Get The Responses You Want From Online Marketing Companies With These Essential RFP Tips

As a business owner looking for help with an online marketing, a request for proposal, or RFP, can be an excellent way to determine which online marketing agency is best suited for your company.  However, if your request for proposal is not a good one, you won't get the responses you need to make a sound decision. Use the following tips to ensure that you get the feedback you need to choose the right marketing agency for your business.

Have Clear Goals

You may assume that when you hire an online marketing company, they will do whatever you need to have done. This is only true up to a point. Different marketing agencies have areas of expertise, and if you do not have clear goals in mind, you may end up hiring a company that cannot give you the services you need. For instance, if after choosing a marketing agency you decide you want to start a blog, they may not offer that service.

Therefore, take the time to do some research about what services you want an online marketing agency to do for you. That way, you can give marketing agencies a clear idea of what you're looking for. Clear goals in your RFP will also prevent the wrong companies from responding with a proposal, as they will know whether they can accomplish what you'd like to have done.

Don't Include Too Many Requirements

In their RFP, some companies dictate that marketing proposals meet all kinds of requirements. For example, they may want every marketing agency's proposal to be a certain number of pages, or they may require a certain number of samples. However, it is critical that you focus less on these requirements and more on the content of each agency's proposal. While you don't want an online marketing agency that does sloppy work and doesn't follow your directions, their marketing ideas they have should be paramount.

Only include requirements that are necessary to determine if they can execute marketing campaigns successfully for you. For example, if your company only does business with military contractors, it is reasonable to include a requirement that marketing agencies only provide case studies and samples from their past work with that sector.

Set Reasonable Deadlines

While you may be impatient to get started, give each marketing agency a few weeks to deliver their proposal after receiving your marketing RFP. In fact, make sure your RFP states how much time they have. That allows them to present their best work and their plans for your business. Be sure to give each agency the same amount of time, and just as you give marketing agencies reasonable deadlines for their proposals, give them a set date when they can expect your decision.

With the suggestions in this article, you should be able to craft a RFP that gets detailed responses from online marketing companies in your area. After looking at the proposals you get as a result of your RFP, you can choose the perfect partner for your online marketing needs.