How to Choose the Right Agency to Get Your Marketing Project Started? So many to choose from, it can be a hard decision to make on which organization to go with.
Whether it’s for marketing services or any other services, you can simplify and be sure of your choice by creating an RFP. This blog will share with you our RFP best practices so you know you’re pitching your A game.
What is an RFP?
Let’s start from the beginning. The most valuable use of an RFP if you’re looking to hire an agency or a freelancer to do marketing work for you.
So, before we get to our RFP best practices, let’s first discuss what an RFP is and how you can leverage it for your company.
Let’s start by saying that an RFP, an RFI, and an RFQ differ a great deal from each other. So for this blog we will be talking only about and refer to RFPs.
What are RFIs and RFQs?
An RFI (request for information) has fewer questions than an RFP and is intended to determine if a vendor belongs on the list of vendors that the company sends its RFP to. An RFQ (request for quotation) asks for very specific, pertinent cost information about the product/service that’s being solicited.
An RFP is a Request for Proposal and this is what your organization will create if you are trying to sell something you don’t have in house, or need help with.
And that’s exactly what you have in your RFP if we’re talking about marketing services: an RFP, a document that details the solutions your company requires. Then you’ll be able to email this file to any vendor that you want to inquire with.
What is The Advantage of Having a Good RFP?
Writing a successful RFP might take some time and effort to write in the first place. But when you invest now, you’ll see the savings of time and money in the long run.
#1. Find the Most Qualified Companies
Be strategic about who you’re sending your RFP to – You’ll inject competition and urgency in that vendor pool. The vendors are trying to show up to be the vendor that’s right for you so they’re going to show up and try their best.
For the most part, if your RFP is structured well and lists out your objectives and objectives then you’re going to receive quality answers back. So you’ll have peace of mind that you’re going to select a vendor who provides the best service and the best match for your project.
Added bonus: you’ll also keep the work you’re doing on securing the best companies for your task on your vendor list in case you have a follow-up project.
#2. Make Quick Comparisons Across Vendors
The other great thing about posting an RFP is that you will be getting the same features from all of your vendors. This gives you an apples-to-apples comparison. You see the same services and the price; expertise of the team and timelines differ from vendor to vendor.
The same questions are asked of all your vendors. So you won’t have to chase around with emails or look up solutions on their sites, it will be there.
#3. Save Time in the Long Run
As we have mentioned above, writing a good RFP will take time in the beginning. But you’ll also be reducing time in the long term. When you submit an RFP, the interviews and selection is easier.
What to offer In Your RFP For Marketing Services?
As with any document, you’ll need to find a way to have enough detail for your vendors to understand what services you’re after, without overstuffing your document with details a vendor will be able to find on your website.
Generally speaking, here are some generalized items you should submit as per our best practices in a RFP.
- Company Overview
- Point of Contact Information
- Project Description & Goals
- Agency Selection Timeline
- Budget
- Evaluation Metrics
- Submission Requirements
- Final Thanks
Browse marketing RFP examples to see what to put in your RFP document.
RFP for Marketing Services To Sending Your RFP – Click Here.
When you’re done with your RFP, send it to vendors. That’s a lot of brain-scratching when trying to figure out who you’re sending it to so you can be sure you’re getting the best vendors emailing you, their info.
Our only suggestion is to research them first. List down a few vendors who will work with your company’s mission, values, and goals. Our suggestion is to post your RFP to 3–5 vendors.
Here are some things to ask when picking your vendors.
- Where is the agency located? And do I want to work with them online?
- Is the service they provide compatible with my project?
- Have they got great Google and social reviews?
- Are they done with projects like mine?
- Are their professional beliefs the same as ours?
Maximum — 7 vendors per RFP (as you know). When you are sending out RFP to too many vendors, it becomes hard and complicated to decide. You want to be sure you are only submitting the RFP to companies you feel you would be a good fit for.
The Marketing RFP Selection Process
You’ve submitted a successful RFP and now you’ve received vendor lists. And then the final picks. But there are some standards you should look for when it comes to checking out the vendors.
