 30, 2026, with the option to renew for four (4) one year periods at the same terms and conditions based on satisfactory performance, continuing need, and availability of funds. There is no guarantee of minimum utilization or expenditure with any successful proposer during the contract period. The projected annual budgets for general brand awareness digital marketing is approximately $300,000 - $350,000. The potential annual budget for program-specific digital marketing campaigns is $300,000 - $400,000. The original time period that runs July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026 would include both actual ad spend and management fees. These are estimates. Actual spend may be above or below this estimate. UCM currently develops and manages many of its own brand-level and program-specific digital campaigns. UCM seeks to identify a marketing partner to run many or all of these for the primary purpose of enhanced performance of the overall campaign investment. UCM requires an active partner and collaborator, not an order taker. The selected vendor should be prepared to: ● gather and evaluate UCM’s requirements, goals and environment ● analyze UCM’s previous campaigns to identify the success and shortcomings of each ● present proposed strategy/strategies to meet and exceed both prior performance of campaigns managed in-house and those marketing goals established during campaign planning. Due to budgetary and strategic differences between the two types of campaigns, UCM has chosen to address brand-specific and program-specific digital marketing campaigns separately within this RFP. Prospective vendors must directly and separately address approach and pricing for each of these two categories of UCM’s digital campaigns. UCM reserves the right to award these contract portions individually to separate vendors, together to a single vendor, or develop and execute portions of a digital marketing effort completely in-house. The chosen vendor will implement campaigns from beginning to end including ● developing and presenting campaign strategy, ● building, launching and managing approved campaigns ● providing scheduled reporting on campaign performance plus industry trends and opportunities. II. TECHNICAL COMPETENCE Proposers are to review this section, prepare and submit information for “Technical Competence” within Tab 2 of the Proposal response as referenced in Section VI below. 1. SCOPE OF WORK To award a contract to the most qualified Vendor who will provide Digital Marketing Services which meets or exceeds the requirements listed herein and other documents attached to the solicitation. Vendor shall be able to provide an overview of the proposed solution and details specific to the proposed solution which makes the product a leader in the industry. 2. PROJECT REQUIREMENTS - A. Build and manage successful campaigns across multiple digital platforms and channels. UCM does not expect to utilize every potential channel or platform. However, the vendor should have capabilities to manage campaigns on platforms including, but not limited to, the following (plus other emerging platforms): [Vendor response should describe any unique tools, capabilities or approaches they have available and/or intend to use for each listed platform.] 1. Google Ads: including Search, Display, Performance Max, Demand Gen, Retargeting, YouTube 2. Meta: Facebook/Instagram 3. LinkedIn 4. TikTok 5. Twitter/X 6. Snapchat 7. Hulu 8. Spotify 9. Pandora 10. OTT offerings 11. Display (programmatic) 12. Geofencing / Geotargeting Others: specify B. Vendor Requirements for both types of marketing campaigns: If there is more than one approach to each of these sections, Vendor MUST clearly define each of them under each category. Title each clearly - Brand-Specific and Program-Specific digital campaigns if applicable. 1. Create transferable campaign management accounts. Accounts on all platforms must be created so that: a. vendor maintains responsibility to the various platform partners for the costs of vendormanaged campaigns. b. UCM’s IMC office is provided with view-only rights to look directly at such campaign data. c. At the conclusion of this contract, whether by expiration or termination, all platform accounts, plus the current and historical campaign assets and data associated with those accounts, can/will be seamlessly transferred to UCM. 2. Build campaigns. potentially including content and design (as defined within vendor proposal) a. Describe the process and timeline for campaign planning, design, and execution, including all client approval stages. b. Provide individual responses for brand-specific and program-specific campaign types, including describing any constraints in terms of total numbers of individual campaigns, ad groups, etc. 3. Implement campaigns after UCM approval. a. Vendor must meet established campaign run dates. Describe in detail any concessions vendor will provide for missed campaign launch targets (adjusting for unscheduled client delays). 4. Manage and continually optimize campaigns to maximize budget and down-funnel actions. a. Vendor must detail the level of ongoing management to be provided. 5. Describe how UCM will be provided direct access to real-time reporting tools to track the following by date range. (These items are required; however, a substitute solution with similar functionality can be submitted for consideration.) a. Campaign spends (ad cost to the vendor must be transparent), b. Impressions, frequency, clicks, site visits, invalid clicks Conversions, c. Optimization insights (where available), d. Overall engagement analysis e. Other industry-standard metrics 6. Configure, test and implement Google Analytics conversion tracking. a. Work with UCM Integrated Marketing and Communications, Undergraduate Admissions, and Graduate Admissions teams to connect to our CRM, Slate (API available). UCM runs separate instances of Slate for Undergraduate and Graduate admissions. b. Integration with Google Analytics through the use of UTM codes is a requirement of this RFP
