UMUC RFP Digital Advertising Media Buying Services Questions

Transcription

1 1. How many agencies will be submitting proposals for this round of the RFP? A: UMUC is unable to disclose the number and identity of agencies who responded to the Phase 2 Solicitation document while the procurement process is ongoing. Please refer to Section III., Article 1., Paragraph 5, 5.3. Initial Technical Evaluation at page 14 of the Phase 2 Solicitation document, which states that, The decision for continuation in the procurement process (or further shortlists) will be made by the strengths, weaknesses, advantages, and deficiencies of the technical proposal. 2. For Appendix B, price proposal, there is not sufficient space to provide our pricing model/structure. Are we allowed to copy the content and place it in our own formatted document? A: The Proposer may provide content in its own format as long as it is responsive to the solicitation. Proposers are reminded that they must respond to Item #2 of the Price Proposal sheet in the manner prescribed by UMUC so that a comparable evaluation can be made of all Proposers pricing. 3. How many team members will be able to attend the oral presentation? A: While there is no limit in the number of team members that may attend, UMUC is interested in the Key Personnel who are/will be assigned to UMUC s account. Please refer to Section III, Article 2, of the solicitation. Time is limited to approximately one hour. So, please keep this in mind when considering the size of your team in attendance. 4. Measurement: a. KPIs: Other than enrollees, what defines success? b. What metrics are you able to measure and what metrics do you share with your agency? c. Will you be able to pass back leads and enrollees by source for phone activity? d. Provide percent enrollees by source: Offline and Online? e. Confirm that there is no Brick and Mortar response option (everything is online or phone response). f. Do you measure revenue by enrollee? g. Do you use dynamic phone numbers? A: a. UMUC measures a multitude of KPIs, including number of inquiries, applications, and enrollments, as well as cost-per metrics for each such measure and lead score. b. UMUC is able to track inquiries, applications, and enrollments by source and in total, as well as associated cost-per-metrics and lead score. All of these data points are able to be passed back to awarded agency(s). c. At this time, UMUC s phone data is limited in terms of being able to be attributed by source,

2 so this level of data would not be able to be provided. If this changes in the future, discussions will be held with awarded vendor(s) on how to provide this data. d. Detailed information on the current source of enrollments will be discussed with awarded vendor(s). e. While the vast majority of responses are received online or by phone, UMUC has more than 140 locations throughout the world, including at military installations. f. While UMUC is able to measure revenue by enroll, this is not currently a KPI UMUC focuses on, as our goal is to educate the most students possible. Instead, we may focus on measures such as cost-per-enrollment. g. No. UMUC has a pool of unique phone numbers that are able to be used for given sources as necessary. To date, these have been assigned at the individual channel or campaign level. 5. Technology: a. Do you require a specific adserver? Do you have a contract directly with an adserver, or will you be using the agency s? b. Do you currently use a DMP? If so, which one? c. What bid management system do you currently use to manage your SEM? Will you require us to use the same one? d. What is the timing for tagging your site? Are there ever problems with getting this completed? A: a. UMUC does not require a specific adserver to be used by our awarded vendor(s) and would defer to awarded vendor(s) for their recommendations on the best adserver in order to meet the university s goals. b. UMUC s current agency leverages the DoubleClick suite. Awarded vendor(s) are encouraged to leverage DMPs of their choosing in order to meet the university s goals. \ c. UMUC does not require a specific bid management system to be used by our awarded vendor(s) and would defer to awarded vendor(s) for their recommendations on the best adserver in order to meet the university s goals. d. UMUC leverages Google Tag Manager for all site tags. The timing for all tagging is dependent on the complexity of the tagging structure being requested, but is handled internally within the university s Media team, which minimizes the time involved. 6. Agency Participation: a. Are you currently happy with your existing agency? If not, why? If so, are they participating in this RFP? A: UMUC is unable to disclose its experience with its current vendor. Also, UMUC is unable to disclose the number and identity of agencies who submitted responses while the procurement process is ongoing.

3 7. Marketing Strategies: Who do you consider your top 5 competitors? A: As a primarily online, public state university, UMUC s competitors are those institutions who are similar in nature and are currently offering online higher education degrees and/or those who may begin to offer such degrees in the future. UMUC also faces competition from historically for-profit online education providers. The specific competitor set varies based on location and audience-focus (for example, military vs. direct-to-consumer) and may change based on new entrants to the market. 8. What has been the greatest digital marketing challenge for the University of Maryland? A: As with many companies, the biggest area of focus for UMUC s digital marketing is how to generate the most qualified inquiries for efficient cost-per-inquiries, especially given the everincreasing competitive landscape. 9. How does University of Maryland currently measure attribution? A: Currently, net new inquiries are attributed to a given source based on the last click/first form completion method. 10. What has been University of Maryland s experience with mobile? How are they measuring its value within the sales funnel? A: Existing paid digital media channels leverage mobile targeting where available. However, as performance across platforms (desktop vs. tablet vs. mobile) varies by channel, there is no set value across the sales funnel. Within each channel, bid modifiers or other adjustments are made based on performance. 11. What has been University of Maryland s experience with paid social? Did they find they were able to drive enrollments via this network? A: UMUC, working with various agency partners, has tested a number of targeting tactics, geographies, and ad formats within paid social media. Some of these tactics have been able to generate enrollments successfully, whereas others have been stronger at brand awareness and/or inquiry generation. 12. What is UMUC s definition of Advanced/Digital TV? We define this as Sync and Retarget, and OTT. A: Advanced/Digital TV includes any television viewing opportunity which extends beyond traditional cable and local stations; some examples may include viewing services offered through NCC Media, Hulu, Sling, Roku, etc.

