Questions and Answers: Public Relations Firm

Transcription

1 Questions and Answers: Public Relations Firm The following are the questions submitted to Bailey Edward Design Inc. in response to the Request for Proposal released on Friday, May 15, Per the RFP instructions, any questions received after 5 p.m. Central time on May 22, 2015 have not been answered. The date of submission has not changed. All submissions are due on Friday, May 29, 2015 by 5 p.m. Central Time. Questions and Answers Question 1: Is it a requirement that the winning firm have a local presence in the Chicago area? It is not a requirement for the winning firm to have a local presence in Chicago. We have many out-of-state projects and clients so we are comfortable conducting business by phone, , video-conference, etc. Question 2: Are you folks open to submission from outside the United States? We are a firm located in Nova Scotia, Canada. We are comfortable conducting business by phone, , video-conference, etc. and we are open to submissions from outside the United States. Question 3: Is there a page limit? No, there is not a page limit, but additional length is only beneficial if providing additional examples and information that is pertinent to the RFP. Question 4: The RFP asks for one original and three copies. What constitutes a copy? (Does the original require a wet signature on intro letter, for example? Or is there to be one color and three B&W copies, for example?) Original includes an original wet signature, copies can be photocopied versions Question 5: The RFP lists Tab 2 in the format twice: once for firm overview and once for experience. Should this be tab 2 and 3, or are they under the same tab? This may be a typo, but want to be sure to label all sections correctly. This is a typo. Tabs have been updated on our website posting and should be listed as follows: Tab 1: Letter of Interest Tab 2: Firm Overview Tab 3: Experience Tab 4: Personnel Tab 5: Estimated Price and Terms of Service Tab 6: Fees Question 6: Do you require a certain font style or font size? There are no font style or size requirements. Question 7: I wanted to know from you if you are looking specifically for a Chicago-based firm or an agency that has Chicago or Midwest experience/clientele base? As a firm with nationwide clientele, we are adept at conducting business virtually. We are accepting submissions from agencies outside the city/state/country.

2 Question 8: In the RFP you refer to the PR firm being responsible for visibility (media, networking and speaking) in Midwestern markets. Are there specific markets that you deem a priority? Or, would the expectation be that the PR firm carry out activities in all Midwestern markets? We would seek advice on this matter from the PR firm. While there are markets we have stronger footholds in, our goal is to transition from capable to creative and to be awarded more high design projects. Alignment between our goals and the markets is what we hope to develop. Question 9: In the Consulting/Reporting section of the RFP you mention monitoring as a key element. Would Bailey Edward like to receive formal media monitoring reports, and if so, what frequency? Or do you envision this to be a more informal/ongoing effort (e.g., firm sends relevant articles of interest as they appear)? We expect the PR to monitor market development, trends in the a/e/c market and relevant a/e/c topics and expect this monitoring to be reported upon in our biweekly updates so we can plan on which media opportunities to pursue. Question 10: You mention presentation training as a key responsibility. How many executives need to be trained? Is media training also of interest? Presentation training would be most valuable to our industry leaders and branch managers (3-6 people). Media training would be of interest. Question 11: You have requested one original and three copies of our proposal. Would you like these copies to be sent in hard copy, by or both? If you would like hard copies, please confirm that we should send to your Chicago address. If , please confirm that we should send to Sara Gaum. We are looking for hard copies to be sent to Sara Gaum at the Chicago address listed on the RFP. is acceptable but does not replace the hard copy request. Question 12: Under Fees, you request a fee schedule for staff positions. Would an overview of hourly rates for various positions meet this requirement? Yes, an overview of hourly rates for various positions would meet this requirement. Question 13: In terms of budget, do you have a do-not-exceed amount or an ideal monthly spend in mind? As mentioned in the RFP, we are expecting to utilize expert feedback and input from this RFP to help us determine the necessary funding for hiring a PR firm to reach our goals. Question 14: How many PR firms will be responding to the RFP? Can you give us a sense for who the other firms are? We did not include a formal process requiring firms to submit an intent to respond so we do not know which firms or how many will apply. At this time, we have had several firms submit questions and indicate their intent by . Question 15: How many PR firms do you expect will make it to the shortlist? We do not have a set number for the shortlist and if any one candidate stands out above other submissions, we may not have a shortlist. However, we expect 2-3 firms. Question 16: Is it important to you to have a PR firm with offices in different cities/countries? No, we are open to working with single offices or multi-location offices both in the US and Canada. The majority of our work is in the Midwestern US and any PR Firm, regardless of their location, should indicate how we will expand our presence in the Midwest and nationally.

