Airport RFP for Marketing Agency Services
Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority
1000 Trade Drive PO Box 80001 RDU Airport, NC 27623
DIRECT ALL INQUIRIES TO:
Travis Pierce, RDU Procurement
Travis.Pierce@rdu.com | 919-840-7833
Proposals are Due Tuesday, December 6, 2022, by 3:00 PM
SECTION III SCOPE OF SERVICES
The Authority is in search of a Contractor to provide comprehensive marketing services, using a holistic approach, to support the promotion of its new eCommerce marketplace, parking and concessions programs, and air service offerings. The Contractor shall provide strategic and tactical marketing consulting services which include the following:
– project and account management
– market research, including market and consumer data
– data gathering and analysis
– campaign planning and management
– media placement, which may include traditional, digital, social, influencers, print, out-of home and broadcast campaigns
– creative design, as requested
– content and messaging development
– event planning and support
– customer relationship management
– asset management
– marketing and event supplies procurement
– web design, development, and marketing
– other services and deliverables as assigned and agreed upon
Objectives
The Authority’s primary goals for all its marketing and promotion are:
– increase revenue
– increase awareness of all revenue generating products and services
– engage, surprise and delight guests; increase customer lifetime value
– enhance customer satisfaction
– increase web site traffic
– use research more effectively to inform decision making General Services, Deliverables, and Requirements
The Authority seeks a highly collaborative relationship with the contractor. The Contractor
should be well versed on all media trends. All campaign objectives, media purchases and related
promotional activities and associated fees should be outlined by the contractor and preapproved by the Authority prior to any purchase made by the contractor (Pass-through).
The Contractor will establish KPIs and targets that are mutually agreed upon by the contractor
and the Authority. Assessment of the effectiveness of advertising and promotional activities shall
occur throughout the engagement and the contractor is responsible for making any necessary
Marketing Agency Services RFP – Solicitation Specific Provisions, tactical adjustments in an efficient and expeditious manner. The Contractor will need to consistently provide recommendations and periodic reports detailing promotional activity effectiveness.
Additionally, the Contractor is responsible to support the effective and proficient execution of
marketing events and special activations and in-terminal store merchandising efforts. Whenever
sweepstakes/promotions are used as part of any promotional campaign, the contractor, or a subcontracted entity, will serve as the contest administrator and be responsible for prize
distribution and all tax-related documentation to local, state, and federal governmental agencies
and to the prize recipient for prizes more than $600 in value. Verification of completion of these tasks must be provided to the Authority.
Use of any subcontractors by the contractor must be approved in advance by the Authority and
the contractor is responsible for the performance of Authority-approved subcontractors. The
contractor shall provide documentation for the achievement of the required MWSB goals for this
contract; this includes accurate and up-to-date reporting of participation via the Authority’s
compliance program (reference Exhibit A for MWSB program details as it relates to subcontracting).
eCommerce and Parking Marketing
The contractor will provide a comprehensive, integrated multi-year Marketing Plan for the
eCommerce marketplace, highlighting parking products and services, as well as some initial
implementation. The Plan should be based on market research and will include overall strategy
development for the programmatic promotion of the eCommerce marketplace, the ParkRDU online booking system, budget allocations, media planning, schedules, creative concepts and message development, asset creation, KPIs, and other related services, as requested.
Development of this Plan will further define deliverables for subsequent phases of the contract.
This plan should also correlate with the Concessions Marketing Plan.
Concessions Marketing
The Contractor will support the RDU concessions and marketing teams in the development and execution of annual marketing plans. The plan will determine appropriate resource allocations
to cover costs associated with strategy execution.
Air Service Marketing
From time to time, the Authority will engage the contractor to help plan and execute marketing
and promotional strategies and tactics to promote qualified air service (e.g., new airlines and
destinations). Typically, promoting air service is accomplished using the same methods and media
channels. The development of campaigns for air service will be a highly collaborative effort with
the Authority, airlines, and business partners.
