RFP - 2022 Marketing Services

The South Dakota Department of Tourism is seeking the professional services of a marketing agency, or marketing agencies, with or without experience in tourism marketing, to work as collaborative partners in the development, implementation, and evaluation of a comprehensive marketing program to promote South Dakota as a travel destination in regional, national, and international markets. This RFP is to identify the most qualified agency/agencies to carry out all aspects of the South Dakota Department of Tourism’s advertising and marketing objectives.

The department uses the South Dakota Office of Procurement Management (SD OPM) to facilitate the collection of responses online. To access the SD OPM system and review the RFP, visit their homepage and search for RFP #2475. The RFP may also be found via this link:
 

Request for Proposals
For
Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations Services
RFP# 2475

 

Deadline to Submit Proposals:
Monday, February 28, 2022, 5:00 p.m. CT

 

Offerors may submit inquiries concerning this RFP to obtain clarification of requirements. No inquiries will be accepted after date and time indicated in the Schedule of Activities (Monday, January 31, 2022, 5:00 p.m. CST). Questions must be emailed to South Dakota Secretary of Tourism James D. Hagen at [email protected] with the subject line “Questions about RFP #2475”.

The South Dakota Department of Tourism will respond to offeror’s questions/inquiries (if required) via email. In addition, all questions/inquiries and the State’s responses will be posted on the state’s procurement system. Offerors may not rely upon any other statements, either of a written or oral nature, that alter specifications, terms, or conditions of this RFP. Offerors will be notified in the same manner as indicated above regarding any modifications to this RFP.

The deadline for submitting inquiries or questions is Monday, January 31, 2022 (5:00 p.m. CT).

 


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Questions & Answers

#1

Q:  While we are not a perfect fit vertically across the RFP or any of the 8 components, we believe that our skills and experience would make us an excellent team member to cut functionally across a number of the components or even across all of them. Having one functional common thread could promote a common communication strategy, messaging, and even look and feel that would stretch across the entire effort. This brings me to our question. Is it possible that you would consider such a role in this RFP?

A:  We would recommend that you consider partnering with another marketing agency that may have some of the capabilities your company currently does not possess. We are seeking a full-service agency/agencies that can perform all of the functions laid out in the RFP.

 


#2

Q:  It sounds like the bidder can bid only on components or parts of components; specifically, we would like to bid on the creative portion of component 1. Do we just ignore the media questions and only answer 6.1 bullets 1, 2, 6, 7, and 10. And 7.1 bullet 1. 2, and 5 respectively?

A:  We are not seeking bids for just the creative portion of Component One.  We are seeking a full-service agency that can provide all of the necessary work outlined in Component One.

 


#3

Q:  Similarly, do we answer the creative deliverables that pertain to component 2, 6.2 bullets 2, 6, 7, and 10? And 7.2 bullets 1, 2, and 5, as it pertains to creative strategy and development?

A:  See answer to question number 2.

 


#4

Q:  How would you like us to notate the not applicable questions?

A:  One can simply note N/A.

 


#5

Q:  For Component 4 social media, please confirm you're seeking both paid and organic social. If both, how is the paid social budget separate from the component 2 digital media? And what is the annual paid social budget?

A:  Yes, organic and paid social are both part of the strategy we are looking for with our agency of record. Paid social should be working in tandem with digital marketing efforts. See response #9 below regarding social budget.

 


#6a

Q:  Aside from what is outlined in 8.0 proposal format, are there any page size, font, or page limit requirements?

A:  No.

#6b

Q:  Do you want us to print on recycled paper or double-sided?

A:  Feel free to use recycled paper if you wish. Double-sided is just fine, but please make sure pages are numbered.

 


#7

Q:  Do you have a sample paid social media plan, current content calendar, social strategy, and reporting that you can share?

A:  A great glimpse of our content calendar is represented by accessing and reviewing our platforms – Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, etc. We will not be sharing internal reporting as we are looking for concepts and reporting tactics from all interested parties.

 


#8

Q:  What influencer campaigns have you done that has been successful in the past? What budget did those have? And was that a part of the paid social budget and/or digital budget? Did it include agency time?

A:  Two recent case studies of past influencer programs can be found here and here. Historically, budget for these comprehensive multichannel efforts range from $50-70K and include agency time, creative, travel expenses, sweepstakes, monitoring and reporting, etc. The budget for our paid social campaigns historically has come through our digital marketing budget.

 


#9

Q:  What is the agency fee/budget for social and content development?

A:  Social management, campaigns, and content development have historically accounted for 6.5% of our digital and 3% of our total marketing spending (around $11M as noted in the RFP).

 


#10

Q:  What is your annual production budget?

A:  Historically, production across all components has accounted for 8-9% of our yearly budget.

 


#11

Q:  What tourism/destination social media presence do you aspire to?

A:  With strong engagement from our audiences, we are confident in our social media direction and strategies and can’t say we aspire to emulate any other state or city.

 


#12a

Q:  Can we see assets from pre-covid and current creative campaigns?

A:  Please see past campaign assets at this link. In the coming day, we will be adding a page for our 2022 campaign efforts.

#12b

Q:  Has any research been done around creative and campaign effectiveness? If so, can you share a copy of that report?

A:  Our 2018 Longwoods ROI report is the latest and most comprehensive report at the moment. Because of COVID, we have delayed commissioning a more recent ROI report for the past two years. We utilize testing and insights from the various vendors we work with, plus utilize tools like Arrivalist, ADARA Impact, Google Analytics, etc. for viewing and reporting on effectiveness.

 


#13

Q:  What DMOs do you consider your competition?

A:  Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and, to a lesser degree, Colorado.

 


#14

Q:  Relating to the public relations budget, can you share the total annual agency PR retainer? Alternatively, a ballpark number is helpful as well.

A:  I think the best answer here is that, if successfully selected for the PR component, we will work with your agency to establish what is a fair and reasonable PR retainer for you and for us. We’d rather not get into those sort of specifics at this point in the RFP process.

 


#15

Q:  Could you let us know what your traditional spend has been across components?

A:  Our total marketing budget is more than $11 million. The bulk of that spend is on traditional marketing components.

 


#16

Q:  We understand that agencies are to put in for any or all of the components in response to this RFP. Is that correct or are you looking for an agency to handle all the components?

A:  That is correct. An agency is welcome to respond to as many or as few of the components that fit their offerings and qualifications.

 


#17

Q:  Would you be open to receiving a single response for all components identified in the RFP, or would you need a separate submission for each?

A:  Please follow the guidelines outlined in the RFP for responses.

 


#18

Q:  For the various components there is an ask for spec work. Can we ask for these to be removed please as we are members of RGD and the GDC that support No!Spec (https://www.nospec.com/) and ask their members to do so as well?

A:  Please follow all the guidelines and requests outlined in the RFP.

 


#19

Q:  Could we request an electronic submission in light of the lifting of all delivery guarantees from all the courier companies?

A:  Please follow all the guidelines and requests outlined in the RFP.

 


#20

Q:  Could you let us know if you have a local preference or are you open to a Canadian agency that has done similar work with clients across North America?

A:  We are open to all respondents.

 


#21

Q:  Will there be a creative assignment requesting speculative work as part of the final in person presentations?

A:  At this point, we are not sure. There may be based upon written submissions and what we see there.

 


#22

Q:  How many agencies do you anticipate being asked to present in the final presentation?

A:  Again, we won’t know until we see final written submissions and have scored them. We are not going to set a minimum or maximum number of participants for the oral presentation stage. We are open to any number advancing to the that phase of the process.

