Request for Proposal
To Provide Strategic and Creative Marketing Services for Visit Fort Bragg
FIRM DESCRIPTION
The GCMG Agency is an award winning full-service digital marketing agency that prioritizes exceeding customer goals and KPIs, prides itself on innovation, and welcomes any challenge a client presents. Our fully in-house team headquartered in Southern California is comprised of industry leaders and best-in-class marketers who crave challenge and are motivated by taking client’s marketing visions to heights they couldn’t have previously imagined.
GCMG was created because the world changed but the industry did not. Serving as the marketing arm for Global Management Partners, a 35-year-old world-renowned consulting firm, GCMG became autonomous 10 years ago when the digital marketing industry heightened and we saw that bloated agencies were unable to reach their client’s goals.
To successfully service our clients, we’ve built teams in 10 different digital marketing facets because we believe that executing all services under one roof is the best way to ensure that our clients are reaching their goals. Our capabilities include performance marketing, organic social media marketing, public relations, content creation, photography and videography, reporting analytics and optimization, website building and enhancement, email and SMS marketing, search engine optimization, and influencer marketing.
We’ve been fortunate over the years to work with a plethora of companies of different sizes and niches. We’re no stranger to being the agency of record for seven-figure companies but also specialize in small local businesses because that’s where we started once. We’ve ranged from travel all the way to environmental conservation with industries like fashion, entertainment, and beauty in-between. Regardless of the industry and size of client, our goal is always to drive traffic and increase revenue because we were born from such a sales-centric company.
Relevant Experience
One of our favorite and most notable accounts in the tourism space is Kayak. With the goal of driving traffic to their search engine and creating an identifiable and unique social presence, our agency created an all-inclusive social media strategy that exceeded their KPIs.
Within our scope of work for Kayak, multiple of the deliverables were centered around driving traffic to specific destinations that Kayak was running special promotions for. Similar to Fort Bragg, some of the destinations were trying to increase their foot traffic during “off seasons” and overall gain popularity in the tourism industry. For these accounts, our team created dynamic digital campaigns inclusive of organic social media and paid ads to run across the channels that we researched and decided were best given the desired demographic. After executing our comprehensive strategy, Kayak saw an influx in bookings and overall website traffic.
To further our experience in the travel industry pertaining to photography and videography and graphic design, our team has worked with 20 Instagram travel accounts that covered all parts of the US. Sourcing, creating, and ideating the proper content for these commercial accounts was vital in the growth and promotion of destination marketing initiatives.
From promoting local activities to sharing historic insights, our team was able to use a storytelling strategy that resulted in increased traffic and destination visitation for a variety of locations.
Key Personnel Qualifications
We assign each of our clients a five-person team minimum that will directly handle their account. Depending on the scope of work, this hand-crafted team can fluctuate and involve as many resources we deem necessary to ensure that the account is being optimized to its full potential. Here is a breakdown of who would be assigned to the Fort Bragg account directly.
Josh Ladell, our Director of Paid Media will be directly responsible for your marketing and advertising planning, your media buys, and understanding and meeting your advertising objectives. With 10 years of experience in the industry, Josh not only runs our paid media department, but he still likes to hop in at ground level to continually sharpen his skills, test his knowledge, and assist in companies who have a heavy focus on paid media and overall ad spend.
Josh has a knack for driving traffic through paid activations and will specifically curate unique and effective strategies that will increase website traffic and amplify Fort Bragg’s voice to ensure its appeal in the travel space.
Garrett LaBrie is our creative director and will be in charge of the creative voice and overall content ideas for Fort Bragg’s paid and organic activations. He specializes in video content and will be pivotal for the scripts and filming outlined in the creative service objectives.
His keen sense of creativity and attention-grabbing content ideation is exactly what Fort Bragg will need when creating content that is aimed at driving traffic to the current website as well as promoting the various visitor-serving activities that are available in Fort Bragg. He will be the direct report for building creative briefs and will play an integral role in ensuring the overall marketing communications strategy is aligned with the desired objectives.
