Marketing and Media Services

The Vendor is required to provide full-service media agencies to provide comprehensive media planning, buying, and strategic services.
- This engagement is intended to establish an agency of record relationship to support advertising and marketing efforts across multiple university units.
- Priority will be given to agencies with specialty capabilities in digital advertising, including programmatic, paid social, search engine marketing, and emerging digital platforms.
- Primary Service Areas
•    Strategic media planning and campaign development for enrollment marketing, brand awareness, research promotion, and community engagement
•    Traditional media planning and buying (broadcast TV/radio, cable, out-of-home, print) 
•    Digital media planning and buying (paid search, display advertising, programmatic, native advertising, video)
•    Social media advertising (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, and emerging platforms)
•    Search engine marketing and optimization (SEM/SEO)
•    Media research and audience insights
•    Creative development and production services (video, audio, digital assets)
•    Campaign performance tracking, analytics, and reporting
•    Marketing automation and customer journey optimization
- Target Audiences
•    Prospective undergraduate students and their families
•    Graduate and professional program prospects
•    Alumni and donors
•    Local, regional, and national communities
•    Peers in the higher education industry
•    State and national legislators
- Objectives
•    Strategic Framework: Develop comprehensive media strategies aligned with university institutional goals, brand positioning, and recruitment objectives across multiple schools, colleges, and programs.
•    Audience Intelligence: Conduct ongoing research and analysis to understand target audiences, competitive landscape, market trends, and emerging opportunities to inform strategic planning and media placements.
•    Brand Awareness: Design and execute campaigns that increase awareness of university programs, strengthen brand perception, and differentiate the university in key markets.
•    Enrollment Marketing: Generate qualified leads and support enrollment goals for undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs through targeted campaigns that move prospects through the recruitment funnel.
•    Digital Excellence: Deploy cutting-edge digital strategies including programmatic advertising, marketing automation, retargeting, lookalike audience development, and multi-touch attribution to optimize campaign performance.
•    Media Efficiency: Negotiate favorable media rates, secure value-added opportunities, and optimize media mix to maximize return on investment across all channels.
•    Performance Measurement: Establish clear KPIs, implement robust tracking and attribution systems, and provide comprehensive reporting that demonstrates campaign effectiveness and ROI.
- Strategic Planning
•    Comprehensive annual media plans for assigned programs and initiatives
•    Campaign-specific tactical plans with timelines, budgets, and resource allocation
•    Creative briefs outlining positioning, targeting, messaging, and creative requirements
•    Market research reports and competitive analyses
•    Strategic recommendations for new tactics, platforms, and optimization opportunities
- Media Planning and Buying
•    Media plans with placement schedules, budget allocations, and rationale
•    Negotiation of media rates and value-added opportunities
•    Placement and trafficking of all media
•    Ongoing campaign monitoring and optimization
•    Management of media vendor relationships and billing
- Creative Services
•    Creative concept development (minimum 3 initial concepts with 3 rounds of revisions)
•    Copywriting and editing for all media formats
•    Graphic design and art direction
•    Video and audio production (or management of production vendors)
•    Digital asset creation (display ads, social media content, email templates)
•    Brand compliance review and quality assurance
- Analytics and Reporting
•    Weekly reporting: Ad spend by channel/platform/program, conversions, cost-per metrics, web traffic, and ongoing optimization recommendations
•    Monthly reporting: Performance rollup, analysis of previous month, volume projections, and proposed spend allocations for upcoming month
•    Quarterly business reviews: Three-month trended analysis, competitive benchmarking, industry trends, and strategic recommendations
•    Annual performance review: Comprehensive analysis of performance highlights, areas for improvement, ROI analysis, and projections for following year
•    Dashboard access for real-time data monitoring