MONTCLAIR STATE UNIVERSITY Request for Proposal For Montclair Unbound Marketing
Bid Submission Due Date: 10/9/23 10:00 AM
3.0 SCOPE OF WORK
3.1 MARKET RESEARCH
The Contractor shall:
1) Provide initial and ongoing market analysis, either annually or as needed, of Montclair’s masters, certificate, and online program offerings to help identify key programs to focus our marketing efforts, assist in setting a marketing budget, strategies and setting of enrollment goals and KPIs
2) Provide detailed market research and recommendations for potential new programs that can go to market and include the industry standard methodology that is used to perform the analysis (e.g., surveys, public data, and competitive analysis)
3) Have a minimum of three (3) years of experience working with higher education clients
3.2 PROGRAM MARKETING
The Contractor shall develop and execute a strategic multi-platform marketing campaign to strengthen Montclair’s brand position for Montclair Unbound’s key programs as follows:
1) Identify market opportunities and segments to enhance recruitment efforts
2) Build brand awareness (for the program areas listed/proposed) to increase enrollment numbers and diversify student demographics.
3) Construct an omnichannel strategy for the programs above that includes the following:
a. An overarching plan
b. Detailed Strategy for each program
c. Proposed qualified lead-generating numbers by program
d. Anticipated conversion rates from inquiry through matriculation
e. Retargeting/remarketing plans
f. Success metrics (leads, applications, and starts)
4) Provide tracking dashboards for use by Montclair State University program managers through a web interface and a precise schedule for ongoing communication with key Montclair .representative
5) Create organic, and paid marketing campaigns to drive prospective students to program-specific landing pages (LP). Note that each LP must feed into the University’s instance of Slate and must reflect all learning modalities, not just online (or, at a minimum, have easily identifiable links to different modalities for the same program). All landing pages must be hosted by the awarded firm and directed off of the Montclair.edu domain.
6) Create marketing content to drive organic leads (such as blogs and videos) and provide recommendations for search engine optimization (SEO) for University web pages related to graduate programs. This includes, but is not limited to, recommendations to improve website searches, suggestions on the quality of indexed web pages, descriptions of critical search keywords and content to improve site rankings. (Note: The University’s website is currently being overhauled with an estimated completion date of 12/24)
7) As part of organic marketing, develop business-to-business relationships to help drive student enrollment.
8) Provide daily oversight to ensure effectiveness of our marketing campaigns such as A/B testing,
etc.
9) As needed, develop and execute the creative copywriting, graphic design, production, and delivery of campaign assets
10) Develop and implement a plan for influencer and social media marketing in collaboration with University Marketing and Communications.
11) Consult with the University program management team quarterly (or as needed) to:
a. Improve and refine the University’s marketing efforts for programs on an as needed basis
b. Review KPIs and ensure alignment of marketing efforts
12) Have any earned media efforts approved by University Communications and Marketing
13) Agree that all Intellectual Property is owned by Montclair State University.
14) Ensure all marketing, branding, and promotion align with Montclair’s branding standards
(including editorial and visual identity guidelines).
15) Ensure all creative materials are reviewed and approved by Montclair State University prior to the implementation of any campaign. Approvals must be in writing
3.3 ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS
The Contractor must provide:
1) Web content that is mobile friendly
2) Landing pages that are hosted by the vendor and redirected to the Montclair.edu domain. All landing page content must be approved by the University prior to implementation and adhere to provided branding standards
3) Content developed with accessibility in mind, with the minimum being industry standard Level AA of the W3C’s WCAG Guidelines
4) Compliance with all relevant state and federal regulations. Which includes, but not limited to, CAN Spam Act, FERPA, Safe Harbor, NC-SARA, and other relevant regulations?
5) Its own technical solution to collect and track incoming inquiries. The technical solution must either interact with Slate, or other University CRM (Canvas, Ellucian Banner/Workday) or the firm must be able to channel incoming inquiries directly to Slate or other admission CRM.
