NVSTED Issues RFP For Marketing Support and Strategy

Nvsted issues this request for proposals (“RFP”) for a firm to aid in designing and executing an online/digital/traditional marketing campaign to draw target users to the website and take action.

Background:

STL Critical Technologies Corporation JV I, LLC d/b/a Nvsted (“Nvsted”) provides an innovative, new online funding portal that provides a way for investors to help fund area startups. This St. Louis-centric crowdfunding marketplace has received federal Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) approval and is now open to St. Louis-based businesses and investors across the United States. Nvsted is unique; it is the only regulation crowdfunding marketplace specific to the St. Louis region and the first in the nation organized by an economic development agency

Scope of Work:

Identification of potential website users:

• The users of the website may be broken up into two broad categories:
  • Investors – The investors using the website are those who want to participate in funding privately-held companies in the greater St. Louis region, but they can be from anywhere as long as they are a U.S. citizen. They commonly have a high interest in investment in a general sense, but they also are motivated by more than getting a return on their money (philanthropy; taking an active part in their communities). Usually, they are high-income earners, but this is not a requirement for our website. Investment amounts on the site must be between $100 – $107,000.
  • Companies – These are startup and early-stage companies in the greater St. Louis region who are looking to raise between $50k – $1.07m for their business. The companies that are generally the best fit for crowdfunding are B2C and B2B companies with consumable products/services that are easy to relate to and understand. These companies tend to be less than 3 years old, and often are less than 1 year old. They may currently have low employment numbers, but have the potential to employ more of both high- and low-skill workers. These companies usually are currently generating less than $250k of gross annual revenue, but have a high potential for growth.
• Using the above data and assumptions as a starting point, develop a method (or use existing methods) to identify and target both investors and companies who are likely to use

Design and execution of an online/digital/traditional marketing campaign:

• The goal is to implement a plan which targets the demographic identified above and convert that demographic into site users.
• Success may be measured by the following:
  • Investors – Potential investors come to the site and create an investor profile. Additionally, they will spend time on the website viewing the investment opportunities, hopefully leading to an
    • Deliverables:
      • 15,000 website sessions per month
      • 7,500 website users per month
      • 200 new investor profiles per month, with a potential to exponentially grow this number month-to-month
      • Bounce rate less than 60%
  • Companies – Potential companies come to the site and create a company profile. Additionally, they will reach out to the Nvsted team using contact information provided to them, and they will also spend time developing their company page and adding
    • Deliverables:
      • 5 new company pages started per month
• The plan may incorporate paid ad campaigns, including website banner ads, AdWords, native advertising, social media buys, and other paid services to include traditional print and digital print
• The plan may also incorporate the addition of specific landing pages for each target audience member, but the scope of such an addition would need to be discussed in advance to ensure compliance with FINRA.

Due Date:

August 7th

Address:

Nvsted

c/o St. Louis Economic Development Partnership

7733 Forsyth Boulevard, Suite 2200

St. Louis, MO 63105

ATTN: Howl Bean II

314-615-7663

hbean@stlpartnership.com

Telephone: +44 3005556666

E-mail: Procurement@whgrp.co.uk

Agencies who could be a fit include Rubenstein PR and Coyne PR.