4 13. What is a key digital marketing characteristic UMUC is looking for in their new agencies of record? A: As per Section 1, subsection 1.2 of the Phase 2 of this solicitation, the Objective, The selected contractor(s) must have a successful record of assisting organizations achieve growth through a proactive, analytical, innovative, and best-of-breed media buying approach. UMUC is looking for strategic partner(s) sophisticated, engaged firms with differentiated subject matter expertise and a proven, results-oriented background in acquisition marketing. 14. Of the situational subjects, what is priority for UMUC? A: UMUC seeks to understand the strengths of each agency participating in this solicitation across all of the situational subjects. No priority is placed within those given subjects. 15. Does UMUC have a unique CPA goal across specific areas of study? A: UMUC does not have a unique CPA goal across specific areas of study. The goal is to educate as many students as possible and seeks to generate as many qualified inquiries as possible across all subject areas. 16. What has been the greatest challenge with prospecting new students for UMUC? A: The online higher education space is a very competitive market with new schools offering online classes all the time. As such, standing out in the crowded marketplace is a challenge. 17. What has been the greatest challenge with engaging local markets? A: Please see the answer to question 16 above. 18. What has been the greatest challenge with engaging national markets? A: As a Maryland-based public state university, brand awareness is currently low across national markets, resulting in lower engagement levels than locally in the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia) market. 19. What has been a successful demographic/audience profile for UMUC? A: UMUC offers higher education to a wide range of students. There is not a singularly successful demographic/audience profile. Students range in age from those just out of high school through to older adults; those looking for a bachelor s or master s degree to those just taking classes as part of continual learning; and those currently serving in the military or veterans to working adults to first-generation college students, etc. 20. What level of involvement will the UMUC team have in the media strategy, planning, and buys? A: UMUC relies on its agency partner(s) to provide media strategy and recommended plans. However, UMUC s media team is actively involved in reviewing media plans to ensure they

5 meet UMUC s overall goals and leverage historical performance data, accordingly. All buys are to be executed by awarded agency(ies) based on approved media plans. 21. If the pricing model/structure is based on a $10 million annual media buying expenditure, is it safe to assume this is your actual annual budget? A: The $10 million annual media expenditure included is somewhat arbitrary and based on allowing for a fair comparison across all Proposers as indicated in Section 3, Article 3. Annual budgets may vary based on UMUC s goals. Please also refer to Section I. General Information, Paragraph 1. Summary, 1.2 Objective at page 4 of the Phase 2 Solicitation document which states all Proposers are advised that UMUC makes no guarantee that any task orders will be issued or any minimal dollar amount will be spent under the resulting Master Contract. UMUC anticipates awarding non-exclusive contracts to multiple marketing and advertising companies as a result of this Solicitation. 22. Based on this RFP, what is the geographic scope for paid media? Is there desire to expand nationally or internationally? A: As per Section 2, subsection 2, Scope of Services, The awarded vendor(s) shall provide digital advertising media buying services both in local markets and possibly nationally. Minimally, this contract is to continue driving enrollments in the local DMV market (Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia), and test at least one additional market this coming year. Currently, some digital advertising extends nationally to take advantage of available demand; but the continuation of digital advertising nationally will be dependent on available budgets and recommendations of awarded vendor(s). 23. What are the top enrolled programs and/or programs with capacity (IT, cyber security, etc.) to promote via paid media? A: UMUC is committed to driving inquiries, and ultimately enrollments, for all of its programs university-wide through targeted media and/or generating overall brand awareness. Currently, the top enrolling verticals are business and cybersecurity. 24. Will there be creative assets specific to programs and enrollment lead times in order to serve more relevant creative messaging via paid media? A: Yes, creative by program and/or enrollment lead times can be provided. UMUC has an internal creative team who is able to provide creative as deemed necessary.

6 25. Is there any flexibility to include minimum amounts? We try to keep our pricing simple, and not include additional service hours/billing, for services and training. As such, we ask our partners to provide a commitment for spending. Is that possible? A: Please refer to Section I. General Information, Paragraph 1. Summary, 1.2 Objective at page 4 of the Phase 2 Solicitation document which states, All Proposers are advised that UMUC makes no guarantee that any task orders will be issued or any minimal dollar amount will be spent under the resulting Master Contract. UMUC anticipates awarding non-exclusive contracts to multiple marketing and advertising companies as a result of this Solicitation.