Alana Chinn – The Blog Pros

September 2, 2024

RFP: How to Write a Strong Request for Proposal [Example & Template]

If I was reading a post about request for proposals (RFP), I’d want to get to the point … and fast.

And that’s coming from me, a former marketing consultant of about five years with three different agencies. I used to create RFPs and submit bids, so I speak from experience when I say this isn’t always the most exciting process.

That’s OK because I have a few tips up my sleeve to make your RFP development process a little less daunting (and a little more fun, hopefully).

Table of Contents

What's an RFP?
RFP vs RFI
How to Write an RFP
RFP Template
RFP Sample
Tips for Writing an RFP

Since I struggle living in a world with a million acronyms, let’s clear up the difference between an RFP and RFI before we continue.

Here’s the TL;DR — If your business has a project and you need external support, and you already know what type of vendor you’re looking for, you can use an RFP to shop around.

When I worked for a small health communication firm, one of our government clients wanted us to create an educational video series for them.

I developed an RFP on their behalf to solicit proposals from video production companies since we didn’t have the capabilities to complete this work in house.

Hold on to this example — I’ll use it to walk you through the RFP writing process.

As a reminder, here’s the example we’re using for this walkthrough: AJC Health is developing an RFP on behalf of a government client, DoGoodGov, for educational video production services.

(The company names are made up, but the experience is real … I promise.)

1. Provide background information.

Your RFP should always start with an introduction and overview of your business. This helps set the stage for potential vendors and allows them to better understand who they’ll be working with.

Pro tip: I like to keep this section brief. Just introduce your business, highlight your mission, and discuss the products and services you provide.

Example:

AJC Health is a health communication firm based in Washington, DC. Our mission is to empower teens and young adults to lead healthier lives.

For over 10 years, we’ve helped clients achieve their goals by providing marketing and communications services including campaign development, copywriting, and multimedia project support.

2. Define your project purpose and goals.

After you introduce yourself, provide an overview of the project. This is your first opportunity to describe what you’re hoping to accomplish and the areas of expertise you’re looking for.

I like to think of this section as a way to help vendors better understand your priorities so they can tailor their proposals accordingly.

Pro tip: I’d recommend keeping this section clear and concise. Focus on the purpose of the RFP, the type(s) of vendors you’re looking for, and your goals. You’ll have an opportunity later to provide specific details about the scope of work later.

Example:

The purpose of this Request for Proposals (RFP) is to invite businesses who specialize in video production, live action, animation, and multimedia for educational purposes to submit proposals to our company.

We’re currently seeking qualified vendors to support the development of a public health video series on behalf of DoGoodGov. Our goal is to build brand awareness, drive web traffic, and increase our YouTube marketing ROI.

3. Outline the budget and scope of work.

In the last step, we described the project at a high level. This section is where you can get into the weeds a little bit. State your budget and describe the specific services you need.

For me, it’s helpful to compare this section to the “Job Responsibilities” section in a job description. Give a complete snapshot of what the role entails.

Pro tip: You can take various approaches when describing the services you’re seeking in an RFP, but I recommend incorporating bullet points or breaking up your information so that it’s easy for vendors to scan.

Example:

The budget for this project is $12,750.

The selected firm will be responsible for the ideation, production, and delivery of a three-part video series to educate teens and young adults about the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle.

Tasks include but may not be limited to the following criteria:

Ideating video concepts

Writing and editing video scripts

Multimedia (audio/video) content development

Capturing, importing, and organizing raw media

Editing video footage and audio files

Creating static and motion graphics

Adding music, voice-over, and sound effects

Delivering multi-format video files (e.g., YouTube, social media, web)

Meeting the requirements of Section 508 Compliance for video

General account management

Other assistance as required

4. Call out any barriers or roadblocks.

Here, you’ll want to mention any challenges specific to your project. This may include elements like limited resources or specialized requirements that the average vendor may not have or easily obtain.

This may seem counterintuitive, but I’ve found that this helps you eliminate unsatisfactory bidders and figure out which vendors have the skills to tackle those challenges.

Pro tip: It’s crucial to be transparent here. Otherwise, vendors may not fully understand the potential difficulties that may arise. This lack of knowledge could lead to delayed timelines, increased costs, or worse — an unsuccessful project.

Example:

As a federal entity, DoGoodGov requires all materials, including multimedia content, to meet the requirements of Section 508 Compliance. Vendors must have specialized knowledge in 508-Compliance for video production.

5. Highlight your selection criteria.

Now it’s time to specify which skills, services, and market expertise are required for consideration. This is the time to get specific, just like we did in the scope of work section.

Some examples of selection criteria that you can specify in an RFP are experience, qualifications, cost, availability, and technical compatibility.

