Advertising Services

The Vendor is required to provide advertising and related communications services in support of the university’s undergraduate and goat (graduate, online, adult, and transfer) recruitment efforts.
- Includes strategic planning, media strategy, media buying and placement, performance analysis, and coordination across multiple channels and platforms.
- Includes the identification and deployment of a college search strategy spanning students’ freshman through senior years of high school.
- The search component should support intentional, segmented outreach aligned to defined student personas and recruitment pathways, including direct admit and other targeted swim lanes, and should integrate with paid media and communications strategies to support long-term pipeline development and enrollment growth.
- Service requirements may include, but are not limited to:
•    Media and channel strategy across paid, search, and traditional platforms
•    College search services supporting early- and mid-funnel recruitment efforts
•    Audience segmentation and persona-aligned media planning
•    Budget management and media partner negotiation
•    Performance monitoring and reporting aligned with university goals
•    Collaboration with university teams on timing, priorities, and execution.
- General requirements:
•    Include discovery and planning sessions to develop a clear understanding of the university’s strategic priorities, audiences, challenges, and opportunities; media and channel strategy development; creative-informed media planning across digital, print, broadcast, search (SEO/SEM), social, and other emerging or traditional platforms as appropriate; media buying and placement; budget stewardship and forecasting; rate and value negotiations with media partners; management of production and placement timelines; and performance reporting on a monthly, campaign based, and as-needed basis. 
•    While print and other traditional media may be included, proposals are not required to encompass every channel, provided the recommended approach is strategically sound and aligned with university goals.
•    Paid advertising represents a substantial component of the university’s overall marketing ecosystem and is primarily positioned as top- and mid-funnel activity, complemented by email marketing, SMS campaigns, in-person outreach, promotional materials, and other engagement tactics.
•    Campaigns should prioritize generating applications and leads, while also supporting secondary performance indicators such as website engagement, content interaction, downloads, organic search growth, and other indicators of consideration and intent.
•    The university assesses return on ad spend both holistically and in relation to how individual campaigns contribute to the broader strategic plan.
•    More detailed performance data, historical reporting, and ROI methodologies will be shared with the successful vendor upon execution of the contract.
•    Advertising and enrollment marketing efforts may be deployed across multiple geographic markets and modalities, with strategic prioritization driven by program demand, modality (including fully online and hybrid offerings), enrollment potential, competitive landscape, and institutional growth objectives.
•    Partner capable of developing differentiated strategies for campus-based and online programs, with particular emphasis on expanding awareness and enrollment for online programs in new and underpenetrated markets.
•    The university maintains an active presence across major digital and social platforms and is open to considering new or underutilized channels where data supports their relevance and effectiveness.
•    Video creative to support social media and connected TV environments is viewed as a valuable component of the media mix.
•    Search and related efforts should integrate with paid media and communications strategies to ensure consistent messaging, coordinated timing, and measurable impact across the student lifecycle.
•    The university expects a defined and strategic focus on goat—the office of graduate, online, adult, and transfer—with dedicated planning, audience segmentation, and lead generation strategies designed specifically to support graduate, online, adult, and transfer enrollment growth.
•    The university utilizes slate CRM and is actively working toward deeper integration between media performance and ultimate matriculation to the university.
•    Creative development, including copy and design, will be managed internally by the university, with assets provided to the agency partner.
•    Day-to-day coordination will involve a small core team, with broader stakeholder engagement occurring during annual or long-range strategic planning
•    The university’s recruitment efforts are institution-wide and encompass undergraduate, graduate, and online programs, with identified priority programs supported through targeted campaigns.