Ariana Richard is our Director of Public Relations and has a proven track record of securing key media spotlights for clients in various industries. Her passion for public relations is undeniable and her storytelling abilities are transformative, two reasons she’s been chosen to serve on this account. Her built-in media contacts and innovative thought-process will serve well for sourcing partnerships and finding co-marketing opportunities. Her best-in-class press releases accompanied by her extensive experience building media kits will be critical as we expand Fort Bragg’s media exposure.
Libby Alatorre, our Social Media and Community Management Director, will handle the organic Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Libby oversees all of our organic activations and is known for her digital storytelling and engagement prowess. Since starting with the agency years ago, Libby has helped countless accounts grow and increase foot traffic because of her natural ability to understand and promote what audiences like to see. Her philosophy is to “give the followers what they didn’t know they wanted” and her method of publishing and increasing engagement has been inspiring to watch. She has had 20 commercial travel Instagram accounts under her reign and is the perfect fit for Fort Bragg’s social media objectives.
Kendall Robinson, our Head of Photography and Videography will serve dividends for Fort Bragg as her cinematic and photography skills are cutting-edge. She works hand in hand with Garrett, the Creative Director, to ensure that the content being captured is not only headturning but a beautiful representation of what’s being offered. Her love for travel and creative eye are the reasons she was chosen to help on this account. She’s detail-oriented while representing the big picture and her work product never falls short of the client’s ask.
Finally, Jordyn Hughes, our Director of Strategy, has 13 years of experience in all facets of digital marketing. She has been at GCMG since it was the marketing arm for Global Management Partners and is by far the most savvy and creative strategist we’ve seen at the agency. Jordyn will serve as the glue between all of the departments listed above and ensure that every pathway is being explored, all opportunities are being optimized, and will provide creative marketing ideas that have not been thought of by Fort Bragg. Her experience in nearly every niche has aided her in building a repertoire of skills that drive revenue and guarantee that objectives are not only met but exceeded. She will be in charge of sourcing, analyzing, and presenting the analytics during the monthly reports as well as being the face at stakeholder meetings.
The six-person team described above are some of GCMG’s finest marketers and have all been briefed about Fort Braggs current standing and desired outcomes. Their experience in driving traffic and ability to work cohesively as a team are why they were carefully chosen for this account. Between experience in the tourism industry and unstoppable creation of ideas, this team is guaranteed to help Fort Bragg accomplish their goals of increasing overall visitation (especially during Winter and Spring), extending the average length of stay, and upping the visitor spending per day.
References
Client: First Pointe Management Group
Contact Person: Cristina Agra-Hughes, CEO
Email: [email protected]
Phone Number: 818-203-0001
Brief Description of Service Provided: Content creation, community management, social media management, blogging, paid ads, brand strategy, photography and videography, website enhancement Client: Pest Arrest
Contact Person: Ian Jacoby, Founder
Email: [email protected]
Phone Number: 818-455-1494
Brief Description of Service Provided: Digital rebrand, social media strategy and execution, content creation, paid media management and implementation, public relations, product management, community management, photography and videography
Client: WHP Global
Contact Person: Scott Book, Chief Talent Officer
Email: [email protected]
Phone Number: 201-245-7040
Brief Description of Service Provided: Complete social media management across top 5 national fashion brands, established internal and external communication process, website development and enhancement, email and SMS marketing, community management, third party vendor management, ambassador management
Scope of Work
The scope of work for Fort Bragg as we see it is six-fold. With different facets of digital marketing being required to meet the goals outlined in the RFP, below is our interpretation of the scope of work and our built-in process on how to evaluate success.
1. Advertising and Media
Create a robust and strategic advertising program that increases Fort Bragg’s perceived tourism value, drive recurring and new traffic to the website and social media channels, and increases Fort Bragg’s average stay and amount of visitors year-round. This will be done by analyzing prior activations, identifying and fixating on the desired target market, and revamping the current Fort Bragg digital presence through creating a strategic ad plan with appropriate placement and revolutionary content.