Pro tip: When I’m building out this section, I focus on the objective criteria that my business will use to, well, pick a winning bid. I’ve found that clear selection criteria helps increase your chances of receiving proposals that actually meet your needs.

Example:

The ideal vendor:

Has experience in producing high-quality videos across various formats such as live-action, animation, screencast, whiteboard, and educational video

Has a clear process from ideation, production, revision, and final delivery

Has experience creating videos for educational purposes (public health knowledge and experience is a plus)

Has demonstrated knowledge in the requirements of Section 508 Compliance

Can provide a highly responsive, collaborative, and transparent communication process

6. Specify your submission process.

The selection criteria and the submission process outline go hand-in-hand to ensure you end up with a strong collection of proposals.

Tell vendors where to submit their bids and to whom, and give them a timeline that includes the submission deadline, date for final selection, and project completion date. Then, tell them exactly what you want them to submit.

Pro tip: I’d treat the submission process as a test for who’s capable of meeting your requirements. If a vendor can’t complete all elements of your proposal, you probably can’t trust them to finish your project, either.

Example:

Submission Information

Submissions may be sent via mail or electronically by the submission deadline.

Project Name or Description: Video Production Services

Company Name: AJC Health

Address: 123 Howie Ave.

City, State, Zip Code: Silver Spring, MD 20906

Procurement Contact Person: Alana Chinn

Telephone Number of PCP: 123-456-7890

Email Address of PCP: achinn@consulting.com

Fax Number: N/A

Submission Timeline

Proposals must be submitted by February 10th. The award will be granted no later than March 1st. Final video delivery must occur by June 30th.

Submission Criteria

A submission must, at a minimum, include the following elements:

Description of the firm that includes a general overview, names and credentials of creative team, number of full-time employees.
A one-page narrative outlining the firm’s strengths and distinguishing skills or capabilities as they might relate to AJC Health.
A representative selection of multi-channel video content, audio samples, and project management plans created for current and past clients.

RFP Template

Below, I’ve included one of my favorite RFP templates. (It’s ours at HubSpot, so I may be a little biased.)

Download a free, editable RFP template.

You can use this template to build your initial structure, but I’d recommend tailoring your RFP to best articulate your company’s needs.

RFP Sample

1. Introduction

Background

AJC Health is a health communication firm based in Washington, DC. Our mission is to empower teens and young adults to lead healthier lives.

For over 10 years, we’ve helped clients achieve their goals by providing marketing and communications services including campaign development, copywriting, and multimedia project support.

Project Overview

2. Budget and Services Requested

Budget

The budget for this project is $12,750.

Scope of Work

The selected firm will be responsible for the ideation, production, and delivery of a three-part video series to educate teens and young adults about the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle.

Tasks include but may not be limited to the following criteria:

Ideating video concepts
Writing and editing video scripts
Multimedia (audio/video) content development
Capturing, importing, and organizing raw media
Editing video footage and audio files
Creating static and motion graphics
Adding music, voice-over, and sound effects
Delivering multi-format video files (e.g., YouTube, social media, web)
Meeting the requirements of Section 508 Compliance for video
General account management
Other assistance as required

3. Barriers to Completion

4. Selection Criteria

The ideal vendor:

Has experience in producing high-quality videos across various formats such as live-action, animation, screencast, whiteboard, and educational video
Has a clear process from ideation, production, revision, and final delivery
Has experience creating videos for educational purposes (public health knowledge and experience is a plus)
Has demonstrated knowledge in the requirements of Section 508 Compliance
Can provide a highly responsive, collaborative, and transparent communication process

5. Submission Process

Contact Information

Submissions may be sent via mail or electronically by the submission deadline.

Project Name or Description: Video Production Services
Company Name: AJC Health
Address: 123 Howie Ave.
City, State, Zip Code: Silver Spring, MD 20906
Procurement Contact Person: Alana Chinn
Telephone Number of PCP: 123-456-7890
Email Address of PCP: achinn@consulting.com
Fax Number: N/A

Timeline

Proposals must be submitted by February 10th. The award will be granted no later than March 1st. Final video delivery must occur by June 30th.

Submission Criteria

A submission must, at a minimum, include the following elements:

Description of the firm that includes a general overview, names and credentials of creative team, number of full-time employees.
A one-page narrative outlining the firm’s strengths and distinguishing skills or capabilities as they might relate to AJC Health.
A representative selection of multi-channel video content, audio samples, and project management plans created for current and past clients.

Tips for Writing an RFP

Here are three tips from my arsenal to help you optimize your RFPs to achieve a high response rate from vendors.

1. Keep the lines of communication open.

Providing access to a point of contact shows that your company is invested in the vendor response process and helps you proactively establish a rapport.