Detailed Tasks, Deliverables, and Requirements
Specific tasks may be dependent on various products and services as they relate to each focus
area (e.g., eCommerce, parking, concessions, and air service), but could include the following:
1. Overall Marketing Strategy
− Detailed marketing plans outlining schedule, tactics, and methods / media mix
− General market and competitor research (e.g., Fast Park and Relax, ridesharing
companies)
− Customer satisfaction
− Customer segmentation / targeting (e.g., geo/polygonal targeting, behavior/purchasing history)
− Programmatic email campaigns
− Support for customer relationship management activities and asset management
− Special activations and event support
− Physical signage design, copy, and procurement
− Vertical integration of eCommerce, parking program and concessions marketing
strategies
2. Paid Search / Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising
− Bi-weekly review of PPC advertising; recommendations and strategy integration, PPC report development including major PPC statistics: conversion to revenue, click-thru rate (CTR), Conversion rate, cost-per-click (CPC), cost per conversion, paid search rankings/competitor rankings for key terms, etc.; also, continued review and development of metrics
− On-going PPC account management (e.g. Google AdWords) including, but not limited to:
⋅ Implementation of approved PPC recommendations
⋅ Ad copy development
⋅ Custom landing page development
⋅ Ad quality review, A/B multivariate testing, ad copywriting implementations, etc.
⋅ Ad group structure, scheduling, and incremental bidding implementations
⋅ Keyword research, list review/analysis and implementations; based on location, business strengths, products, and services.
3. SEOP Strategy, Site Review and Analysis
− SEOP (Search Engine Optimization and Positioning Strategy) Strategy development / implementation; determine key metrics for overall SEOP including those for organic and paid search, and specific metrics for SEM, PPC, Website, UX, and Mobile.
− Quarterly/annual review of overall SEOP, including SWOT analysis
− SEOP report development (high-level overview for C-Suite)
− Collaborate on the development and execution on-going business recommendations for airport products and services and opportunity gap and competitor ranking analyses
4. SEM Projects/Services
− Provide strategic consulting, content development, and project management services for SEM projects as they relate to RDU’s eCommerce marketplace, parking programs and services, concessions, and air service, including, but not limited to:
⋅ Advertising campaign integration
⋅ Promotional coupon/code program integration
⋅ Loyalty program integration
⋅ Pre-Paid Parking system
⋅ Website design/development/user experience (UX) NOTE: The Authority plans to complete a web site redesign project (through a different contractor) and the marketing services contractor may be asked to support that effort with high-level consultation and input.
5. Traditional Media Buying / Advertising
– Develop and lead execution of omni-channel media plan, including strategic planning and buying of traditional, digital, social, influencers, sponsorships, print, out-of-home and broadcast campaigns
− The media strategy should both support and be aligned with overall marketing plans and include a recommended media and mix that optimizes the Authority’s budget
− Utilize revenue and audience data to optimize media demographics
− Negotiate value-adds and placement of advertising
− Media Vehicle Innovation
6. Organic Search / Search Engine Optimization
− Monthly review of SEO rankings in major search engines; recommendations and strategy integration
− SEO Report development, including SEO stats/rankings and continued development of metrics
− On-going SEO management including, but not limited to:
⋅ Implementation of SEO recommendations
⋅ SEO-related user experience review; navigation, site search, categorization, etc.
⋅ Conversion optimization; existing conversion funnels
⋅ Infrastructure review; source code and any back-end issues
⋅ Site structure review; site structure/content issues
⋅ On-page review; optimization including page titles, meta descriptions, and tags; site content (headlines, copy organization, page structure)
7. ROI Measurements and Reporting
− Ongoing reports measuring ROI across all media will be required to better inform current and future promotions and media buying strategies, this could include:
⋅ Digital advertising reporting (social, display, search, etc.)
⋅ A/B multivariate reports and strategy/implementation recommendations (social, display, search, etc.)
⋅ Email marketing
⋅ Customer nourishment
⋅ Traditional media reporting and strategy/implementation recommendations
⋅ Marketing investment/sales revenue comparative reporting