In order to put together an effective ad plan that can be fully optimized, Josh Ladell (GCMG’s Director of Paid Media) and his team will conduct an audit on what has been done in the past and what is currently being done effectively by competitors. We start with this step because we like to establish a comprehensive baseline before utilizing ad spend that may not be reaching its full potential. Keeping Fort Bragg’s objectives at the forefront, Josh and team will make the content and comprise a report of recommended placements and why, presenting it to Fort Bragg if desired before activating.
After ads have been set live and have had time to be active, Josh and Jordyn (Director of Strategy) will meet to run through the analytics and comb through the ROI to see what is effective and what needs to be adjusted. This report will be presented monthly to Fort Bragg and will include the numbers and what they mean, what has been effective and what has not, and suggestions for moving into the next month.
Reporting, analytics, and optimization is a key pillar at GCMG because we believe your content should be steered by KPIs since that is what produces results.
2. Market Research
We believe there is no use in measuring if you don’t have a baseline and an understanding of the competition. To strategically place Fort Bragg in a position that is unique from its competitors, the team assigned to each account examines the current field and uses a SWOT analysis to find unique paths for Fort Bragg to pioneer.
This market research will define the appropriate target market utilizing past research, compare Fort Bragg to its current competitors, and establish a current position that can be measured against as GCMG begins activations.
3. Public Relations
To ensure all promotional pathways for Fort Bragg are being exercised, the PR team at GCMG will compile a list of desired news outlets, identify appropriate partners and co-marketing opportunities, pitch event ideas to increase traffic, create an engaging press kit, position Fort Bragg as a desirable tourism destination, and leverage earned media. Though organic and paid media will be high-value promotional pathways, PR makes it a marketing trifecta, expanding exposure to more traditional outlets that will target specific parts of the desired demographic.
To measure success in this realm is blunter that some others. Responses from media outlets, landing partnerships, and turn out at proposed events will be obvious. As far as their success in driving traffic, increasing the length of stays, and upping the spend per day, that will be a process where we will schedule a meeting with the Fort Bragg team and go over the influx of bookings, perceived satisfaction, and if appropriate, the increase in tourist spending. We’ve measured our PR efforts in various ways but would suggest surveys be sent to visitors that ask about overall satisfaction, intent on return, favorite aspects, improvements, etc. This can be discussed further upon a partnership between GCMG and Fort Bragg.
4. Content Creation
For both organic and paid media, GCMG will create content that is optimized for each platform. This will be spearheaded by Garrett (Creative Director), Kendall (Head of Photography and Videography), and Jordyn. After ideating the appropriate forms of content, the graphic design team will be tasked with execution while being overseen by Garrett and Kendall. Regularly conducting research on what is performing well in the industry and combining that with GCMG’s innate ability to story tell will be the strategy used in curating content. Creative briefs and representing the wider Fort Bragg area and activities will remain at the front of our graphic design team’s priority list (when appropriate).
Performance here will be measured similarly to paid media. We use an A/B testing method that ensures we are producing content that resonates with our desired target market. Once pulling the analytics, if we see that there could still be room for improvement, we will edit our content accordingly and test it out. Once these variations can be measured, we are able to make educated decisions on what performs better and can then proceed with making the appropriate content. Digital marketing is a “content is king” world and we believe it is the cornerstone of representing your brand so we will regularly make adjustments (or not) depending on performance.
5. Social Media Strategy and Community Management
Due to the nature of our social-media centric world, the online presence of Fort Bragg will need to be represented robustly. This will include staying on top of trends, engaging with the community, producing desired content, strategic posting cadences and times, and brand building. Social media has the ability to amplify your brand in a desirable light to drive traffic, increase visitation, and build an overall persona.
Using the already established Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, GCMG will create and optimize a social media strategy that aides in Fort Bragg meeting its current objectives.
Organic social media will be measured through analytics on both the platform and a third-party vendor. We like to do a cross comparison because a lot of platforms skew the analytics in their favor. The report Fort Bragg will receive for organic social media will be similar to paid media as it will analyze the desired KPIs, explain what has done well and what hasn’t, and then provide suggestions based on our industry knowledge.