 


#23

Q:  Are you open to a primary agency have a sub-agency partner for media services or other services?

A:  Yes, we are.

 


#24

Q:  Are you thinking that Great Faces and Great Places will continue?

A:  We are most definitely open to hearing new ideas about that tagline or hearing creative ideas for other taglines.

 


#25

Q:  In question 7.3, are you looking for specific speculative media plans for all three levels?

A:  Yes, that is correct.

 


#26

Q:  Please describe the nature of existing research available for planning

A:  

  • STR - Hotel performance metrics – ADR, Occ, RevPar etc.. by state, region and city
    Arrivalist – Arrivalist – provides measurement and reporting on actual visitation to the state, including what campaigns, placements or creative inspired visitation, where in the US did visitors come from, where they went or how long they stayed in market.
  • ADARA Impact – ADARA Impact – provides measurement and reporting on how campaigns, placements or creative perform based on quantifiable online activity, including visitor bookings and associated revenue.
  • AirDNA - Short Term Rentals – provides reporting on the short term rental market and
  • Tourism Economics – Annual Study of Economic Impact and monthly dashboard for econometric indicators, job performance, sentiment, airline data and national park data
  • Longwoods Int. – Provides overview of South Dakota’s Image in comparison to competitor markets, ROI of campaigns and Halo Effect showing tourism’s impact on economic development
  • Google Analytics – provides complete website traffic, demographic and visitor behavior metrics like sessions, geo location data, channel acquisition, goal and event completions, and site behavior metrics.
  • MMGY Travel Intelligence – complete travel profile showing demographics, visitor behavior, party size, spending, travel types, expenditures, trip volume, also provide sentiment on travel types (business and leisure)
  • Vendor Testing and Insights – various A/B testing results and insights from specific media vendors

 


#27

Q:  Could you provide additional information as to what might be considered competitive markets to South Dakota?

A:  Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Wyoming and, to a lesser degree, Colorado.

 


#28

Q:  Goal in terms of numbers, percentage increase over 2021

A:  Marketing metric goals will be decided and agreed upon during campaign planning. Below are the overall goals for our key performance indicators

  • Increase YOY tourism related economic impact by 2%.
  • Increase YOY tourism related jobs by 1%.
  • Increase YOY visitation by 1.5%.
  • Increase YOY visitor spending by 2%.
  • Increase YOY state and local tax revenue by 2%.
  • Increase YOY tourism promotion tax revenue by 2%.

 


#29

Q:  How many agencies have been included in this RFP process?

A:  We have cast a wide net in publicizing this RFP. Dozens of agencies across the country are expressing an interest in our work.

 


#30

Q:  Of those, how many agencies will be invited to participate in in-person meetings?

A:  We are looking for the very best agency/agencies for our marketing work. We are not limiting the number of agencies that may be invited for oral presentations.

 


#31

Q:  What is the impetus for going to RFP?

A:  We are required by state statute to issue a marketing RFP every five years.

 


#32

Q:  Will the incumbent agencies be included in this RFP?

A:  The incumbent agencies are aware of the RFP and we expect they will submit proposals.

 


#33

Q:  What will determine if the contracts are extended?

A:  The current marketing contracts with our agencies will expire June 30 and cannot be extended. We are starting a whole new contract process with the issuance of the RFP.

 


#34

Q:  For agencies that are not awarded the business, when and how will they be informed?

A:  Agencies not invited to the oral presentation phase will be informed via email by South Dakota Secretary of Tourism James Hagen before the oral presentation phase. If agencies are invited to the oral presentation phase, they will be notified once the Department of Tourism has reviewed and scored all submissions and made a final selection. This will be around April 12, 2022.

 


#35

Q:  When selecting the final agency, who are the primary stakeholders that will have input on this decision?

A:  The senior leadership team from the South Dakota Department of Tourism team are the primary stakeholders. We may invite a few other key members of the tourism industry in the state to sit in on oral presentations, but that is still to be determined.

 


#36

Q:  What will be the South Dakota Department of Tourism’s primary consideration criteria be for selecting an agency partner?

A:  As noted in the RFP, we will be looking for the most innovative, creative, effective, and collaborative marketing agency/agencies with an established record of creating and overseeing successful marketing campaigns (tourism-related or not).

 


#37

Q:  Is agency office location an RFP selection criteria?

A:  No, it is not.

 


#38

Q:  Is the South Dakota Department of Tourism open to a multi-agency partnership to support the work outlined in the RFP?

A:  Yes, we are open to a multi-agency partnership.

 


#39

Q:  What are the top three qualities the South Dakota Department of Tourism is looking for in a media partner?

A:  Experience, successful track record, creativity.

 


#40

Q:  What are the top three concerns about the South Dakota Department of Tourism’s current digital media planning and buying efforts?

A:  We have no concerns with our current planning and buying as focus is given to utilizing placements that have true impact and to eliminating fraud and ensuring brand safety.

 


#41

Q:  What would be considered a “win” with the new agency engagement?

A:  A “win” is an agency that immediately clicks with the department and understands the product and the best path forward to promote that product.

 


#42

Q:  Who do you view as your primary competitors?

A:  Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Wyoming and, to a lesser degree, Colorado.

 


#43

Q:  Can you please provide information related to your seasonality?

A:  Distribution of visitors by season: Winter = 15%; Spring = 21%; Summer = 45%; Fall = 19%

 


#44

Q:  What is the South Dakota Department of Tourism’s primary marketing message for 2022?

A:  Our primary message for 2022 is “Go Great Places.”

 


#45

Q:  With the work being awarded mid-year, are there any existing contracts that respondents should be aware of for 2022?

A:  No. The new state fiscal year begins July 1, 2022, thus the mid-year start date.

 


#46

Q:  Could the South Dakota Department of Tourism please share any established marketing personas?

A:  You’ll find detail on our main target audiences in our 2021 Brand Stand Guide.

 


#47

Q:  Does the South Dakota Department of Tourism have any information around target audiences, personas, and/or the consumer journey that can be shared with RFP participants?

A:  Yes, you’ll find some valuable resources in here including our Brand Standards Guide which includes detailed audience info, various marketing and website research, plus some recent presentations or decks that we’ve shared with our industry members on these subjects.

 


#48

Q:  What tools / technology is the South Dakota Department of Tourism currently using as it relates to digital media (analytics, bid management, CRM, DMP, CMS, etc.)?

A:  Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager and related products, Salesforce Marketing, BlueConic, ADARA Impact, and Arrivalist

 


#49

Q:  What are the biggest challenges currently facing the South Dakota Department of Tourism (competition, a loss in need for these services, etc.)?

A:  1. Workforce to meet increasing visitor demand, 2. In-market transportation (rental cars, ride sharing, etc.), 3. Lack of knowledge among residents regarding the importance of tourism, 4. The beginning of over-tourism in western areas of the state, 5. Need to diversify our visitors (ethnicity-wise as well as attracting a younger demographic), 6. Limited and expensive air travel, 7. Heavy dependence upon regional road trips and summer travel, 8. Competition from westerns states, 9. Group meetings and international travel still hampered by Covid, 10. Improving South Dakota’s perceived weaknesses vs competitors in water activities and sports; live music, theater and the Arts; perception of limited food and drink options.

 


#50

Q:  Historically, how often have repeat tourists visited South Dakota? At what frequency?