And if you have flexibility in your timeline, I’d also recommend that you encourage prospective vendors to ask questions and seek clarification before submitting a proposal.

The more they understand your needs, the better their proposals will be.

2. Make sure your RFP is detailed but scannable.

If I was a vendor, I’d be a lot less likely to respond to your RFP if the project details are insufficient or unclear. However, you’ll want to strike the balance between providing enough but not too much detail.

I like to make sure each of my sections are well-defined, and the document is easily scannable. To do this, I take full advantage of formatting options, like bullet points and headings.

This allows me to provide the necessary information in a digestible way.

3. Proofread your RFP before you go live.

Last but never least? Proofread your RFP — then proofread it again. Why? Because even small mistakes could derail project timelines.

Can you imagine if you missed a zero in your budget details, or included the wrong date for your proposal deadline? Both could force a restart of the entire RFP process and waste precious time.

Just the thought of that alone is enough to make sure I never skip this step.

Go Forth and RFP

See, that was kind of exciting … right? Well, at the very least, I hope this helped simplify the RFP process for you.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in June 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

August 30, 2024

How to Set (Crushable) Marketing Goals, According to HubSpot Pros

Hey, marketers. Raise your hand if you’ve been personally victimized by big, lofty marketing goals with little to no resources to execute them.

✋🏽*raises both hands* ✋🏽

In an ideal world, we’d have endless budgets and perfect conditions to work with.

Like stable SERPs and simple social media algorithms. Or consumers who laugh at all of our marketing jokes.

While that’s not (always) the case, it’s still possible to set goals that are both ambitious and attainable.

For inspiration, I’ve compiled a list of the highest-priority goals for marketers this year. And as an added bonus, I asked a few marketing pros here at HubSpot to share some of their top tips for goal setting.

Table of Contents

The Goals Marketers (Actually) Want to Reach This Year
Goal-Setting Tips from HubSpot Marketing Pros

The Goals Marketers (Actually) Want to Reach This Year

Earlier this year, we surveyed over 1,400 marketers to better understand the current state of marketing. These five goals bubbled to the surface for marketers who implemented winning strategies in 2023.

P.S. You’ll see some familiar faces like increased revenue and reaching new audiences, but the way marketers are thinking about these goals is changing with the times.

1. Increase revenue and sales.

→ 24% of marketers listed increasing revenue and sales as their top goal for 2024.

Everything we do as marketers ultimately rolls up into the bottom line of the business, so it’s no surprise that this continues to be a top priority.

As Amanda Sellers, manager of EN blog strategy at HubSpot, puts it, “Everything I do as a marketer should ultimately help the organization I work for to grow revenue.”

Here’s how you can make progress toward this goal: 75% of marketers believe personalized experiences drive sales and repeat business. So, building connections and developing relationships across the buyer’s journey is a must.

2. Increase brand awareness and reach new audiences.

→ 19% of marketers listed increasing brand awareness and reaching new audiences as their top goal for 2024.

Sounds pretty standard, but the way we generate awareness and reach today is a lot different than in years past.

It’s wild out here, truly. People are discovering brands from their favorite influencers instead of more traditional methods like paid media. And brands are capitalizing on popular TikTok sounds and trends to appeal to younger audiences.

For example, why is Canva, an online design brand, talking about cucumber salad? Because TikTok user Logan (@logagm) recently went viral for his “sometimes, you need to eat an entire cucumber” recipes.

Here’s how you can make progress toward this goal: Keep a pulse on brand sentiment and visibility in search and on social media. Marketing is becoming more intelligent by the day, so it’s important to understand how people perceive you and learn about your products.

3. Increase engagement.

→ 19% of marketers listed increasing engagement as their top goal for 2024.

What’s that? Oh, nothing.

Just us marketers asking consumers to like/comment/subscribe … again.

In my opinion, the brands that tap into the latest trends in meaningful ways win the engagement olympics every time.

And sometimes that means not participating in every trend — especially if it’s not a good fit for your brand or your audience.

Either way, I know this is all easier said than done. That’s why keeping up with trends is one of the biggest challenges that marketers are facing this year.

Here’s how you can make progress toward this goal: The majority of marketers agree that website/blog/SEO, social media shopping, and short-form video are the channels with highest ROI right now. Consider focusing your efforts there.

4. Improve sales-marketing alignment.

→ 16% of marketers listed improving sales-marketing alignment as their top goal for 2024.

Customers want their buying experiences to be seamless. That’s next to impossible if your marketing and sales teams aren’t on the same page.

Our survey shows that 70% of marketers report having “high quality leads,” but alignment with sales is still one of the biggest challenges they face.

From wasted marketing budgets to lost sales, the consequences of misalignment are huge. I can see why this is a priority for marketing teams this year.