6. Overall Strategy and Reporting
This final facet is a “catch-all” that can be seen in each of the outlined avenues above. As industry leaders, GCMG will serve as strategists for Fort Bragg. Though we like our clients to be involved however much they desire, we do not shy away from providing suggestions and reasoning in order to meet objectives. This can involve additional platforms, overall brand voice, etc. It’s the reason companies hire agencies; they want a team that is experienced in the space and can take their brand to places they have trouble reaching themselves. This will include all wants outlined in the proposal, from ad placement down to website functionality and how to approach booking. We’ve been in the industry long enough to have proven solutions that Fort Bragg will be able to benefit from.
As for reporting, this ranges from monthly meetings that go over analytics to working with the City Manager’s office all the way to stakeholder meetings. We execute confidently and are well-versed in a variety of meeting settings.
Budget and Schedule of Charges
Not to Exceed: $174,000
• Personnel Rates: Monthly fee allocated to required departments o Monthly fee of $13,000 for all services outlined in scope of work § Paid Media: $2,700 per month
• *Digital ad spend to be covered by client
§ Public Relations: $2,000 per month
• *Publication fees to be covered by client
§ Graphic Design: $2,500 per month
§ Photography and Videography: $1,800 per month
§ Social Media and Community Management: $2,750 per month § Strategy: $1,250 per month
• Equipment Charges: Equipment and software required included in management of services • Travel Reimbursement Costs: Airfare, accommodations, and incidentals to be fully reimbursed by the client. Estimated to be $1,500 per month.
• Job Descriptions of Personnel: Job posts of required positions will be Exhibits B, C, D, E, F, G • Example of an invoice can be found in Exhibit H
Work Schedule
Though we are the experts and are thrilled to be trusted with the success of our clients, we are very hands on and want them to know exactly what is going on so that they still feel in control of their brand. We like to conduct bi-weekly touch bases on Zoom with each client to go over any questions, report any exciting news, prep for special events or promotions, and any other conversation pieces we deem necessary. This does not hinder daily communication between us and our clients, but we like to be “face to face” on a regular basis because we think it helps to grow the partnership. As outlined in the RFP, we can continue with the once a month in-person meetings to go over reports and be present for the stakeholder meetings as desired.
As for content creation, we work on a two-week cycle. For example, content for July 1st, 2024 – July 15th, 2024 is sent on June 27th (three to four days ahead) for the client to review and reply with any edits, feedback or questions. To further the example, content for July 16th, 2024 – July 31st, 2024 will be sent on July 12th, 2024, and so on and so forth. Because the world of digital marketing is ever-changing, we typically keep this two-week cycle because we want to stay in line with trends and give our content strategy the appropriate amount of time to receive accurate engagement. If the client prefers to have the content scheduled further out, we are more than happy to adjust (as we have for multiple clients) and can build out a month to a quarter in advance. Additionally, we are equipped and experienced with last minute requests or content opportunities that don’t fall within the two-week period. This is something our team is more than happy to accommodate as we like to be robust and believe that if the content could be beneficial, then it is our job to produce it regardless of the timeline.
To provide a further look into day-to-day account management, each of our team members is required to work on each of their accounts in the morning to ensure everything is moving smoothly and that all deadlines are being met. Once circling through their clientele in the morning, they are required to go back to each account in the afternoon to make sure things are in line for the following day. We like to use this morning and afternoon check-in method because it ensures that all clients are being touched throughout the day, our team is not oversaturated by one account, and we’ve noticed it makes staying on time with deliverables much easier.
Insurance
Find proof of insurance in Section 13 Exhibit A
Consultant Agreement
The GCMG Agency has no issues with the provisions of the City’s standard consulting services agreement.
MISC
Please see Exhibit I for sample content that our team put together to showcase creativity and strategy regarding Fort Bragg’s objectives of increasing overall visitation (especially during shoulder seasons), length of stay per visit, and spending per day.