A:  Around 50% of visitors to South Dakota have been to the state before. Number of times visitors plan to visit South Dakota in the next three years: 26% = one visit; 8% = two visits; 16% = three visits; 9% = 4-9 visits; 9% = 10 visits

 


#51

Q:  How is the $11MM budget broken down by initiative today (creative, PR, website, media, agency fees)?

A:  In this fiscal year, the breakdown is as such:

  • Media (Traditional, Digital, OOH, Co-ops) – 75%
  • Social Media – 3%
  • eCRM – 2%
  • PR – 5%
  • Website – 3%
  • Creative Production – 6%
  • Account Leadership and Management – 4%
  • MarTech – 2%
  • Research – 1%

 


#52

Q:  How do you anticipate the all-in budget changing over the duration of the contract?

A:  We have a dedicated and very stable funding source that funds the Department of Tourism and its work (a dedicated tourism tax + Deadwood gaming funds). We are not funded out of the state’s general fund. Our budget grows about 1% to 2% every year.

 


#53

Q:  What are the South Dakota Department of Tourism’s primary measurable objectives for 2022?

A:  Increase overall visitor spending, visitation, tax revenue generated, room nights, average hotel occupancy, and park visitation

 


#54

Q:  What are the South Dakota Department of Tourism’s overall marketing objectives for 2022?

A:  Increase South Dakota’s brand awareness by sharing our message through strategic, data-driven efforts to expanded markets, through a greater focus on engaging local and regional audiences, by attracting a more diverse group of visitors and balancing visitation across geography and season.

 


#55

Q:  What are South Dakota Department of Tourism’s media campaign objectives for 2022?

A:  Continue to increase awareness of South Dakota’s offerings through a strategic multi-channel media mix that intentionally aligns with our evolving organizational objectives and communication strategy.

 


#56

Q:  How will success be measured?

A:  We will measure success through year-end economic impact studies, campaign-end reporting and real-time analytics through tools like ADARA Impact, Arrivalist, STR Reports, AirDNA, department/agency reporting and Google Analytics.

 


#57

Q:  Is the South Dakota Department of Tourism looking to re-engage past visitors or elicit new visitors?

A:  Both.

 


#58

Q:  What media is the South Dakota Department of Tourism currently running?

A:  Print, TV (broadcast, cable, connected), digital, OOH, social, email, direct mail, activations and web.

 


#59

Q:  What media channels has the South Dakota Department of Tourism run in the past?

A:  Print, TV (broadcast, cable, connected), digital, OOH, social media, email, direct mail, activations, and web.

 


#60

Q:  Which channels were successful in helping the South Dakota Department of Tourism achieve their goals?

A:  All channels have blended harmoniously and have been successful.

 


#61

Q:  Can the South Dakota Department of Tourism provide historical campaign data and/or reports for analysis?

A:  Yes, you can find a high-level overview on previous campaigns here.

 


#62

Q:  Can the South Dakota Department of Tourism confirm the domain(s) that digital media campaigns will drive to?

A:  Most drive to either the homepage or placement-specific pages on TravelSouthDakota.com, like our Hunt the Greatest campaign, which goes here, for example, or our Presidents’ Day Blitz, which directs to here.

 


#63

Q:  Does the South Dakota Department of Tourism have a user/customer database?

A:  Yes, we do. It currently sits at around 675,000 subscribers.

 


#64

Q:  Are you able to provide more detailed visitor data for market analysis/prioritization purposes other than the annual report information? Who are your current primary/secondary target audiences? Geographic data? This information is critical in developing the media plans you are asking for in this RFP.

A:  Along with the annual reports, you can find prior research and reports, along with marketing campaign information, on SDVisit.com. Additionally, more can be found here, including audiences, markets, messaging and campaign timelines.

 


#65

Q:  Can you share more information about how your co-op advertising campaigns have worked in the past? Are there any long-term contracts or partnerships we should know about as we plan?

A:  You can find detail on our co-op advertising campaigns at SDVisit.com/cooperative-marketing-overview. Here you’ll find material on our Community Cooperative program and our Á La Carte Cooperative Marketing program. Both should help provide an overview of our efforts as a whole. Our current partnerships run to the end of our fiscal year and existing contracts.

 


#66

Q:  What tourism meetings, events and conventions, both domestically and internationally, are currently your top priorities?

A:  Our department doesn’t work directly with meetings, events and conventions. We let our local CVBs/Chambers/communities focus on those events. We can assist where necessary, but it’s not a major focus of our Global Travel and Trade Team.

 


#67

Q:  Is there specific work in the past three years that has been particularly effective for South Dakota Tourism? Have there been watchouts you can share that we should know about and avoid as we plan our approach?

A:  We’ve found a cohesive, integrated approach that focuses on delivering unique messaging throughout the visitor’s journey has worked well to capture more significant market share for South Dakota. Here is a sampling of effective placements from the past five years, broken out by channel or you can find our yearly award-winning efforts in our annual reports.

 


#68

Q:  What tourism work does your team currently admire most from other states or entities? And why?

A:  We admire the work in Utah because of it’s focus on the outdoors, national parks, etc. We think their campaigns and creative are inspiring. We’ve also been impressed by Tennessee’s efforts over the years. They do well pairing inviting creative with innovative strategies.

 


#69

Q:  What is the creative approval process for a new campaign and sub-campaigns?

A:  All work flows directly from the agency to the Global Marketing and Brand Strategy Team within the Department of Tourism.

 


#70

Q:  Does it require board approval like other State accounts we’ve worked on, or is it the marketing team’s purview alone?

A:  We do not run any approval through our board. It’s the marketing team’s purview alone.

 


#71

Q:  Is there any requirement or strong desire to work with in-state production companies for broadcast/content development or photography?

A:  There is not a requirement. If you find a strong in-state partner, that is great. If not, it is not an issue.

 


#72

Q:  As we develop and report the “Insights” requested for the RFP, given the limit of a single page, would you tend to favor showing our potential and creativity with insightful “leaps” that might lead to new ideas and approaches, or would you more likely favor our perspective on more “measured and measurable” insights?

A:  We give you permission to break the single page request and provide us with your best and most creative ideas.

 


#73

Q:  Will the incumbent be participating in this agency review process?

A:  We are assuming the incumbents will respond to the RFP.

 


#74

Q:  Did the fact they are a local agency factor into your decision making last time?

A:  No.

 


#75

Q:  Will it factor in this time?

A:  No.

 


#76

Q:  Do you see a legitimate opening for a new partner with new ideas?

A:  Yes, we do.

 


#77

Q:  Can you share with us what, if any, lasting/long-term investments the Department of Tourism has made in your marketing technology stack (e.g., your DMP, CRM, Web- CMS, ESP, etc.)?

A:  We have invested and prioritized our marketing technology stack, and currently, either ourselves and/or our agency partners utilize: Salesforce Marketing, BlueConic, Zoho, Arrivalist, ADARA Impact, Tourism Economics, Tableau, Monday.com, Google Analytics, Crowdriff and Bandwango.

 


#78

Q:  Can you provide the link to the 2019 and 2020 economic impact studies noted in section 3.6 (the link is not working)?

A:  Economic Impact | South Dakota Tourism Industry (sdvisit.com) If the link does not work, visit SDVisit.com, find RESEARCH & REPORTS in the menu.

 


#79

Q:  Does the department have existing strategic targets in the international tourism market or will you be looking for additional research and recommendations?

A:  We do. We are focused on the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Benelux, Nordic Countries, Australia, New Zealand and, to lesser degrees, China and Japan. There will be a renewed focus on Canada once we are through the pandemic.

