University of Central Missouri Digital Marketing Services

Issue Date: November 15, 2024 

Closing Date and Time: January 10, 2025 at 12:00 p.m. (CT)

Contact: 

University of Central Missouri Procurement Department

Robert Walla

Procurement Director

415 E. Clark Street, Building B, Suite 118

Warrensburg, MO. 64093

walla@ucmo.edu

660-543-4523

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.

The Owner will select the most qualified vendor for the service based on the evaluation criteria outlined herein which will accomplish the objectives of the service while incorporating innovative and cost effective methods.

The RFP process is designed to be a competitive negotiation platform, where price is not the sole determinative factor. The Owner has the flexibility to negotiate with a select proposer to arrive at a mutually agreeable relationship.

The Owner reserves the right to accept or reject any or all offers, parts of offers; request rebids; waive irregularities and technicalities in offers, such as shall best serve the requirements and interests of the Owner.

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.

PROJECT REQUIREMENTS

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:

1. vendor maintains responsibility to the various platform partners for the costs of vendor managed campaigns.
2. UCM’s IMC office is provided with view-only rights to look directly at such campaign data.
3. 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.
4. Build campaigns. potentially including content and design (as defined within vendor proposal)

1. Describe the process and timeline for campaign planning, design, and execution, including all client approval stages.
2. 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.
4. 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.
5. Vendor must detail the level of ongoing management to be provided.
6. 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.)

1. Campaign spends (ad cost to the vendor must be transparent),
2. Impressions, frequency, clicks, site visits, invalid clicks Conversions,
3. Optimization insights (where available),
4. Overall engagement analysis
5. Other industry-standard metrics
6. Configure, test and implement Google Analytics conversion tracking.

1. 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.
2. Integration with Google Analytics through the use of UTM codes is a requirement of this RFP.
3. While integration between vendor’s digital marketing efforts and UCM’s CRM is highly desirable, it is not a requirement that could cause a vendor to be excluded from consideration. Vendor should detail this integration and how it could be used. Particular emphasis should be placed on any ability to track campaigns, ad sets, and/or specific creative through the funnel (inquiry, application, admission, and enrollment).

7. Report at monthly cadence, or more often as agreed upon and/or required situationally.

Present UCM with campaign reporting in agreed-upon formats, Vendor should include sample monthly reporting with this proposal.

8. Provide UCM with ongoing strategic guidance regarding digital marketing trends, new market research, competitive incursions and creative opportunities that align with the UCM brand.

9. Budget (and report) by region (as defined by UCM) within each campaign component to align with UCM’s digital marketing budget process and goals.

10. Provide monthly billing, detailing ad spend by platform, campaign and category. All line items must be clearly associated with specific line items in the awarded contract. For example, a charge of $10,000 should show where that money was spent (Google search) and how that charge was allocated: agency fees (with setup management fees separated) and ad spend (with actual ad spend and vendor markup separated). The ad spend should be broken down by time period, campaign, etc. We must be able to track all expenses to specific campaigns, and all bills presented to UCM must align with pricing structure of the accepted proposal(s). Any and all agency fees must be broken out for clarity.

11. Develop creative assets and copy for all selected platforms (as detailed in the vendor’s

proposal)

Vendor should show asset and copy creation as an option; allowing UCM to choose whether or not to utilize vendor’s creative services for any specific project as UCM has an in-house creative team. Approval from UCM’s IMC office required on copy and imagery.

12. Manage the entire process, including building, testing, optimizing/managing and reporting
    1. Communicate with UCM’s IMC office frequently and completely regarding the timing and status of all projects.
    2. Provide clear and reasonable lead times for all UCM deliverables (content, creative, approvals, etc.).

C. Brand-Specific Digital Marketing Campaigns

Brand-specific campaigns are the UCM-level campaigns (typically focused on first-time freshmen

and their families, transfer and graduate students). These campaigns are funded by the Office of

Integrated Marketing and Communication.

UCM budgets brand-specific campaigns by region (i.e. states) and subregion (i.e. areas within the

state of Missouri), then by platform/channel. UCM is generally agreeable to moving regional dollars

between platforms and channels (with prior UCM approval) as appropriate during the course of the

marketing cycle. Due to UCM budgeting and approval processes, UCM will be less flexible in shifting

dollars from one region to another region(s) during the course of a marketing cycle. Any such move

must receive advanced written approval from UCM’s Office of Integrated Marketing and

Communications.

The current projected annual budget for brand-specific digital marketing campaigns totals

approximately $300,000 – $350,000.

6. Vendor must detail their approach to higher-education digital marketing and what such a

relationship with UCM would look like, including how Vendor would propose to work with UCM

to integrate digital efforts with UCM’s creative teams, in-house traditional and/or digital

marketing efforts, etc.

6. Vendor must detail a proposed discovery process and timeline. This would include all activities

designed to acquaint vendor with UCM (offerings, student mix, key differentiators, existing

marketing efforts, etc) as well as those activities necessary to bring UCM onboard as a client

knowledgeable of how to best interface with vendor.

* Vendor will provide UCM with an initial evaluation of existing paid digital marketing efforts, with particular focus on the Google and Meta properties.

6. Vendor must detail their proposed processes:

1. Proposed strategic campaign planning process and timeline
2. Proposed campaign buildout process and timeline, including what functions will be assumed by vendor or assigned to UCM (creative, etc).
3. Method and frequency with which they will actively manage launched campaigns
4. Type and frequency of reporting, to include performance and proposed and/Or implemented adjustments
5. Given that UCM has identified multiple audiences (currently including prospective students,

their families, and transfer students) within each geography, vendor should describe what their

approach to building out campaigns would look like. This description might include how robust

the search campaign might be (keywords, ad variations, etc), for example.

D. Program-Specific Marketing Campaigns.

Program-specific campaigns are funded from individual programs across UCM’s four colleges. In

some cases, UCM will be aware of the targeted programs (and respective budgets) well in advance

of each academic year, while in other cases, UCM may be approached at later points within an

academic year with a new campaign request. Because of the unique nature of these smaller

campaigns, a different approach and pricing model may be necessary. Vendor shall address each of

these points in their proposal in the designated section below.

1. Program-specific approach must allow independent programs to launch digital campaigns with

as little as $10K total budget for the year, including both setup/management costs, with at

least 60% of the total budget being designated for actual ad spend (excluding any markup).

For example, in order to minimize setup/management overhead, a vendor may want to suggest

templated plans for undergraduate and graduate programs instead of program-by-program

customized plans.

2. Vendors are encouraged to be creative in suggesting program-specific campaign management

models to work within UCM’s individual program marketing budgets, potentially (but not

necessarily) including (for example only):

• shared responsibilities between UCM and vendor
• A limited number of launch windows for new program-specific campaigns each year

3. Create campaign strategy, working in partnership with UCM’s Office of Integrated Marketing

and Communications (IMC). UCM’s IMC office requires approval of all proposed marketing

strategies, tactics, and systems prior to their development and again before implementation.

E.          Value-Added Features

The proposed solution may include value-added features. Value-added features include any

functionality, products, or services that are not part of the requirements currently in this RFP.

Describe any additional functionality, products, or services that you offer and are not a part of the

RFP requirements that you believe would add value to your proposed work on this project.