Time to Reform the RFP Process for Professional Services

Aug 28, 2024 | Advertising, Blog, Branding, Tourism

Over the course of our 30 years as a creative services firm, we have responded to quite a few Requests for Proposals (RFPs) from government procurement offices, and received many more that did not deserve a response. Since some tourism offices are part of local or county governments, it is a necessary process for them and us. We can’t speak for a firm that sells other services or products, especially commodities, like office supplies or fertilizer. But, when it comes to securing creative services, the government RFP process is badly broken. At best, it rewards mediocrity. More often than not, it does a disservice to the community that it claims to protect. At worst, the process contains lies and deceptions that many unwitting bidders don’t even know about.

  • A department of local government usually seeks a creative firm to help them address a marketing need. By definition of the creative process, it is unknown what the end product will be. Yet, most RFPs, in an effort to be thorough, borrow boiler plate language from other communities to describe what they think is needed. The truth is, they have no clue what is needed. The result is that the details of the RFP either add in a lot of unnecessary steps that drive up the price, or limit what a great creative firm could deliver if only they had been allowed to shine. The result is that the community either ends up spending more than is necessary just to comply, or the agency is forced to think small because that’s what was dictated by the terms of the RFP — terms written by the least qualified person in the mix.

  • Most of the government departments we deal with are tourism offices. The destination marketing professionals in those offices know how competitive the market is for travelers. Their mindset is (or ought to be) to work with the creative team that will produce the very best, most impactful work they can possibly afford. As marketing pros, they want brochures, ad campaigns and websites that will inspire people to take action. Their jobs are on the line if they don’t get results. However, the procurement process prioritizes finding the lowest price. An RFP may include an evaluation criteria in which price is supposedly only 15% – 20% of the score, with experience and past performance being the remaining 80% – 85%. It’s a lie. As long as pricing is introduced into the proposals and review process, it will always be the item that matters most. It will be the page that gets dog-eared by reviewers to come back to time and again. “This firm is clearly the best, most experienced choice, and they are within our budget, but maybe it would be OK to go with one of the less impressive, but less expensive firms.”

  • Procurement departments exist to ensure that rules are followed. Often the rule is that projects over a certain dollar value require an RFP, and that recurring projects/contracts require a new RFP every few years. In far too many instances, it is known even before the RFP hits the internet who the chosen firm will be. No department will ever publicly admit this, but we all know it to be true. If that is not deception, I don’t know what is.

  • RFPs set an adversarial tone before a relationship has even begun. We have spent an entire career building relationships with clients and getting them to think of us as partners. Honesty flowing in both directions is the best way to stay on time, on budget and producing the best quality work. RFPs, on the other hand, decline to share budgets, yet fill 20 pages with language about how they are not responsible for anything, make no promises at all, reserve the right to change terms, own the rights to everything that is created, and even claims a right to review our books and record keeping. Seriously?

The greatest irony of the RFP debacle is that a process meant to serve the community so often ends up costing it more. Over the course 30+ years, we have worked with more local, county and state government departments than we can count. They have included not only tourism offices, but also economic development, parks & recreation, public safety and administration. Without exception, every decision maker has always been extremely budget conscious. No department we have dealt with is rolling in cash. They are under pressure to make their budgets go as far as possible, and, as a result, act responsibly. So, the procurement/RFP process is both tying the hands of and driving up the compliance costs of the already cost-conscious professionals in every department.

Now that we have done a thorough examination of how broken the RFP process for professional and creative services is, the next blog will offer some thoughtful proposals to reform the system.

Back from Our Blogging Break – a Few Random Thoughts

Jul 30, 2024 | Advertising, Branding, Tourism, Travel

It has been awhile since we posted a blog here. We took a brief hiatus, although we stayed busy writing some blog posts for clients. It’s both a pleasure and an honor to be guest blogger for a client, because it gives us a reason to spend time in their community sampling a new restaurant, exploring a new trail or chatting with local business owners. But now, we’re back to sharing our thoughts on our very own blog.

Much has happened since our last post. The UK got a new king; Barbie was a big hit at the box office; and a team not lead by Tom Brady won the Super Bowl. The world continues to spin, and changes and advancements seem to come at light speed. We will be sharing thoughts on many of them.

We will be writing mostly about trends in advertising, branding, marketing and technology in future blogs. For this return to blogging, here are a few quick, random bits:

  • Overtourism is in the news lately, especially in Europe. Venice is charging additional fees to control the flow of visitors. Locals in Barcelona are downright hostile to tourists. Both sides have valid points. Local businesses are reaping the economic rewards, not to mention local governments collecting loads of sales and meals taxes. On the other had, it must be incredibly frustrating for local residents to not be able to enjoy the exceptional quality of life in their own community because they can’t get a table at a restaurant, or find enough square feet to spread a blanket on their overcrowded beach. We have delighted in helping communities expand tourism in recent years, but none have reached the saturation point like Barcelona, where it negatively impacts the community. Honestly, we hope it never happens to our clients. For now, we’re gratified to contribute to the economic growth and prosperity of the places we help promote and hope these places always have a great quality of life without overtourism.
  • From the beginning of modern advertising, the effectiveness of different media and platforms has risen and fallen. Have you noticed the size of your Sunday newspaper, or checked your MySpace page recently? Some people may have thought this would would happen with social media as a marketing tool. Well, they would be wrong. It’s not only still a good tool for reaching consumers, it’s bigger and better than ever. Of course, each brand has to determine which platform is best for them and develop creative ways to communicate with their prospective customers. The bottom line is, every DMO or direct to consumer marketer should make social media marketing a priority.
  • The travel sector has made a remarkable rebound from the depths of Covid a few short years ago. So much so, that tourism is bustling and the competition for travelers is fierce. Now, more than ever, marketers need every advantage they can get. Strong brands. Targeted campaigns. Very high caliber creative messaging. All of these things mattered before, they matter now, and will matter in the future for creating a program that hits on all cylinders.
  • The government procurement process, especially for selecting creative services, is irreparably broken. At its best, it rewards mediocrity. At its worst, it is filled with lies and deception. One thing is certain, it rarely leads to the best outcome for the community. We will have much more to say on this topic in future posts in hopes of starting a state-wide conversation about reforming this ineffective and outdated system.

Exciting News – New Scenic Trail Coming to Two of Virginia’s Most Scenic Counties

Jan 31, 2023 | Advertising, Tourism, Travel

Some exciting news has been filling my social media feed for the last 24 hours. A new scenic trail will soon run from New Castle to Eagle Rock running roughly parallel to Craig Creek. For those unfamiliar with these small towns, the trail will be just north of Roanoke, Va, in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. This is fantastic news for the Craig and Botetourt counties where the two trailheads will be located. 

As a tourism marketer, two thoughts come to mind.

1. During the announcement of the funding for this new trail, the comparison has been made to the Virginia Creeper Trail. As much as we love the Creeper Trail – we designed a website for the conservancy — perhaps a better comparison would be to the Jackson River Scenic Trail in the Alleghany Highlands. The Jackson River trail runs parallel to, you guessed it, the Jackson River. It features some of the finest scenery on any rail-trail in Virginia. At times riders or walkers enjoy views of the river on one side and fields and distant mountains on the other. The trail’s final segment is under construction right now. When finished it will stretch from Alleghany into Bath County.

2. While community leaders are surely focused on the funding, planning and construction of the new trail right now, we hope they will not take marketing lightly. Thankfully, Botetourt County has the benefit of following the excellent example of another trail that has had a significant impact on economic development — the Upper James River Water Trail. The lesson to be learned is if you build it they will come only works in the movies. The Upper James River Water Trail is certainly one of the most successful examples of a blueway or water trail in Virginia precisely because from the moment of creation the organizers had a plan and funding for marketing. More importantly, they have continued to support it with a modest budget every year since it launched. It doesn’t always take a lot of money, but consistent marketing is crucial to the success of any tourism-centric trail. 

Update on Bath County Tourism

Oct 10, 2022 | Tourism, Uncategorized

Many colleagues, clients and friends are aware of the unique relationship that Mikula-Harris has had with the Bath County Office of Tourism in recent years. Some have watched with interest to see what this partnership achieved for the county to see if there might be implications for similar collaboration in the future. There have been recent developments in the county. This is the perfect time for an update and a look at the past and future of tourism marketing in Bath County.

In the spring of 2019, Bath County tourism was in a slump. Frankly, that’s putting it mildly. The county had been without a tourism director for a while and lost significant momentum. Local businesses were feeling the sting because the previous tourism director was a dynamic and hard-working professional who created a fantastic program. The long vacancy in the department is what caused the slump. Thankfully, we had worked with the previous director years earlier who helped us understand the people and assets that make Bath County special. We built the website and designed their visitor guide. When the county hired us to handle pretty much every aspect of tourism marketing, we were prepared to hit the ground running.

What Bath County needed from Mikula-Harris was not like a typical client-agency relationship. It placed the entire burden of succeeding squarely on our shoulders. The truth is, we liked that. It allowed us to emulate every successful tactic we’d observed over our careers and, more importantly, to avoid every mistake that we had seen tourism offices make.

Here is some of what we did:

• We developed a balanced media plan that included print, digital, social media and a small amount of broadcast. Balance is critical. We chose media outlets based on their demographics and reach. Bath County isn’t exactly as well-known as Richmond or Virginia Beach, so building brand awareness was a key objective.

• We launched an e-newsletter so that we could re-market to hot prospects. We hoped this tool would convert prospects into actual visitors, as well as turn visitors into repeat customers. We designed the newsletter to be more than a list of upcoming events, which is a common format for destination newsletters. The newsletter actually helps to reinforce the core brand messages. It communicates the main reasons why Bath County is special and worth visiting. Of course, it promotes events, too.