 


#80

Q:  What marketing KPIs are currently most central to the success of both the consumer and industry facing websites?

A:  For our consumer-facing site, we primarily focus on: Sessions (Trend, By Metro and By Medium), Organic Traffic and Searches, Engagement Metrics (Pageviews, Avg. Session Duration, Avg. Time on Page), Goal Completions (Vacation Guide signups, eNewsletter signups, Giveaway or other form submissions) and Events (Page Scroll Depth, UGC Engagement, Video Views, Outbound Clicks & Partner Referrals).

For our industry-facing site, we primarily focus on Users, Sessions, Pages per Session, and Events like Downloads, Online Forms and Outbound Links.

 


#81

Q:  What proportion of the editorial marketing calendar is intended to be existing ongoing marketing campaigns vs. original concepts proposed by agency partners?

A:  We don’t have a determined formula, usually evaluating year by year, and varying by channel. Our overall approach is that we value learning from our various inputs, collaborating amongst the teams, committing to the course determined, and allowing our efforts to have a true long-term and lasting impact.

 


#82

Q:  Which DMOs (destination marketing organizations) do you consider to be your primary competitors?

A:  Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa and, to a lesser degree, Colorado.

 


#83

Q:  In section 5.1, is just the agency history limited to one page, or does that one page maximum include all sub-bullets under “agency history and facts”?

A:  Just the history is limited to one page.

 


#84

Q:  What other regions/states would be deemed as a potential conflict of interest?

A:  Other regions/states that could be potential conflicts of interest include Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Nebraska.

 


#85

Q:  How closely should co-op marketing plans and creative approaches tie in to that of the overall state?

A:  Given how we have worked with our co-op marketing partners in the past, they should tie in closely to the state’s creative approach & strategy.

 


#86

Q:  What would you say are the Department’s three biggest challenges from a marketing perspective right now?

A:  Biggest challenges: 1. Diversifying our visitors ethnicity-wise, attracting a younger demographic, disbursing visitation across regions and seasons (Heavy dependence on summer travel) 2. In-market transportation (rental cars, ride sharing) 3. Increased competition from western states.

 


#87

Q:  For Component 1, should the $5 million budget be inclusive of creative production as well, or is this budget only media placement with production outlined separately outside of the $5 million?

A:  It should be inclusive of creative production.

 


#88

Q:  For Component 2, should the $4.5 million budget be inclusive of creative production as well, or is this budget only media placement with production outlined separately outside of the $4.5 million?

A:  It should be inclusive of creative production.

 


#89

Q:  For Component 3, should the 3 media strategy budgets of $250k, $125k and $80k be inclusive of creative production as well, or are these budgets only media placement with production outlined separately outside of the 3 budgets?

A:  They should be inclusive of creative production.

 


#90

Q:  For Components 1, 2 & 3, what is classified as an agency fee when developing media strategy?

A:  Agency commission on media placements.

 


#91

Q:  For Components 1 & 2, should we consider a hunting audience as well as leisure within the overall strategy, or would this be a leisure-only effort?

A:  Leisure-only effort.

 


#92

Q:  Is Component 7 representative of both SDVisit.com and TravelSouthDakota.com?

A:  I think you mean Component Six, correct? Yes, it’s representative of both.

 


#93

Q:  What are the most common pieces of feedback you receive (good and bad) of the current website?

A:  The most common feedback is that the website is easy to use and navigate, is visually appealing, and has good content.

 


#94

Q:  What are you most proud of about the website?

A:  We are proud of the fact that the website is not static, but is constantly being updated with new content, new images and better technology to make the user’s experience better.

 


#95

Q:  This South Dakota Tourism RFP was accessed via esm Solutions platform states that the response should be uploaded via that platform. Please clarify if a digital response needs to be uploaded to esm Solutions along with 1 printed original and 10 printed copies physically mailed?

A:  You can email your digital response directly to Secretary James Hagen at [email protected]. You can physically email the ONE original and TEN printed copies to the address outlined on page 4 of the RFP.

 


#96

Q:  How does the cost proposal need to be submitted? For example can it be submitted as a page within the technical proposal response, or does it need to be a totally separate document in a separate envelope.

A:  Either way is fine.

 


#97

Q:  If the cost proposal needs to be submitted in a different envelope than the technical proposal, what should that envelope state on the outside? How many copies of the cost proposal are needed? Should it also be submitted electronically via esm Solutions?

A:  It can say COST PROPOSAL. How many copies of the cost proposal are needed? Just one. Should it also be submitted electronically via esm Solutions? Yes.

 


#98a

Q:  What are your top 10 visitor attractions/destinations in the state?

A:  Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Crazy Horse Memorial, Custer State Park, Lewis and Clark Recreation Area, Badlands National Park, Falls Park, Sculpture Walk, Rapid City, Historic Deadwood, Black Hills National Forest.

#98b

Q:  What are your emerging or developing attractions/destinations?

A:  Spearfish, Spearfish Canyon, State Parks and Rec Areas, Wind Cave National Park, Jewel Cave National Monument, the National Music Museum

 


#99

Q:  What is the current budget mix between all of the designated components?

A:  $11 million budget:

  • Media (Traditional, Digital, OOH, Co-ops) – 75%
  • Social Media – 3%
  • eCRM – 2%
  • PR – 5%
  • Website – 3%
  • Creative Production – 6%
  • Account Leadership and Management – 4%
  • MarTech – 2%
  • Research – 1%

 


#100

Q:  What data do you have and can you share relative to your current visitor/desired visitor (demographically/geographically/psychographically)?

A:  Along with the annual reports, you can find prior research and reports, along with marketing campaign information, on SDVisit.com. Additionally, more can be found here, including audiences, markets, messaging and campaign timelines.

 


#101

Q:  What is the reason this RFP is being issued?

A:  We are statutorily-mandated to issue a marketing RFP at least every five years.

 


#102

Q:  Are there any issues or challenges regarding the current agency performance? If so, what would you like to change?

A:  We are always striving to find the very best marketing agency/agencies of our work. We do not believe in resting on our laurels and are always wanting to be as aggressive and creative with our marketing work as possible.

 


#103

Q:  Is your team satisfied with the current creative campaign and PR efforts? If not, what would you like to change?

A:  See answer to question number 102.

 


#104

Q:  Will your current agency participate in this RFP proposal?

A:  We do not know if they will be responding to this RFP or not. Our guess is that they will be.

 


#105

Q:  For the next five years, what do you believe will be pain points or improvement points?

A:  We are keeping an eye on our growth and potential over-tourism in the western half of the state. We’d like to diversify our audience in terms of ethnicity and age (younger demographic). We’d also like to see better distribution of visitation across all regions of the state as well as all seasons.

 


#106

Q:  Would you share who the incumbent agency is? Or, if there are multiple agencies, for example, one handling PR and another advertising, would you share who those are?

A:  Traditional marketing = Lawrence and Schiller; Digital/Social/Email = MMGY Global; Public Relations= NJF (division of MMGY Global); Website = Miles Partnership

 


#107

Q:  Have the incumbent agencies been invited to participate in this RFP?

A:  All agencies, including the incumbents, are welcomed to participate in the RFP.

 


#108

Q:  What are your top competing destinations?

A:  Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa and, to a lesser degree, Colorado.

 


#109

Q:  Do the leisure audience segments referenced in the 2019 annual report still make up your prioritized targeting?

A:  Yes, they still serve as the base for all we do, though we have layered in more specific, interest—based niches and targeting in the past couple of years.

