Marketing & Advertising Services

Black Hills State University (BHSU) is seeking a multimedia marketing and advertising agency through a Request for Proposal (RFP #23RFP9483) to execute comprehensive marketing and communications services. The primary objective is to launch targeted campaigns focusing on enrollment growth across undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs, with specific emphasis on local and regional recruitment areas including the Black Hills region, eastern Wyoming, northern Colorado, western Nebraska, and western North Dakota. The selected vendor must demonstrate capabilities in developing and producing diverse media content, including television commercials, digital messaging, paid social media, out-of-home media, graphic design, billboards, and printed collateral. The agency will be responsible for media scheduling, placement, design services, and strategic consulting, with proposals required to address budget requirements and specific approaches for meeting enrollment growth objectives. Key deadlines include a proposal submission due date of January 24, 2024, with all inquiries to be emailed to Barbara.Mustard@sdsmt.edu by the specified deadline, and responses to be posted on the state's e-procurement system. BHSU reserves the right to award separate contracts for different campaign components and will evaluate proposals based on best value, considering both price and technical factors.

While no specific set-aside designations or restrictions on vendor types were explicitly mentioned in the documents, the procurement appears open to qualified multimedia marketing agencies. The contract has a defined budget of $150,000 for the first year and $100,000 for each of the subsequent two years, with a potential three-year term and options to renew for two additional one-year periods. BHSU has not previously conducted a paid media campaign, indicating this is a new strategic initiative for the university. The university will consider proposals that demonstrate innovative approaches to market research and enrollment growth strategies. The total not-to-exceed budget for the entire contract period is approximately $350,000, with flexibility for BHSU to potentially divide the contract among multiple vendors based on specific campaign components. Vendors will need to showcase expertise in creating targeted advertising strategies specifically designed to attract traditional students in the identified regional recruitment markets.