Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City Issues RFP For Marketing

The EDCKC is soliciting proposals from experienced firms to manage its marketing and outreach services.

The primary objective of this RFP is to effectively partner with a firm to provide services including marketing, communications, media relations, brand development, creative design, website development and maintenance and social media.

Goals include:

• Refresh the EDCKC’s brand.
• Design, develop and implement a strategic marketing plan with measureable goals.
• Elevate and position Kansas City, Missouri as a prime location for relocation and expansion in key targeted industries.
• Increase awareness and advocacy of the organizations services, programs, initiatives and agencies.
• Provide marketing support for EDCKC’s top five strategic initiatives (See addendum for description of each initiative).

Background:

The Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City is a 501c4 nonprofit organization contracted by the City of Kansas City, Missouri to facilitate economic development. The organization’s mission is to grow the city’s economic tax base through the attraction and retention of both domestic and international business. The EDCKC also works with seven affiliated statutory agencies to provide resources for public investment programs. Our main focus areas include business retention and expansion, business recruitment, land and redevelopment, financial support through capital access and marketing and promotion of Kansas City, Missouri.

Scope of Work:

Planning & Strategy

• Conduct, or support conducting, primary market research as needed to identify appropriate target audiences, strategies and tactics to achieve marketing objectives.
• Develop a comprehensive annual marketing and communications strategic plan to meet marketing objectives including key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Follow and recommend application of industry trends and insights to support any necessary adjustments to the strategic plan.

Brand Development

• Create messaging that can be used in various channels to drive awareness, create an emotional connection and educate on key brand elements.
• Develop material and concepts for all of the EDCKC affiliated agencies and initiatives, as needed.

Media Relations

• Perform a media audit and develop a strategic media plan including local and industry focused media.
• Create and maintain targeted media lists (local, trade, national and international).
• Develop and pitch stories, press releases, fact sheets and industry highlights to media and coordinate media interviews.
• Follow and recommend advertising adjustments and/or placement based on trends and/or unique opportunities.
• Support communication efforts including announcements, blog posts and monthly eNewsletter.
• Identify and submit for industry award opportunities.

Creative Services/Graphic Design

• Assist with copywriting and editing.
• Ensure logo consistency.
• Develop creative concepts for a variety of different mediums including graphic design, social media, collateral, website, advertising, video and special campaigns, as needed.
• Support the EDCKC internal marketing needs by providing integrated collateral templates.

Website Development and Maintenance

• Perform a website audit.
• Refresh content keeping in mind lead generation and search engine optimization (SEO).
• Develop content for additional web pages, as needed.
• Work with the EDCKC’s marketing manager to further develop and maintain a digital presence that delivers on brand and supports the organization’s goals.
• Provide site log reports to help measure and understand visitor behavior in order to improve website performance including, but not limited to, web traffic analysis, page views, visitor trends and path analysis.

Social Media

• Coordinate with current social media vendor to develop social media strategy and/or content for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Account Management

• Meet with the EDCKC staff as needed for the purpose of carrying out strategic marketing initiatives.
• Prepare schedules for all projects to ensure they are completed in timely manner.
• Ensure budget and quality control including auditing invoices for time and services.
• Provide weekly status reports on the progress of all open projects.
• Provide analytical data reports to measure overall effectiveness and performance at monthly marketing meeting.

The overall creative strategy and plan will be developed in coordination with the EDCKC. It is requested that firm(s) be able to recommend strategies and expand the impact of the EDCKC’s brand.

The EDCKC reserves the right to perform, manage and/or administer any function referenced within the Scope of Services (SOS). This may alter the amount of overall funds and projects administered by the contract and will be determined on a year-to-year basis.

Due Date:

August 13th

Address:

Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City

Attn: Bob Langenkamp, President & CEO

1100 Walnut, Suite 1700

Kansas City, Missouri, 64106

PR firms with relevant experience includes Makovsky PR and MWWPR.