 


#110

Q:  Do you prioritize any one over the other?

A:  Families are our most important demographic, but all audiences are important to our outreach.

 


#111

Q:  The State will not pay Contractor’s expenses as a separate item. Does this include project expenses such as stock photography, music licenses, etc.?

A:  This is just for the RFP and the work you put together for it. If you are awarded our marketing contract, we will cover such expenses.

 


#112

Q:  Market research is referenced throughout the RFP. Can you provide examples of previous research initiatives that have been undertaken prior to the pandemic and during it as well?

A:  Research is a critical component to everything we do. We conduct focus groups (online and in person), do creative testing, image and ROI studies, visitor profile studies, etc. In addition, we constantly monitor marketing metrics to determine what creative and messaging is resonating with each targeted audience. We also keep a pulse on consumer trends and sentiment through our research partners and monitor monthly travel indicators at the local, state, regional and national levels. During the pandemic, we began paying much closer attention to consumer sentiment about travel behavior to determine appropriate messaging. All research and reports can be found at this link.

 


#113

Q:  Confirming that day-to-day social channel and community management is handled by an in-house resource?

A:  Yes, it is, but in very close collaboration with the agency handling our social media work.

 


#114

Q:  Can you confirm peak season and shoulder season date spreads?

A:  Peak = February thru July / Shoulder = August thru October.

 


#115

Q:  Are there any mandates we should be aware of in any channel or existing partners that MUST be included due to considerations beyond program strategy?

A:  No.

 


#116

Q:  Are you currently licensed for utilizing Adara’s Impact Radius Dashboard or, if we recommend utilizing it, would this need to come out of the media or agency budget?

A:  We do utilitze ADARA Impact, which currently comes out of our digital agency budget.

 


#117

Q:  Outside of arrivalist are you utilizing any other 3rd party attribution platforms we should be aware of?

A:  Nothing that isn’t specific to a vendor or platform outside of ADARA Impact and Arrivalist.

 


#118

Q:  With the obvious impact of the pandemic skewing implementation from “normal” years how has your media investment been allocated across channels both pre-pandemic and during?

A:  Our media investment has stayed consistent given that our state approached the pandemic much differently than other DMOs around the country.

$11 million budget:

  • Media (Traditional, Digital, OOH, Co-ops) – 75%
  • Social Media – 3%
  • eCRM – 2%
  • PR – 5%
  • Website – 3%
  • Creative Production – 6%
  • Account Leadership and Management – 4%
  • MarTech – 2%
  • Research – 1%

 


#119

Q:  Do you have performance benchmark data beyond what is found in your annual reports that you can share? Do you have specific performance KPIs you prioritize?

A:  We publish all of our travel indicators on the research page of our industry website SDVisit.com. We also have numerous marketing metrics and KPI’s, but many of those are specific to the placement. A few examples include cost-per-impression, cost-per-inquiry, cost-per-engagement, views, view-thru-rates, open rates, sessions, conversions, etc.

 


#120

Q:  You are reporting a 13.5% goal conversion rate in your 2020 annual report for paid search. What actions are you defining as goal conversions today?

A:  Goal completions for us currently include: Vacation Guide Requests, TravelSmart eNewsletter Signups, eVacation Guide Views, Video Views, Giveaway Form Submissions, Local Car Rental Referrals, Great Finds Passport Signups and Lodging Partner Referrals.

 


#121

Q:  Can you provide color around your past direct mail activities?

A:  Direct mail has reached our key target audiences in primary markets as an inspirational piece as well as through our co-op partnership efforts. We also have retargeting direct mail efforts that extend through our Peak season. Example pieces can be found here.

 


#122

Q:  Confirming that the majority of your international media investments happen through your partnership with Brand USA. Can you provide any color around the nature of the program?

A:  That is correct. Most of our work to target international consumers/travelers occurs through Brand USA’s robust multi-channel marketing platforms.

 


#123

Q:  We can see past state targeting in your reports, are there any new market priorities or aspirational objectives we should keep in mind?

A:  In recent years, we have added Chicago and Dallas as new priority markets. Our aspiration is to increase our marketing footprint on a national scale.

 


#124

Q:  Do you allow partner, sponsored, or paid placement on your owned properties (website, emails, social)? If so, who sells and manages contract fulfillment?

A:  Yes, we do on our emails and soon on our website. The department, along with the marketing agency assisting with this work, handle creating, selling and managing these placements.

 


#125

Q:  Are you looking to add additional revenue streams to the website?

A:  Yes, potentially.

 


#126

Q:  What are the top three most important KPIs on your website?

A:  1. Visits 2. Conversions 3. Events

 


#127

Q:  How many people manage the current website?

A:  We have a full-time web manager who works closely on the site alongside key members of our Global Marketing team.

 


#128

Q:  We see the website is a Drupal site. Who is the hosting company?

A:  The site is hosted through Acquia.

 


#129

Q:  What are the average monthly users on the site?

A:  Average monthly users are more than 217,000.

 


#130

Q:  What is the percentage of mobile and desktop users?

A:  For the past calendar year, we were 63% mobile, 33% desktop and 4% tablet.

 


#131

Q:  Are there any subdomains that we should be aware of?

A:  Yes, there are several, but HunttheGreatest.com, SoldonSouthDakota.com and TourSDakota.com are the most significant for TravelSouthDakota.com. For SDVisit.com, Media.com and FilmSD.com are the only others.

 


#132

Q:  Do you send the majority of campaign traffic to your website or landing pages on subdomains?

A:  Primarily to specific pages on TravelSouthDakota.com, but that depends somewhat on the medium, campaign or placement.

 


#133

Q:  What is your current CRM?

A:  Salesforce and Zoho for local industry needs.

 


#134

Q:  Do you have a separate budget for your current services such as Arrivalist, Google 360?

A:  Research tools like this fall under the general marketing budget as a line item.

 


#135

Q:  What is your website content approval processes?

A:  All content is approved through a small team comprised mainly of our Global Marketing team members.

 


#136

Q:  What’s working / not working well on the current website?

A:  We receive positive feedback on the website’s functionality/ease of use, navigation, constantly updated content, UGC, pictures. We don’t receive much – if any – negative feedback.

 


#137

Q:  Are there any third party technologies with which the site will need to integrate?

A:  BlueConic and Crowdriff.

 


#138

Q:  How are key decisions about web content being made?

A:  It’s a very collaborative effort between the agency overseeing the website and the department’s Global Marketing team.

 


#139

Q:  How are language translations managed?

A:  We use our international representatives in key markets like Germany, Italy, France, Japan, China, etc. to create translated pages on our website.

 


#140

Q:  What is your current email platform? Are we required to use it? Do we need to account for it in our budget?

A:  Our agencies each have their own platforms of use and preference. We are open to recommendations, to what the agency feels is best. You will need to account for it in your budget.

 


#141

Q:  How many email campaigns do you send on average per month?

A:  On average, we send about four-five per month.

 


#142

Q:  Are there any integrations between your email platform and your website? Are emails triggered to known users on the website?

A:  Only through specific form submissions that feed into Salesforce and trigger the appropriate sends.

 


#143

Q:  How many email templates do you currently have?

A:  We currently have four consumer-focused templates.

 


#144

Q:  What is your email content approval process?

A:  A small team comprised mainly of members of the Global Marketing team.

 


#145

Q:  Has SEO been performed on the website in the past 5 years? If yes, what types of activities did you work on?

A:  Yes, SEO is an ongoing effort. We’ve worked on speed and load times, keyword and page rankings – content specific to identified opportunities, URLs, page titles, image alt tags and site schema for listings and events.

