PR Agency RFPs: Why RFP is Important to Public Relations

What is RFP?

RFP is a key strategy for growing your PR agency, as RFPs are an extremely effective way to gain contracts to expand your business by providing your services to new organisations.

Let’s quickly discuss what RFP is. While the exact RFP processes will be different depending on the industry, the basic idea remains the same. RFP involves formally presenting your business offer to an organisation (a ‘buyer’) in need of a specific service.  This is considered the fairest and most open procurement method for public sector organisations, and even private businesses have recognised the value of RFPs. Overall, the RFP process will secure the most economically advantageous RFP (‘MEAT’) for the organisation.

As you might expect, opportunities are always being published that anyone can bid for. Yet, because of this very fact, competition is fierce. Just as RFPs are vital in gaining new contracts, so is having an amazing proposal showing that you meet all the buyer’s requirements, and why you are the best PR agency for the job.

 

The RFP Process?

RFP can seem long and terribly complicated, so here we will break down the process for you. PR RFPs, as creative RFPs, will commonly be Requests for Proposals, or RFPs. RFP formats are almost always free format and involve the buyer providing a specification used to produce a creative project. Often RFPs won’t have any strict word count or notable restrictions. After all, buyers in the creative industry will want to see the quality of what you produce, meaning this proposal is basically your first chance to display your talent! Showing your ability to go beyond a plain template document and be remembered will assure buyers you can achieve the same working with them!

Your proposal does still need to include important information regarding the project, including a:

• Statement of Work
• Projected Timescale to Complete
• Specific and Detailed Plan.

As not all PR agency are RFPs, we can also look at what the general stages of the RFP process are:

• Opportunity – Referring of course to the opportunity listed by the buyer.
• Pre-Qualification Questionnaire, or PQQ – For closed RFP, a PQQ is issued by the buyer to determine which suppliers are appropriate. If you pass this stage, you arrive at the…
• Invitation to Tender, or ITT – For open tenders, the supplier starts the process here.
• Evaluation – Once the buyer has all the RFP submissions they mark them against their specific criteria. At this stage, they determine which supplier is the best for their needs.
• Contract – After deciding the best supplier, the buyer awards them the contract.

 

Should my PR agency RFP for work?

PR agency RFPs fall into the creative RFPs category, and creative jobs make up a substantial amount of the UK workforce. New creative jobs are generated at a faster rate than in other sectors. What this means is there is an abundance of opportunities to secure RFPs to grow your agency! Understandably, this only emphasises the importance of having an expert approach.

Searching for the perfect contract is key. Through your agency’s marketing, you may see some opportunities if businesses reach out directly, though not all may take this approach. Even if we include google searches or rely on word-of-mouth to discover opportunities, this is simply less reliable. Worse still, these results are likely not what you need to truly develop your agency!

Through RFP, your approach to gaining new contracts can be so much more efficient. You can find major PR RFP opportunities with a variety of businesses and organisations. This is particularly important for newer and/or smaller businesses (SMEs). For instance, the opportunity to secure work alongside a well-known company would not only be lucrative but will look amazing when approaching future RFP opportunities. After all, RFP isn’t just to help you secure a single contract, but to continue building your portfolio and expose you to new opportunities to help your PR agency grow!

 

Where to find RFP Opportunities for PR Agencies

At Hudson Outsourcing, we have developed our Creative RFPs platform to provide the best experience when seeking PR RFP opportunities. Rather than complicated codes or algorithms, our procurement team will categorise every RFP with industry-specific keywords to allow an easier time searching for the right opportunity. Even when there are thousands of RFP opportunities to manage, our team will ensure your agency’s time will only be spent looking at the most relevant.

 

Here’s a look at some previous PR agency RFPs we sourced:

 

• Public Relations Agency – 2023 Cycling World Championships

Buyer: 2023 Cycling World Championships Ltd

Location: Scotland

Budget: £165,000

 

• Sefton Tourism PR Agency

Buyer: Sefton Council

Location: North West

Budget: £36,000

 

• Freelance Media Relations and PR Consultant

Buyer: Coventry City of Culture Trust

Location: West Midlands

Budget: Undisclosed

 

• PR campaign – Well-being of Future Generations Act

Buyer: Future Generations Commissioner for Wales

Location: Wales

Budget: Undisclosed

 

If you would like to see more examples these can be found on our Creative RFPs Portal.

 

How can we help?

A subscription to Creative RFPs provides you with:

• Access to all new public and private sector digital marketing contracts across the UK.
• A daily email bulletin is sent straight to your inbox when new marketing opportunities are uploaded.
• Discounted support from Hudson Succeed (our bid writing division).
• 20 minutes of free consultancy with one of our Bid Management Consultants each month.

Also, we source opportunities for sectors including:

• Events Management
• Digital Services
• Design
• Graphic Design
• Print
• Website
• Video Production and many more.

 

Book a free live demo with Creative RFPs to see how we can help your business grow.

 

Need additional support?

You don’t always have the time or resources to write a winning response in-house. Outsourcing to bid writing experts can help. Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, offers four levels of bid writing support.

They boast an 87% success rate and have over 60 years of bid writing experience.

The services on offer include:

• A RFP Writing service
• A RFP Ready programme
• The RFP Improvement package
• RFP Mentor.

 

How to get contract-winning bids

You can absolutely complete all your bid submissions from within your agency. However, this can pose an issue if the buyer requires an especially long or complicated bid, and that’s before considering how you might fit this into a schedule already filled by your normal contracted work.

We also offer free consultations if you would like to discuss what is the best approach for your PR agency. On top of offering our bid writing services, we can also advise you on your existing RFP strategies and provide guidance.