Digital PR RFP Issued By Allegheny County Department of Human Services

On behalf of Allegheny County, its Department of Human Services (DHS), seeks to obtain the qualifications and identify a pool of Applicants that can provide future services to enhance the efforts of DHS’s existing internal design and content team in any or all of the six categories of work listed below: • Design (print and digital)

• Branding 

• Marketing 

• Content Writing and Strategy 

• User Research and Usability Testing 

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Web Analytics The services included in each of these categories of work are described in detail in Section 2:

What We Are Looking For. Applicants may submit Applications for more than one category of work. As further described in Section 6: What Happens After an Applicant is Qualified, DHS plans to identify Qualified Applicant(s) in the relevant category of work that can best meet a specific need as projects arise in the future.

Scope of Work:

Our goal is to identify a pool of Qualified Applicants that can provide at least one of the listed services in at least one of the categories of work described in detail below. Applicants may submit Applications for more than one category (please also refer to the Response Form for specific instructions). Category of Work Services: Service Description: Design (print and digital) Document/layout design (including covers and inside pages) Design of reports – documents published by DHS that present information in an organized format for a specific audience or purpose – including all aspects of the layout: the front and back covers and all inside pages Illustrations Drawings or images that decorate print and digital materials or provide an interpretation or visual explanation of the words or key concepts in that print or digital material Infographics Graphic, visual representations of information or data intended to present the information quickly and clearly Logo and/or wordmark design A graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to increase public identification and recognition of a program, product, service, or entity; this may include wordmarks, a text-only typographic treatment of the name of a program, product, service, or entity Presentation design Design of PowerPoint and/or other presentation slides (decks); this may include adding images, illustrations, colors and other stylistic elements Printed materials – flyers, pamphlets, and posters Planning, managing and developing printed materials, such as flyers, pamphlets and posters. Social media visual assets Planning and developing images, graphics and other visual assets for use on social media platforms Branding Brand standards/style guides Creation of brand standards/style guides, which are documents that include a brand’s colors, typography, fronts, font hierarchy, and primary and secondary brand elements (which may include a logo and/or wordmark, as well as companion graphics)

Brand strategy This may include planning and developing brand positioning (a strategy for how a brand may be viewed as distinct from its competitors), target audiences, messaging strategy (the words, phrases and text that communicate elements of the brand); this may also include audience/market research in service of the creation of the brand strategy Design of primary and secondary brand elements Design of visuals/graphics that communicate the brand; this may include a logo, wordmark and secondary visual elements (companion graphics). Marketing Market (or audience) research Research to gather information on key markets, audiences, clients and/or customers. Marketing campaigns This may include planning and managing a sequence of activities to promote a program, product or service through digital and print channels; this may include interaction with key populations DHS seeks to serve Marketing strategy This may include the creation of marketing goals, target audiences, personas (fictional representations of groups of potential or current clients/customers), or a plan for key marketing activities. This may also include a marketing audit – a comprehensive analysis of current or past marketing efforts Content Writing and Strategy Content strategy Planning, managing and developing content for products and services, as well as the information architecture to optimize user experience – with a focus on plain language and accessible materials.

Content may include the words, images and/or multimedia used in digital or print formats. Content writing for digital Creation of words/text for digital platforms and products, which may include websites, apps (applications), social media posts and other digital mediums Content writing for print Creation of words/text for print materials, which may include posters, flyers, pamphlets and other printed materials. Copy editing Reading text and providing revisions in order to improve readability and reduce errors Document writing (reports) Outlining and writing reports – documents that present information in an organized format for a specific audience or purpose. This may also include gathering information through interviews and research. User Research and Usability Testing User Research Research on the behaviors, needs, motivations and pain points of current or target users of a website or mobile-web application. Techniques might include observation, task analysis, interviews, or other ethnographic or qualitative methods – and synthesis and presentation of key findings and recommendations. Usability Testing Testing of the functionality of a website, mobile-web application or other digital product by observing users as they attempt to complete tasks – and synthesis and presentation of key findings and recommendations. 

SEO and Web Analytics SEO – Insights and Implementation Conduct an SEO assessment of one or multiple of our websites and mobile-web applications; provide insights to improve rankings; in some cases, implement changes to improve rankings. Web Analytics – Insights Review our Google Analytics data to understand how different audiences interact with our websites and mobile-web applications; provide insights based on this review; provide feedback to on

Due Date:

3 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, April 30, 2021

Address:

Human Services Bldg, Suite 400

One Smithfield Street

Pittsburgh PA 15222-2225

Zeno Group and Edelman PR are agencies worth considering.