 


#146

Q:  Do you currently have an in-house SEO manager or is this entirely run through an agency? If so, what type of SEO activities are they actively working on?

A:  This is handled mainly through our web agency, with our Global Marketing team members assisting on content or other items as needed.

 


#147

Q:  Are you currently reporting on SEO performance across the website? If yes, what types of KPIs are you using to measure performance?

A:  Our agency reports quarterly, and we watch certain metrics regularly through GA. We monitor organic activity, monthly keyword trends, search queries and landing page activity.

 


#148

Q:  When was the last time you performed a technical audit on the website?

A:  About six months ago.

 


#149

Q:  What is your main resource for making more extensive technical updates to the website? (in-house development team, outsourced developer, etc.)?

A:  We retain a website/marketing agency to handle the more extensive updates and changes to the website.

 


#150

Q:  When was the last time you performed a content audit on the website?

A:  We are currently undergoing one!

 


#151

Q:  What is your main resource for creating website content? (in-house content team, outsourced writer, etc.)?

A:  It’s a very collaborative effort between an in-house content development manager, our website agency and the other agencies when specific to a campaign or effort.

 


#152

Q:  How does your team come up with content topics for the website? What type of research or insights are used to inform new content creation?

A:  Much of the content is based upon brainstorming and collaboration with the agencies, plus input from our visitors, industry partners, etc.

 


#153

Q:  Do you currently have heat mapping installed on the website or have you had it installed in the past? If yes, how often are you looking at the data?

A:  No, we do not currently have heat mapping on our website, nor have we in the past.

 


#154

Q:  Outside of heat mapping, are there any user experience or engagement metrics that you look at in making decisions about the website design and UX?

A:  We primarily focus on conversion rates, page values, events, session duration, page scroll depth, page load speed and other core web vitals, average time on page, and goal completions (vacation guide signups, e-newsletter signups, vacation giveaways or other form submissions).

 


#155

Q:  We noticed Google Optimize being used on the website. What types of experiments have been run in the past and are there any experiments running currently?

A:  Nothing currently, and previously we tested hero images and mapping features.

 


#156

Q:  Do you have a brand style guide or brand voice/tone guidelines?

A:  Yes, we do. https://sdvisit.com/brand-standards & here’s our internal Style Guide.

 


#157

Q:  Do you have an existing content strategy? If so can you share your defined content pillars?

A:  Monumental Outdoors (Wide-open Space & Landscapes, National & State Parks, Outdoor Adventures), Roads of Discovery (Scenic Drives & Itineraries, Roadside Experiences, Off-the-Beaten Path Experiences) and SoDak Spirit (Native American Culture, History, Arts & Entertainment, Shopping, Food & Drink).

 


#158

Q:  Have you ever had or considered adding a blog/content hub to the website?

A:  Yes, we have, and are open to implementing one.

 


#159

Q:  Is the $11MM marketing budget a yearly budget?

A:  Yes, it is a yearly budget.

 


#160

Q:  What is the budget split between production, media and creative service fee?

A:  $11 million budget:

  • Media (Traditional, Digital, OOH, Co-ops) – 75%
  • Social Media – 3%
  • eCRM – 2%
  • PR – 5%
  • Website – 3%
  • Creative Production – 6%
  • Account Leadership and Management – 4%
  • MarTech – 2%
  • Research – 1%

 


#161

Q:  How have you divided your production budgets in the past?

A:  It depends on the year’s efforts, but agencies account for production in their overall budget.

 


#162a

Q:  What has the media budget been broken down in the past? Distribution platforms?

A:  

Digital 36%
Video 22%
Print 19%
Audio 7%
Social 6%
OOH 6%
Activation/Integrated 4%

#162b

Q:  Location allocation such as local, regional, national and international split?

A:  The bulk of our marketing budget is spent on regional marketing efforts, then national, and then international.

 


#163

Q:  Do you have examples of past brand partnerships that you’ve worked with? Who? Why were they successful?

A:  We have worked with brand partners like Matador Network (and REI through Matador), SCHEELS (a regional sporting goods store with multiple locations in the Midwest). We are very interested in establishing future partnerships with outdoor entities/brands that may be a fit for our brand (and vice versa). Yes, we have been pleased with the results of all of these partnerships.

 


#164

Q:  For “Co-Op Advertising” are there examples of other brands you’ve partnered with?

A:  These are in-state CVBs, Chambers and DMO partners, not external brands.

 


#165

Q:  Has an existing agency been managing your marketing? Or, has it previously been done in-house? If so, what work would they do vs what we would complete?

A:  Yes, we have been working with three outside agencies. Our marketing work will be done by our agency/agencies in close collaboration with our internal Global Marketing team.

 


#166

Q:  Across how many agencies have the services across the eight (8) components been historically managed?

A:  Three agencies over the past five years.

 


#167

Q:  Do you currently have partner alliances? If so, please provide the details.

A:  We have partnerships through our community co-op marketing program. Please learn more about that program at this link.

 


#168

Q:  What have been your most successful marketing campaigns to date and why?

A:  We have had a number of successful marketing campaigns. Please visit this link to take a look at our past campaigns.

 


#169

Q:  Are there tourism campaigns outside of South Dakota’s that you admire and why?

A:  Yes, we admire Utah’s and Tennessee’s tourism offices work.

 


#170

Q:  Are there specific feeder states that you focus on?

A:  Our main target markets are Minneapolis/St. Paul, Chicago, Kansas City, Dallas, Denver, Des Moines as well as states like North Dakota, Nebraska, Montana.

 


#171

Q:  Can you share the allocation of spend against reaching residents?

A:  Historically, more than 90% of our work has been targeted outside our borders, but we are beginning to implement more ‘Travel Local’ campaigns.

 


#172

Q:  What audiences have you previously targeted? How have these performed?

A:  You can learn more about our target audiences here.

 


#173

Q:  What media channels have you focused on based on audience profile? How have these performed?

A:  We utilize broadcast, cable and connected TV; print; public relations; Out of Home and activations; targeted emails; website; social; digital

 


#174

Q:  What’s working and not working about your current approach to tourism marketing?

A:  Much seems to be working very well with our marketing. We have consistently set records for visitation and visitor spend over the past decade. Because of meticulous planning and research, our campaigns have been very targeted to what we know are the right audiences, in the right markets, and on the right marketing platforms. South Dakota was the very first state in the nation to return to pre-pandemic levels of visitor spending this past May. To learn more about our recent consumer marketing campaigns, please visit this link. With all of the success we have had, though, we don’t want to get lazy or comfortable. We want to be pushing ourselves and pushing the envelope, creatively. We also want to be aggressive about growing our regional and national marketing footprint.

 


#175

Q:  What do you like about your current efforts? Your current relationships?

A:  We like that our efforts with our marketing agencies are very collaborative. We like to push our agencies to do their very best work, and we like for them to push us, too.

 


#176

Q:  Are there any mandatories in terms of messaging and/or executions? Things that you know work well? For example, is there a tagline that you know needs to be worked into our campaign creative? A campaign idea that needs to be carried forward?

A:  Please take a look at this link to see our past campaigns. We are VERY OPEN to any and all new ideas. We can’t stress that enough. We have utilized the successful tagline – Great Faces. Great Places – for a number of years now, but, again, we are open to new creative ideas as well as new campaign ideas.