• We were determined to make maximum use of social media. Even with a large following, social media isn’t free, but it is affordable. We budgeted accordingly to ensure that our messages were widely seen. That message, much like the newsletter, is more than blatant marketing. We strived to offer a variety of content that was interesting, informative and consistent with other brand messaging. Social media grew to become the third leading source of website clicks, usually behind organic search and paid search.

• Because content is so important to social media success, we added a few new things to the website and shared them generously. The new blog has been wildly successful. We added themed itineraries and a page to feature package deals offered by lodging properties. Among the top 50 most viewed pages on the website, 16 of them didn’t exist prior to our partnership.

• We identified the motorcycle touring and scenic drives market as an area for growth. We developed a brochure that features five loop rides. We put all five rides and some additional information on a robust scenic drives page on the website. Then, we promoted the niche with some advertising and social media exposure. The online version of the brochure gets tons of views and we have had to reprint the paper brochure. Perhaps the best indication of the success of this initiative is that the scenic drives page has been the second most viewed page of the website, second only to the homepage.

That is a pretty solid list of marketing achievements. How can we measure if they have brought about real results? That can be difficult, especially with an unprecedented global pandemic in the mix. Some things can be measured. Website traffic during the final six months of FY22 averaged 2.4x more than the six months prior to the start of our partnership with Bath County. There have been months where the traffic is more than triple where we started, but a six-month average seems like a fair, if not conservative, measure of how far the program has come.

Website traffic, along with inquiries and social media engagement, are good indicators of the caliber of the marketing. Does that put heads in beds, as tourism folks like to say? Eventually, it does. No one ever emerged from the marketing funnel as a customer without first going into the top of the funnel. The annual Economic Impact Report for 2021 was just released. The report measures direct visitor spending in each county and independent city in Virginia. The travel industry is rebounding from a terrible year in 2020. The average year over year increase across the Commonwealth was 44%. Direct visitor spending in Bath County exceeded that with a 60.3% increase. Only seven communities out of the 133 measured saw an increase of 60% or more.

While we’re proud of what we have done for Bath County over the past three years, change is inevitable. The growth of tourism in the county — and the desire to have greater local control over how occupancy tax dollars are spent — have lead community leaders to form a tourism board and hire a full-time president. It’s a logical step in the evolution of the program. The new team inherits a solid destination marketing program. As the recovery continues and more occupancy tax dollars become available for marketing, their objective is to take the program to new heights.

The future is bright for Bath County. The historic Jefferson Pools, which have been closed for several years, are being meticulously restored. They will be re-opening soon. The Omni Homestead Resort is in the midst of a major renovation that will make the grand resort one of the finest in the nation. There has been a renaissance in family farming, which pleases local chefs offering farm-to-table dining experiences. We predict continued success for Bath County tourism.

At Least We Have Never Caused an International Incident.

Jul 21, 2022 | Advertising, Branding, Campaigns, Tourism, Uncategorized

No one knows quite like ad agencies, how important every single word can be. We give extensive thought to every word and phrase. We choose words carefully because what we’re writing has to be descriptive yet concise. It has to impress the reader even though we’re writing for a wide audience with differing levels of reading comprehension. We also consider pace, cadence and alliteration, especially if we’re writing a script that will be read by professional voice talent.

So far in Mikula-Harris’ 30 year history, our choice of words in an ad has not caused an international incident. That was not the case when Turkey recently launched a tourism campaign. To most Americans, the TurkAegean campaign seems harmless. It’s a made up word formed by combining two others, like advertorial or frenemy. Not to mention, Turkey’s west coast is on the eastern side of the Aegean Sea. In some parts of the world where centuries old disagreements exist, a single word can cause tension. The campaign stirred up old feelings about control of the Aegean.

Not only has Mikula-Harris avoided causing any geo-political tension, we actually helped ease some. Well, actually they’re more local, but still passionate positions that needed to be handled deftly. While doing a tourism branding project in West Virginia, we learned that the county that hired us had three distinct areas. One was the county seat where most of the local commerce was located. Another was an area known as the Lost River Valley. It’s a picturesque region with mountains, rolling farmland, and a few high-end B&Bs. The third was a small but growing town that was located on a busy road that a lot of visitors traveled on their way through this county to nearby ski resorts. In this small town, some local businesses had recently popped up using the name Lost River. That did not sit well with the purists in the Lost River Valley. It wasn’t truthful and genuine, they thought, since the town was literally on the other side of a mountain and thus not located in the valley. After assessing the big picture, we advised the client that visitors are not concerned with artificial boundaries like town or county lines and most certainly do not care about what constitutes a valley. We assured them all that with the town serving as a gateway to the Lost River Valley it genuinely helped support and promote the brand. We saw it as a win-win. A few months later at a wonderful dinner at one of those charming B&Bs, a group of local business owners from both the valley and the nearby town all dined together and actually raised a glass to toast Mikula-Harris as the peacemaker. All they needed was an outside expert with no pre-conceived bias, to point out that they’re stronger together. That branding work won some awards, yet the Nobel still eludes us.

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