University of Wisconsin – Madison Issues Marketing RFP

The University of Wisconsin-Madison requests bids for the purchase of Marketing and Recruitment Services and Technologies.

Background:

The UW-Madison is a large university, both in terms of traditional student enrollment (42,000+), and physical size (936 acres on the main campus). The University has approximately 16,000 employees and 2,000 faculty members. The web site http://www.wisc.edu contains many links that will help proposers understand UW-Madison. Facts can be found at: https://www.wisc.edu/about/.

In addition to the traditional student, the campus serves over 50,000 precollege (expect over 200,000+ by 2020), 17,000+ continuing education and professional development, 10,000+ returning adult and special students, 1,000+ non-degree seeking international, and 2,300+ professional master’s and graduate capstone certificate learners annually. More information can be found on the following website: https://continuingstudies.wisc.edu/outreachconted/

The University of Wisconsin–Madison strives to be a model public university in the 21st century, serving as a resource to the public and working to enhance the quality of life in the state, the nation, and the world. The university will remain a preeminent center for discovery, learning, and engagement by opening new forms of access to citizens from every background; creating a welcoming, empowered, and inclusive community; and preparing current and future generations to live satisfying, useful, and ethical lives. In partnership with the state and with colleagues around the world, the university’s faculty, staff, and students will identify and address many of the state’s and the world’s most urgent and complex problems.

The Office of University Relations https://universityrelations.wisc.edu/ exists to tell the story of the University of Wisconsin-Madison through innovative and comprehensive communications with many internal and external audiences; by building and nurturing relationships with local and statewide communities, business and industry; and by fostering partnerships and relationships throughout the state and the world. Part of University Relations’ role on campus is to provide expert marketing and communications support to schools, colleges, departments, centers and other campus units.

As a central service provider for campus-wide lifelong learning https://lifelonglearning.wisc.edu/, the Division of Continuing Studies (DCS) https://continuingstudies.wisc.edu/ provides marketing, recruitment, admitting, career counseling, program development and other services to the credit and noncredit audiences for precollege, Summer Term, continuing education and professional development, returning adult and special students, international, professional master’s, graduate capstone certificates, flexible, and online programs. (DCS has already purchased Eloqua, Salesforce CRM, and Salesforce Marketing Cloud for use in these areas and others across campus.)

Given the breadth and size of the campus, however, University Relations and DCS cannot meet the demand from campus for these services. Thus, this bid seeks to establish formal relationships with partners who can provide such services to campus units on an as-needed basis.

Scope of Work:

The Division of Continuing Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is soliciting pricing for the following areas of marketing and recruitment for key constituencies: Market Research and Insights; Lifelong Learning Marketing Services and Lead Generation; Digital Marketing and Recruitment Technologies; Marketing and Recruitment Production; Recruitment Services; Consulting and Implementation Services; Eloqua and Salesforce, and Related Tools and Applications; and Influencer and Marketing Partners. It is critical that these strategies take full advantage of the institution’s brand equity and existing brand platform and positioning while providing the type of messaging and branding flexibility needed by the University’s schools, colleges, key units and affiliated partners who target both credit and noncredit audiences for precollege, Summer Term, continuing education and professional development, returning adult and special students, international, professional master’s, graduate capstone certificates, flexible and online programs.

Depending on the nature of a project, the Contractor may be asked to provide market research and insights, lifelong learning marketing services and lead generation, digital marketing and recruitment technologies, marketing and recruitment production, recruitment services, consulting and implementation services, Eloqua, Salesforce, and related tools and applications, and influencer and marketing partners and other activities necessary to support University goals and objectives. Any individual scope of work will be negotiated for each proposer based on the needs of the University department. In general, the size and scope of these projects will range from $5,000 – $50,000 but on occasion may range up to $1,000,000+.

Lot Descriptions:

The Lots are all focused on servicing the needs of the credit and noncredit audiences for precollege, Summer Term, continuing education and professional development, returning adult and special students, international, professional master’s, graduate capstone certificates, flexible and online programs, but could be used by any UW-Madison department.

Lot 1 – Market Research and Insights

Projects may include, but are not limited to:

• Product pricing analysis
• Product/program launch research
• Current and prospective student experience/ buyer journey analysis
• Key enrollment drivers
• Labor market analysis
• Capacity to evaluate potential markets in foreign countries
• Survey panels (e.g. for brand tracking studies, concept testing)
• Competitive analysis/benchmarking
• Secret shopping

Lot 2 – Lifelong Learning Marketing Services and Lead Generation

Lifelong learning marketing services and lead generation projects may include, but are not limited to:

• Marketing strategy and planning
• Automated marketing strategy, development, implementation and evaluation
• Campaign evaluation and optimization
• Lead development
• Multichannel marketing and communication development
• Content strategy
• Development of email templates and execution of email marketing campaigns
• Development and execution of landing pages
• Content marketing campaigns, including webinars and social content, for lead generation and to maintain interest and consideration
• Visual content solutions inclusive of user-generated, influencer-generated, and brand-generated visual content
• Event marketing to generate action
• Lead analysis to ensure the right message is communicated at the right time
• International marketing strategy and execution
• Marketing optimization and ROI measurement and recommendations
• High-affinity prospect/lead identification technologies and services
• Student persona development
• Developing lookalike audiences
• Digital marketing campaign strategy development
• Paid media planning and buying in paid search, display advertising, pre-roll video advertising, retargeting, geo-fencing, and other tactics
• Paid media plan management, tracking, and optimization
• Creative development and execution of digital ads
• International digital campaign development and execution
• Develop interactive digital campaigns and experiences (quizzes, contests, polls, data collection, giveaways, forms, challenges, landing pages, offers and promotions, social stories, social displays)
• List Selection and Data Services (National databases available to build targeted audiences including zip code, geographic, and demographics including age, income, sales volume, lifestyle, psychographics, SIC codes, and buyer preferences with the ability to suppress current customers from lists. Modeling Analytics to profile potential customers on lists and Predictive analytics to find new customers on lists.)
• Web development services Campus clients will pay media/advertisers directly, without commission or markup, unless otherwise requested.

Google Partner certification is preferred. Must comply with changing domestic and international privacy laws such as GDPR.

Lot 3 – Digital Marketing and Recruitment Technologies (Products, Tools, Platforms, and Solutions)

Digital Marketing and Recruitment Technologies may include, but are not limited to:

• Form SPAM blockers, and other custom form processing solutions
• IP and device targeting solutions
• Geofencing solutions
• IP and device ID converted to physical address tools
• Remarketing and retargeting solutions
• Marketing and recruitment optimization, analytics, and ROI tools
• Marketing and recruitment forecasting, AI, and machine learning technologies
• Marketing and recruitment conversion tracking and integrations
• Badges and other digital credentials
• Marketing and recruitment tool set up, implementation, and consulting
• High-affinity prospect/lead identification technologies and services
• Developing lookalike audiences
• Applications for Eloqua, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and Salesforce CRM
• Email validation services
• Dashboard and Data Visualization Tools
• Data Consolidation Tools (System for collection and integration of data from multiple sources into a single destination to improve reporting and campaign optimization. The tool should collect data from Facebook, Instagram, Google AdWords, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other ad platforms. The system should integrate with CRM (Salesforce) to report on ad performance.)
• Customer Data Platform or Data Management Platform (Marketer-based management system that creates a persistent, unified customer database that is accessible to other systems. Data is pulled from multiple sources, cleaned and combined to create a single customer profile. A central hub that stores and analyzes all of a company’s customer, audience, and marketing data. This structured data is then made available to other marketing systems. Provides real-time segmentation for personalized marketing.)
• Marketing Intelligence, Media Mix Modeling, and Attribution Tools (As an interface for multi-touch attribution, provides intelligence about customers and prospects and the channels, devices, and tactics that drive conversion in order to define, target, optimize, and measure marketing efforts. Demonstrates the highest performing creative messaging and content that drive engagement. Provides forecasting for marketing mix models and determines optimum spend by channel. Sends metrics into bidding and buying platforms to improve optimization.)
• International student marketing and recruitment- data, insights, digital marketing and engagement platforms.
• Interactive digital campaigns and experiences (quizzes, contests, polls, data collection, giveaways, forms, challenges, landing pages, offers and promotions, social stories, social displays)
• Mobile application development
• Content curation platforms
• Webinar hosting platform/technologies
• Coaching platforms
• Reporting tools

Lot 4 – Marketing and Recruitment Production

Includes marketing and recruitment production services such as, but are not limited to:

• Content development
• Graphic Design
• Signage creation/printing
• Floor decals
• Window signage
• Pole signage
• Trade show materials
• Bus wraps

Lot 8 – Influencer and Marketing Partners

Marketing partners or influencers who may include or highlight print or digital items or messaging credit and noncredit audiences for precollege, Summer Term, continuing education and professional development, returning adult and special students, international, professional master’s, graduate capstone certificates, flexible and online programs with their own products and digital assets. These partners may also assist in hosting events or aligning the brand with student affinities such as music, food, and other lifestyle preferences. Influencer platforms will launch content marketing campaigns on social and other channels, and manage the process of finding, contracting and paying influencers. Influencer platforms will also report on the quality of influencer and impact of content.

Due Date:

December 14th

Address:

Purchasing Services

21 N. Park Street, Suite 6101

Madison, WI 53715-1218

 

Agencies with experience include Alison Brod PR and MWW PR.