Here’s how you can make progress toward this goal: The key to alignment is centralized data. Establish a single source of truth (read: CRM) that will allow your organization to share data and collaborate more effectively.

5. Drive traffic to their brand’s website.

→ 15% of marketers listed driving traffic to their brand’s website as their top goal for 2024.

This one’s a big yes from me as a blogger. How can we get more views on our content while battling algorithm update (after algorithm update, after … ) in the SERP?

Well, on the HubSpot Blog Team, we knew we had no choice but to evolve.

Google wants to prioritize experience-based content? Cool, we’ll give you first-person perspectives and emphasize our opinions as marketers in our writing.
AI-powered search is taking over the Internet? Great, let’s optimize our content and continue building authority for that, too.

You have to shift your strategy in order to continue gaining traffic in 2024 (and beyond). That’s a fact.

Here’s how you can make progress toward this goal: Do a regular analysis of how your brand is performing online. For example, you can use tools like AI Search Grader to understand how search AI models view your brand and to identify new traffic-driving plays to lock in on.

Goal-Setting Tips from HubSpot Marketing Pros

As a senior marketer and HubSpot’s Marketing Blog editor, I’d have to say the biggest tip I follow is making sure my goals allow me to meet my audience where they are.

In other words, it’s not all about me. Harsh reality, tbh.

If I’m setting a goal to build my presence on TikTok (because I love TikTok and all of my favorite brands are on TikTok), but most of my audience is on Instagram … What's the point?

Here are some more gems from my fellow marketers.

1. Understand how your work ties back to the broader business goals.

According to Karla Hesterberg, director of content marketing at HubSpot, you never have to fully start from scratch when setting your marketing goals. That’s because your goals should always reflect the overarching business strategy.

“Your organization has broader goals, and it‘s your job to figure out how to meaningfully connect your work to them,” Hesterberg says. “Use your organization’s broader goals as a starting place.”

She continues, “I start by looking at the biggest things the overall business is trying to solve for. Then, I see where my team‘s work fits into that picture and can have the most impact.

That makes it easier to look at the scope of what we’re working on and determine which things connect back to the business and which things are in the ‘nice to have’ category.”

2. Use your biggest opportunities (or headwinds) as a starting point.

“For setting team objectives, I like to use our biggest opportunities or headwinds as a starting point and go from there,” says Hesterberg.

“Ideally, everything we‘re working on — from big initiatives to smaller projects — should be connected back to those central things we’re solving for.”

We take those big opportunities and challenges and contextualize them into what we want to accomplish. At HubSpot, that materializes as our OGPs (objectives, goals, and plays).

Here’s an example from Sellers on how she uses OGPs to help guide the EN blog strategy at HubSpot:

An objective describes what we’re setting out to achieve. For example, I work on the EN blog, and one of my objectives might be to improve our content quality according to Google’s new Helpful Content guidelines.
The goal itself defines what success looks like using concrete metrics. For example, we might forecast the outcome to yield an estimated X organic visits and/or Y monetizable leads from those visits.
A play is what we’ll do to achieve our objective. For example, one play that ladders up to the objective might be to implement a peer feedback program for quality assurance.”

“The ideal outcome is that every action or task clearly ladders up. This helps with prioritization, alignment, and so much more.”

Having a framework like this ensures that our priorities are aligned at every level of the organization.

3. Use data to inform the “why” behind your approach.

“If you don’t know the ‘why’ behind a project you’re working on, you should pump the brakes and find out,” says Sellers.

Honestly, yeah. The biggest waste of marketing resources is doing things for no reason or with little value add. Stepping back to determine the ‘why’ helps you prioritize the actions and projects that will actually move the needle.

Sellers also notes the importance of data during the goal-setting process.

“Historical data is so important when estimating impact to set goals. If you don’t have historical data, seek out a case study. Either of these options are better than an uninformed guess.”

*mic drop*

4. Try not to limit yourself to what feels possible today.

This is one of my favorite tips because it tells me it’s okay to think big even when resources seem limited.

Basha Coleman, principal marketing manager at HubSpot, says, “Don‘t assume that something can’t be done. Challenge yourself to work through the obstacles to achieve as close to the ideal solution as possible.”

She continues, “Think about the problem and the ideal solution. Don‘t limit the solution to what’s possible today — think big, idealistic, and as if nothing is impossible. Then, once the solution is identified, figure out what you'd need to start, stop, or continue doing to get to that solution.

Those start, stop, and continue items are the detailed tactics you need to complete to achieve your goals.”

Go(al) for Gold

You’ve seen what other marketers’ goals look like this year, and you’ve heard from the pros on how to set your own. Let’s go — it’s time to tackle this thing we call marketing the right way.