Marketing, Communications, and Media Services

The vendor required to provide marketing, communications, and media services to support specific programming that addresses tobacco and nicotine prevention, cessation, and prevalence, eliminates secondhand smoke and vape emissions exposure, and reduces the state burden of chronic diseases.
- Marketing and communication plans
•    One of the communication goals for programs is to build longer-term, strategic marketing and communication plans. 
•    When budget supported and agreed to by the state, the contractor will work with the division information director(s) and program staff to develop a high-level plan for implementing programmatic projects and campaigns, including associated budgets and timelines, across multiple years. 
•    The contractor and the state will look for alignment between programs and divisions to amplify program efforts and messaging whenever possible.
- Content development
•    Develop and refine campaign concepts and creative materials, based on available audience insights, that will reach the intended audience in a way that is accessible, relevant, and inspires action. 
•    All creative materials developed under this contract are property of the state.
•    Content development will be an iterative process. 
•    The contractor will present preliminary, subsequent, and final rounds of creative materials to the division information director(s) for feedback and approval. 
•    Content developed must consider the socio-economic status, health literacy, age, language, and cultural context of the intended audience(s).
- Media implementation plan
•    Effective health promotion and behavior change marketing ensures culturally relevant, memorable, and appropriate messages are seen and engaged with repeatedly by the intended audience. 
•    The contractor will develop a media implementation plan for each campaign that aligns with the objectives, strategies, timelines, and budgets identified in the program work plan. 
•    The media implementation plan will include identifying and collecting key performance indicators, and other agreed upon measures of success, as well as ongoing performance monitoring and optimization. 
•    These KPIs may include, but are not limited to:
o    Audience reaches and frequency
o    Number of unique page visits
o    Click through rate
o    Time on site
o    Bounce rates
o    Video views
o    Number of user sessions on site (new vs. Returning)
o    Social media page engagement (likes and shares)
o    Conversion rates
•    When identifying appropriate media tactics, the contractor will also assess and adapt any existing program-specific brand(s), strategies, collateral, and other communications that will translate across other programs.
- Media placement and monitoring
•    Methods used for public education and behavior change marketing may include but are not limited to:
o    Traditional media (television, radio and print)
o    Social media and other digital channels
o    Health department community partners
o    Public events
•    Media consumption and KPIs will be monitored by the contractor and monitoring activities may include but are not limited to:
o    Subject, project and campaign
o    Demographic and population segmentation
o    Geography
o    Media channel
o    Social media engagement
o    Gross rating points (grp)
o    Online metrics
•    Paid media, the contractor will give special attention to each project to ensure media rates are reasonable and value is maximized. 
•    The contractor will also consider earned media opportunities.
•    Adhere to a quality control process that ensures campaign messages and media placements meet state expectations. 
•    Media placements will reflect the approved media implementation plan and will include various communication channels and tactics.
- Social media monitoring and response
•    Monitor comments on paid social media ads and respond in alignment with social media protocol provided by the department.
•    When requested by the division information director(s) and agreed upon in the program work plan, the contractor will develop a social media response bank to identify themes of potential comments and example responses to comments. 
•    The information director(s) with concerns about posts, or a potential response needed that falls outside of the approved social media response bank.
- Campaign performance
•    Online ad campaign performance must be measurable using tools such as tracking codes to support analysis and “Pixeling” on state and partner websites to allow for modelling of ad delivery. 
•    Online analytics will be reviewed weekly, at a minimum, so the contractor can optimize and adjust campaigns expeditiously. 
•    The state, in collaboration with the contractor, will determine the reporting mechanism and frequency for sharing key performance indicators during the campaign.