 


#177

Q:  Do you have any existing research or strategic work you can share? Existing media plans/reports? Audience profiles? Even though we’ll be proposing new strategies, we want to be informed by work to date.

A:  Please take a look here for answers to these questions.

 


#178

Q:  What does success look like? How do you measure it?

A:  Success looks like increased tax revenue generated by tourism at the state and local levels, a more diverse visitor (ethnically as well as younger), more visitation across all regions of the state and across more seasons (spring, summer, fall and winter). All of this is measured through our yearly economic impact reports and other research tools we utilize.

 


#179

Q:  What do you stand for? What does South Dakota offer that other tourist destinations can’t?

A:  We’d actually like for YOU to answer this question for us in your proposal. What do you think sets us apart from the competition? What does your research tell us makes our state’s tourism offering unique? Here is a link to our new strategic plan that may give you some insight.

 


#180

Q:  Who do you consider your competitors?

A:  Wyoming, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and, to a lesser degree, Colorado.

 


#181

Q:  Which geographies have you traditionally had success drawing from? Demographics? Do people tend to drive or fly?

A:  Our key markets include Denver and the front range of Colorado, Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Kansas City, Des Moines, Omaha, as well as Wyoming, North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. We are a drive market, for sure, although direct air services to Sioux Falls and Rapid City is getting more robust every year. Please see more information here to learn more about our audience profiles.

 


#182

Q:  What role does in-state tourism play in your efforts?

A:  Since the onset of the pandemic, we have put a greater emphasis on a ‘Travel Local’ campaign and would like to permanently implement that moving forward.

 


#183

Q:  Do you have any data on return rates?

A:  Around 50% of visitors to South Dakota have been to the state before. Number of times visitors plan to visit South Dakota in the next three years: 26% = one visit; 8% = two visits; 16% = three visits; 9% = 4-9 visits; 9% = 10 visits

 


#184

Q:  Are you open to agencies outside of South Dakota?

A:  Yes, we are.

 


#185

Q:  Are we able to embed links into our digital response for demonstrating video work?

A:  Yes. Or feel free to email dropbox links (or whatever your preferred method is) to [email protected]

 


#186

Q:  For social media, are you looking for a partner to create organic content in addition to paid content?

A:  Yes, we are.

 


#187

Q:  Beyond strong case studies, category experience and talent, what intangibles do you look for in a partner?

A:  Creativity, a passion for our state, hard work, having fun with the work, collaboration, and a desire for excellence in marketing.

 


#188

Q:  Do you have any research on aided/unaided brand awareness levels by market?

A:  This research by Longwoods is our latest on brand awareness and recall.

 


#189

Q:  Have you done any consumer segment/audience persona research before? If so, are you able to share that information?

A:  You can find our research here.

 


#190

Q:  Do you have any “opportunity”/ “growth” markets/geographical areas you’d like us to focus on? Or is that up to our discretion?

A:  We want to be aggressive about growing our regional and national marketing footprint. In recent years, we have added Chicago and Dallas as primary target markets. We believe there are definitely other “opportunity” and “growth” markets out there and would be eager to hear your thoughts about them.

 


#191

Q:  Which markets do you consider to be your biggest competitors?

A:  Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska and, to a lesser degree, Colorado.

 


#192

Q:  Are there any competitors/brands that you admire from an advertising/messaging perspective?

A:  Yes, we have always admired the work out of Utah and Tennessee.

 


#193

Q:  What are your short and long-term “metrics for success”? How are you currently evaluating your traditional and digital media?

A:  Short and long-term metrics for success are measured through year-end economic impact studies, campaign-end reporting and real-time analytics through tools like ADARA Impact, Arrivalist, STR Reports, AirDNA, department/agency reporting and Google Analytics

 


#194

Q:  Are there any media channels that you have seen strong success with (or were not successful) in past campaigns?

A:  We have been fortunate in that all of our channels have performed well - from TV, to print, to digital, to Out of Home, etc. We do implement A/B testing to make sure our creative is resonating and hitting the mark with our target audiences.

 


#195

Q:  In Section 5.5 you indicate that you would like to see samples of creative work. If we want to provide examples of video or audio creative should we provide links within the printed document, or should we provide digital copies on an external drive?

A:  Please do both.

 


#196

Q:  If additional questions arise while developing our response, are we able to submit them?

A:  No. The deadline for questions was January 31.

 


#197

Q:  Are you open to seeing spec creative within the submission? We understand that the work will likely evolve after the contract is awarded and the winning agency learns more, but we often like to share initial concepts to show how we think.

A:  We’d love to see it!

 


#198

Q:  What are the department’s marketing/PR objectives for 2022?

A:  Increase exposure and level of interest in our state and continue to grow our marketing and PR footprint both regionally and nationally.

 


#199

Q:  What are the biggest challenges you need communications and PR to help overcome?

A:  Like all destinations South Dakota can have some hot button political issues that strike potential visitors in a negative manner. Managing this in terms of how it impacts our travel and tourism specifically is important. Also, flipping the perception of South Dakota as being “fly over” country to a place to spend 5+ days and being a complete destination, with incredible experiences, for all visitors.

 


#200

Q:  What destinations do you view as your top three competitors? What does South Dakota offer that they don’t?

A:  Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska and, to a lesser extent, Colorado. We would love to hear in your proposal what YOU think sets our state apart.

 


#201

Q:  What work in the category do you particularly admire?

A:  We have always admired the work coming out of the Utah Office of Tourism and the Tennessee Office of Tourism.

 


#202

Q:  Can you share your current budget breakout: agency fee, production, OOP (hosting, research, travel, etc.), media?

A:  $11 million budget:

  • Media (Traditional, Digital, OOH, Co-ops) – 75%
  • Social Media – 3%
  • eCRM – 2%
  • PR – 5%
  • Website – 3%
  • Creative Production – 6%
  • Account Leadership and Management – 4%
  • MarTech – 2%
  • Research – 1%

 


#203

Q:  Can you provide more detail on who your core customers/segments are? What barriers exist today? Can you share any customer experience, journey research, personas or segmentation?

A:  See research here.

 


#204

Q:  If there were one thing about South Dakota you’d want to embed in peoples’ minds, what would it be?

A:  Our state’s natural beauty and diverse landscapes catch people by surprise. We hear that often. We also hear from visitors that there are way more things to see and do than what they thought.

 


#205

Q:  Is there a specific generation that you want to hone in on? Where do you have audience gaps?

A:  Please see audience profiles and other research here. Wed like to diversify our visitors even more ethnically, and by also targeting younger visitors.

 


#206

Q:  Are there particular geographic markets/regions you want comms/PR to focus on? If so, what areas and are there priorities?

A:  We look to utilize our PR efforts in a broad stroke manner, using this as a tool to provide nationwide exposure for South Dakota’s offerings. As a whole, our department is aiming to target a more diverse traveler. We look to highlight destinations that are “hidden gems” in South Dakota, with the ability to highlight lesser known destinations allowing for great cross-state tourism. In addition to an overall nationwide approach, we do follow closely with the main markets determined by the marketing team and outlined on our campaign page on SDVisit.com

 


#207

Q:  What is your POV on the most important role PR serves for the South Dakota Department of Tourism?

A:  Our PR team works to support the overall objectives of our department’s mission and the strategy of our marketing team. For PR specifically, we are able to look big picture and reach audiences that our paid marketing efforts can’t always reach. Conversely, we can also work on granular topics and strategies supporting niches and destinations that have little-to-no marketing budget. Our overall goal is to increase awareness of South Dakota’s offerings, we have a strong regional and national audience, and are looking to attract a more diverse group of visitors. Goals for the future also include aiming to balance visitation across geography and season.