3 Question 17: What does success look like to you after you ve been working with new PR firm for one year? Success can obviously take many forms. In the simplest terms, we would want increased exposure for our firm such that in a Year One survey 30% of the potential clients have name recall for Bailey Edward and in Year Two there would be 60% name recall. Question 18: Tell us about your dream media placement. What is the story about and what publication is it in? Our dream placement would be in a nationally published magazine that is read by our potential clients. The story would be about how our design transformed the project from a solution to a sensation through our design vision. Question 19: Which members of your team are you most interested in positioning as thought leaders? The Principals, Ellen Dickson and Robin Whitehurst Question 20: How important is publicizing your sustainable design services? Sustainable design is becoming more of a standard in the industry. While it is a valuable service we provide, sustainability should not be a focus for our publicity, but can be used to support our designs. Question 21: Do you currently pursue awards/recognition for your projects and leaders? If not, is that of interest? If so, do you envision the PR firm would be a part of the award development process? We currently pursue awards for both our firm and principals. We do not expect the PR firm to be a part of the award development process recommending specific awards for our firm to pursue in an effort to support the PR firm s efforts. Question 22: You are already doing social media. Do you envision your PR firm would play a role with social media management either through strategy development, ongoing counsel or day-today execution? We will continue to do social media in-house, but want our social media to support our PR efforts. Initial strategy development and updates in our biweekly meetings would suffice. Question 23: What industry organizations are you currently involved with? How active/engaged are you? Bailey Edward staff are actively engaged in numerous organizations depending on their interests. Leadership roles (Director, Commissioner or Chairman) are held locally with the AIA, Zoning and Planning Commissions, and Chicago Labs 21 and nationally Labs 21, Enterprising Women Advisory Board, and Partners for Sacred Places. There are many organizations where we have membership and active membership which we can provide to the PR firm once hired. Question 24: Have you worked with a PR firm in the past? If so, what was the outcome of that experience? Yes, we have worked with PR firms in the past, both approximately 10 years ago. One firm worked on magazine article placement and one worked on TV/media placement. Both experiences were good. Question 25: Your website notes that senior housing is a big growth area for the firm. Beyond your core areas (government, education, community), are there other industry verticals you are focused on right now?

4 Higher education, senior housing, healthcare, research, and GSA Design Excellence Question 26: Who do you view as your competitors? As a mid-sized firm with revenues that still qualify our firm as a small business enterprise, we compete against both small and large firms. We also compete with different firms depending on the location of the project (we compete for projects throughout the Midwest against more localized firms). On some of our more recent opportunities, our competition has been Legat Architects, PSA Dewberry, CannonDesign, Ross Barney Architects, Holabird & Root, and Gensler Architects. Question 27: What does Bailey Edward see as the top trends in design, architecture and engineering? What story about your industry or business isn t being told right now? The top trends are integrated design, the idea that all players are working together. from day one and communicating regularly through knowledge sharing, design modeling and constant communication in order to create a holistic design. We feel that this is an old concept that is being re-packaged as something new. The concept that architecture (buildings) are creating social capital for institutions that influence their success long into the future. Question 28: We know that Bailey Edward wants to be positioned as an expert in creative, high design. Which recent Bailey Edward projects do you think best illustrate your expertise in high design? Can you identify an example of excellence in high design that you admire? To clarify, we are not focusing on being seen as High Designers or thinking that we will be seen as Star-chitects. We are wanting to be recognized for excellence in design alongside our responsive service. Our current favorite project that shows the type of architecture we would like to be able to design is the College of DuPage Naperville Branch, Kankakee Readiness Center and AASF, UIUC Turner Hall study. Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle art museum - Designs we admire Question 29: What types of projects or major initiatives does the company have on the horizon for the next months? We are pushing the exposure of the College of DuPage, Kankakee and Integrated Bio-Research Laboratory projects We have a cold-calling campaign focused on research facilities in higher education and private sectors Question 30: How much of your business strategy lies outside of Illinois? We are wondering how much of the PR strategy should focus on national vs. predominantly regional press. Our three offices are in Illinois, as are the majority of our projects. We have several national clients, but our work for them still centers on the Midwest. Any national press should strictly serve the purpose of achieving our goals. Question 29: Are there any plans to revamp the website and messaging? Would you be open to launching a blog to showcase the firm s thought leadership? We have plans to revamp the website, but these are more functionality changes/updates rather than a full overhaul. We would be open to launching a blog. Contact Sara Gaum, Marketing Manager e sgaum@baileyedward.com

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