Some criteria will be different depending on the purpose of your RFP and the RFP objective. But a general guideline is, ask the vendor about their reputation, price, turnaround time, and communication.
Sometimes you are going to be working with this vendor for a good amount of time so not only is price important, you should also be analyzing work, testimonials, and their values. And if they have not worked with the company then ask yourself: how did they find working with the company?
The more you can understand about the vendor and what they are considered as authority in the field, the better you will be able to judge how trustworthy they are. You’ll be given an inside view and forecast on the future relationship.
Recommended Timeline
When your selection takes place will be dependent on when you are posting RFPs, and what you are able to manage. If you are submitting an RFP right before the year ends, for instance, you’ll get a bit of extra time on account of the holidays.
We recommend, as a general guideline, that you limit the time from concept to execution to 5 weeks. So, it doesn’t take forever, you don’t have other questions and your project is ready to go quickly.
- Week 1: Reach out to 3 to 5 vendors with your RFP.
- Week 2: Take vendor questions and have the first meeting.
- Week 3: Vendors mail final bids to you.
- Week 4: Pick your last vendors and contact their references.
- Week 5: Team up internally to pick vendor.
Questions to Ask in the Marketing RFP Process
You’ll be asking questions of your vendor and scheduling some first meetings with them in week 2.
We have a list of questions below to introduce you to the vendor and their capabilities.
- Who is going to be my contact person?
- Where are you located?
- How long have you been in the industry?
- How many clients do you have?
- How many projects have you worked on that were similar to mine?
- How many employees do you have?
- Do you contract your work or have any projects that you have outsourced or are you consulting with?
Some Final RFP Best Practices
After you’ve learned how to create a successful marketing services RFP, what you should ask when evaluating companies and what is a good timeline, here are some last RFP best practices.
1. Be on the ball for the work.
Before you even post the RFP and collect information from vendors, be sure your company is up for the project. Questions: Have your leadership and project managers ask so that the workload can be distributed and that you’re able to pass a budget.
2. Be specific about what you need and want in your project.
So that you do not get hit by a car in the selection, be precise and specific with your RFP, anticipate the question your vendors will have and include them in your RFP.
3. Be legible in your RFP.
Whenever possible, bullet points and headings are helpful so a vendor is not lost trying to scan through your RFP to see what’s most important.
What Format Do I Need for My RFP?
The answer is a mixed bag but we recommend tables and lists when available. Your questions should all be mapped to a separate section to avoid confusion. Don’t forget to leave room for the vendor to reply!
4. Your RFP should not replace an in-person meeting.
An RFP helps you to streamline the process but it should never replace a first encounter with a potential vendor. That 1:1 contact is very important to understand the full picture of that vendor.
5. Check your RFP response on a scaler.
You may want to choose different criteria but whatever you do build in a scaling algorithm so that all responses get equal weight. Decide what are your top-most qualities and when you’re beginning to build your vendor list, ranked each vendor according to that feature.
Where Should I Assess my RFP Answers?
We suggest scoring RFPs. Rate the answers you get on a 1-5 or 1-10 scale. This gives you more apples to apples comparisons, for you get more for your dollar.
6. Don’t make cost the central part of your RFP.
Cost is something you may consider when you make the choice, but it should not be the determining factor. Consider it as a stool with three legs, if you do not balance the scales your project will be disproportionate. Ideally, you should take into account the following 3 qualities.
- Speed. What about the project timeline?
- Cost. What is the price of the project?
- Quality. Do you like the end result?
We go the good, quick, and cheap route. : You probably won’t get more than 2 of these 3 traits. If you’re just after quick, easy stuff, it’s probably not going to be very good.
7. Request references only from your top vendors.
Your vendors are going to request your customers to be a reference for your RFP. That’s a big commitment and it takes time out of a client’s day to meet or call. As a best practice RFP however we recommend to only request your most successful vendors for references for an enhanced experience.
8. Alert vendors who didn’t win the job.
The vendors put in the time to build a proposal and that’s also time-consuming. Courtesy: Tell sellers when you weren’t picked so they aren’t hung up.
Make sure you are getting the right vendor for the job by having a defined project and reading our RFP best practices.
