While Q1 ad revenue, sales cycles and payment windows appeared to be equally bad across the media industry, bright spots arose around consumer revenue streams, new tech experimentation and traffic patterns.
No matter which request type you issue, the ultimate benefits of using one for your vendor interactions will be the same. Both RFPs and RFIs give you a method for standardizing how you evaluate potential media vendors, thereby helping you make much better, more objective decisions when it comes to choosing paid media.
Media agency RFPs are beneficial for vendors, too. Sure, they can be time-consuming to create but it gives them the opportunity to show the prospective agency beyond the sole media buy. Vendors often create their own media plan and project management.
One useful way to think about your media agency RFPs and RFIs is as a brief. In other words, what business goals are you aiming to achieve, what problems are you tackling, and what role will the media buy play in reaching your outcomes?
In advertising, Media Buying is the process of actualizing the Media Plan which includes buying strategy, media research, RFPs, insertion orders (IOs), performance tracking, vendor bill reconciliation, and campaign reporting.
When digital was just a tiny slice of budgets, immature, and complicated by technology, the digital media team was separate from the seasoned core media team. In fact, digital media was so distinct that standalone digital Media Buying agencies were common.
Instead of the digital Media Buying team off in one corner, the social team off in another corner, and traditional media team in another corner, we now see Media Buying teams integrated across media channels.
Your Media Buying strategy should consider the goals, budgets, timing, reach, frequency, costs, and KPIs in the Media Plan. Of particular consideration are the media channels because the strategies for each channel vary wildly. For example, strategies for television and social media will be quite different from each other.
Your consideration set is far from a final list of media buys. In fact, you should plan to abandon two-thirds of your consideration set. As a rule of thumb, only one third of the consideration set ends up in a media buy.
However, in my experience, setting terms and conditions is a power play. Powerful media vendors will insist on their terms and conditions. Powerful brands will insist on their terms and conditions. Powerful agencies will insist on their terms and conditions.
a) Develop and align on the holistic strategic framework pertaining to integrating media with creativity to achieve the set goals. Ensure each tactical initiative is in line and supports the overarching strategic framework.
Delgado Community College wishes to enter into an agreement for media buying services based upon an effective marketing strategy incorporating traditional and new media. Working with Delgado Public Relations and Marketing professionals to gain an understanding of Delgado and its strategic goals, the Contractor shall develop and implement a data-driven marketing strategy that will increase awareness about Delgado to assist in meeting the educational and workforce needs of the Greater New Orleans Region. Media buys should enhance the brand and reputation of Delgado through the delivery of messaging that targets specific audiences within the New Orleans regional media market.
The services sought under this contract include: marketresearch; negotiation of favorable advertising rates and placements foradvertising messages; developing a new annual media plan in collaboration withDelgado Public Relations and Marketing; providing media buying services forgrant-funded initiatives and other marketing objectives not included in the annualmedia plan; providing detailed information regarding advertising placementsupon request (within 48 hours of request); managing all requests from mediarepresentatives; managing all interaction between the college and mediaoutlets/ad producers; providing demographic and market analysis information tothe college as requested (within 48 hours of request). The contractor will berequired to perform the services to the satisfaction of Delgado as assessed bythe Director of Public Relations and Marketing.
The development of creative content is outside the scope ofthis contract; therefore, Delgado will be responsible for providing allcreative content needed to implement the media plan. Contractor will work withDelgado personnel to ensure that the creative content provided to media isproperly formatted and delivered on time to meet media distribution schedules.
This is where you clearly set out what you want to be achieved and what services you want to procure to do it. It is also an opportunity to explain what resources you will be dedicating to the project in terms of project management, media budget, access to creative and so forth. This will give agencies an idea of what they are working with, so they can put together an appropriate sized resource package.
The RFP process exists so that a media planner can collect ideas for their plan and negotiate rates for their brand or their client. The need for price negotiation may decline thanks to biddable media, but the basic need for ideas and to get a simple explanation of relevant custom ad units will remain.
One fundamental change that I expect to occur will be the development of a new RFP template that is relevant to real-time media buying. I looked through all the RFP requests that Chango (my employer) has received over the last 90 days, and more than 60% were designed for buying premium inventory with custom placements.
This makes no sense for a programmatic media buy where the impressions are bought against individuals, not against sites. There is an unwritten understanding between the buyer and the seller as to what should be entered here as a suitable response, but with an updated template, it could be such a richer response.
Many of you might not realize that your super awesome real-time media plan is sometimes still bought by faxing back and forth a piece of paper. I wonder how many fax machines are sold today purely for the display media world?!
Sellers now receive a notification in Salesforce that they have been invited to an RFP, which they can access directly in an opportunity record containing comprehensive data around budgets, audience segments, and media plan objectives to facilitate deeper collaboration with buyers.
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Most ad agencies have traditional Media Buyers. The Traditional Buyers focus on Broadcast media with sales teams or media reps requiring media buy contracts. In contrast, Digital Buyers typically buy programmatically without the need for a representative.
Request for Proposal (RFP) is an official document announcing and providing details about an upcoming media buy and solicits bids (or rates) from media venues. Media outlet sales reps typically review RFPs.
Media buyers or assistants are usually accountable for sending traffic to the media outlets purchased on the buy. Traffic is an official document and includes campaign details like the client, flight dates, spot rotation, and links to creative assets.
Frequency measures the number of ad exposures. Most ad agencies prefer one over the other for their media goals (i.e., maximizing reach or maximizing frequency) as advertising budgets usually do not allow advertisers to have both.
Reviewing weekly spot time reports ensures your broadcast schedule is running (you would be amazed how many orders can fall through the cracks), spots and bonus spots are placed correctly, your weekly budget is pacing to plan. Check for makegood opportunities and ensure equal or greater value for any media pre-empted or bumped by higher-paid ads.
The RFC is currently implemented in two commercially available products by NextMark: (1) Media Magnet for media planners and (2) Compass for ad salespeople. Both products access the RFC platform via a web API. The RFC engine and API is available to third party software developers via licensing agreement.
But as powerful a tool as programmatic advertising has been for marketers, the programmatic market has been riddled with material issues, including a lack of transparency (data and dollars), fractured accountability, and mind-numbing complexity. These issues impair critical decision-making by marketers, leading to wasteful and unproductive media-buying decisions and crippled and meaningless analytical capabilities.
According to Inc.com, an RFP can often range from 20-to-50 pages long, and a response can take several weeks to complete. A typical RFP uses a deadline of between four and eight weeks; offering media planners the longer end of that range allows them to respond to you with more thoughtful and accurate data.
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