 


#208

Q:  What’s been your most successful/least successful PR campaign? Why?

A:  A number of our campaigns are listed on SDVisit.com in our annual reports.

 


#209

Q:  What’s the one thing you’d change about your current PR agency engagement?

A:  Hoping to achieve greater longevity with account team members to allow for a deeper connection to our state and relationships built.

 


#210

Q:  Looking ahead 12 months, how would you measure success of the PR agency relationship? What is your “dream” earned media placement? (Content and example publications)?

A:  Our overall goal is to increase awareness of South Dakota’s offerings, we have a strong regional and national audience, and are looking to attract a more diverse group of visitors. Goals for the future also include aiming to balance visitation across geography and season. Success within PR will show that we have supported these efforts through article placements, relationships, and efforts that support these goals. Local media placements and educating citizens on the impact of the state tourism industry is also critical. Having an agency that understands and appreciates South Dakota offerings, unique people and culture is vital for success. National broadcast stories that focus on an appreciation for the unique landscape, culture, and happenings and unique events in South Dakota. Features in large regional travel publications always excite our industry, and national travel & lifestyle placements with features on our state are great to acquire. Our pitching content focuses on family friendly offerings, landscape and our national/state parks, unique people in our state that are prospering with their small businesses, and niches like pheasant hunting, agritourism and Native American tourism.

 


#211

Q:  What tools do you currently have in place for PR measurement? What have you measured to gauge success/results to date? How is that received internally (good, could be better, etc.)?

A:  We currently contract all of our measurement tools through the agency currently doing our work. UVM is a primary gauge. We do track ad value as well, though not as much weight placed here. We receive monthly reporting from our agency on local, regional, and national placements.

 


#212

Q:  Philosophy on paid vs. earned: Are you open to a blended mix on the PR side?

A:  Yes. We believe both are necessary in today’s environment.

 


#213

Q:  Are there any watchouts or things you’d like us to avoid in our ideas for the assignment?

A:  None; we are open to all ideas and opportunities.

 


#214

Q:  How is PR integrated into other marketing campaigns/activities?

A:  We are greatly connected and collaborative in all things that we do. We believe in a cohesive strategy where all teams are aware and informed in our efforts to best collaborate, divide and conquer, and succeed.

 


#215

Q:  Is there an existing 2022 integrated marketing campaign we should share thinking around? Is “Great Faces and Great Places” continuing throughout 2022?

A:  Our primary message for 2022 is “Go Great Places.” We are open to hearing new ideas about that tagline or hearing creative ideas for other taglines.

 


#216

Q:  What amount of the total marketing budget is allocated to PR for 2022? What was the PR budget in 2021?

A:  Our PR budget is nearing $100,000 with intentions to grow it in the future. This does not include the monthly retainer cost.

 


#217

Q:  What influencer campaigns do you admire?

A:  We admire the work in Utah because of its focus on the outdoors, national parks, etc. Montana is one that we look at frequently with admiration for their social media work. We’ve also been impressed by Tennessee’s efforts over the years.

 


#218

Q:  How many events do you activate each year?

A:  This is greatly dependent on our overall marketing efforts. PR and marketing do coordinate greatly within our office. In a typical year, (outside of 2020-2021) we’d like to see at least one major in person activation. The PR team works with both consumer events and media specific events.

 


#219

Q:  What platform are the sites on, what CMS are you currently using? Are you satisfied with the technology/platform?

A:  Both of our websites – TravelSouthDakota.com and SDVisit.com utilize Drupal and are hosted on Acquia. Yes, we are satisfied, but we are always open to other technologies.

 


#220

Q:  Do you also have in-house technology and development, or will the agency assume all website development and operations?

A:  The agency will assume all website development and operations. They will work closely with our department’s Website Manager and some members of the Global Marketing team.

 


#221

Q:  What are the platforms currently used for data management, analysis, measurement and reporting?

A:  Through our current agencies, we utilize Salesforce as our consumer CRM and Zoho as our industry-focused CRM. We also utilize Tableau. We use a combination of processes and tools for measurement and analysis like year-end economic impact studies, department/agency campaign-end reporting, monthly updates and real-time analytics like, Adara Impact, Arrivalist, STR Reports, AirDNA, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Blue Conic and Tourism Economics’ Symphony research tool.

 


#222

Q:  What level of access, tracking, testing will be available to the agency on demand for content optimization?

A:  Any and all levels will be open.

 


#223

Q:  Are you using any tagging architectures to understand drop offs to conversion from awareness tactics?

A:  Yes, we currently employ tagging on relevant channels utilizing some of the measurement and attribution tools listed previously like Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Adara Impact and Arrivalist.

 


#224

Q:  Are you in a position to leverage historical customer data and behavioral data?

A:  Yes, we’ve made first-party data efforts a priority for years now and it has been invaluable in information our marketing strategy and efforts.

 


#225

Q:  Is there currently a centralized measurement function that combines paid, owned and earned marketing data with CLM/conversion data to enable understanding of what works?

A:  We currently have one CRM pulling all first-party data, but don’t yet have one centralized dashboard or platform for measuring paid, owned, and earned across the various channels in place.

 


#226

Q:  How successful are your current campaigns? What’s working/not working?

A:  We are happy with the success of our campaigns. We are reaching our target audiences with the right message, in the right markets, on the right platforms. We want to push ourselves, however, and are wanting to grow our regional and national marketing footprint in an aggressive manner and are open to any and all ideas to do that.

 


#227

Q:  How much is your typical annual media spend?

A:  See budget breakdown above in question 202.

 


#228

Q:  Social – How much volume does your current community management team handle? What social tools/platform are you currently using for listening, publishing, measurement, community management?

A:  Our current agency and internal Social Media Manager use Sprout Social to handle all community management for Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Our internal social media manager handles Instagram and TikTok community management individually. They are collaborative and assist one another daily.

 


#229

Q:  Email – How much monthly volume do you manage? What tools/platform are you using for email creation, deployment, testing, measurement?

A:  We average more than 1.05 million emails per month through Salesforce. Our agency works with a key few Global Marketing team members in the department on planning and content. They are then responsible for creating, testing, deploying, and measuring.

 


#230

Q:  Do you feel you provide a seamless omnichannel experience for your customers? If not, what are the barriers or challenges?

A:  We have worked very hard to make sure our platforms are in harmony with one another, whether that be TV, print, digital, social, Out of Home, etc. and have witnessed the positive results of those efforts. We recognize the opportunity to keep improving and reach that seamless omnichannel experience. The current challenge is a seamless hand off across channels like deploying extra efforts across digital, social, or connected platforms to reengage an email subscriber who hasn’t been active for a few months, or making sure we’re hitting an optimal impression level of more conversion-focused efforts across channels for visitors showing growing interest and engagement.

 


#231

Q:  Can you confirm proposal submission via hard copy and not electronic submission?

A:  Please follow the submission requirements as outlined in the RFP.

 


#232

Q:  How many agencies are involved in this process? Would you share the names of the agencies participating in the RFP?

A:  We have no idea how many agencies may respond to the RFP until the written proposals are due on February 28. We can share that the interest in our work is the highest we have ever seen.

 


#233

Q:  Why are you looking to change agencies? What prompted you to issue the RFP?

A:  We are required by state law to issue a Marketing RFP at least every five years. It’s a great opportunity to see what a marketing agency can do to help move tourism forward in our state. We are excited about this process.