A well-crafted Request for Proposal (RFP) is key to ensuring that the chosen solution matches the brand’s needs, supports future goals, and integrates smoothly with existing systems.
Key takeaways:
Key points marketing experts should elicit from an RFP to ensure they find a scalable, secure vendor solution that boosts marketing automation, customer data platform (CDP), and journey orchestration capabilities:
Vendor Experience: Review history, ownership, milestones, and client success
Product Features: Ensure essential features and a user-friendly interface
Data Integration: Verify third-party integrations and data handling capabilities
Experimentation and Attribution: Check experiment capabilities and real-time data integration
AI Integration: Explore AI for personalization and analytics
Channel Management: Identify native channels and ad network integrations
Personalization: Evaluate personalization and journey optimization
Compliance and Security: Ensure data privacy and security measures
Implementation and Support: Understand timeline, training, and support
When brands seek to boost their marketing automation, customer data platform (CDP), and journey orchestration capabilities, sending out a well-crafted Request for Proposal (RFP) is key. This process helps ensure that the chosen solution matches the brand’s needs, supports future goals, and integrates smoothly with existing systems. Here’s a guide on what brands should ask to find the right marketing platform.
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Company and Experience
First things first, it’s essential to get a good sense of the vendor’s background. Ask them to share an overview of their company history, including how long they’ve been around, who owns them, and any major milestones they’ve hit. Also, check their track record with similar clients. This will give marketers confidence in their experience and stability.
Dig into the platform’s features. Ask about the key features of their marketing hub and CDP and how well these components integrate. Know about the user interface – specifically, how easy it is for the marketing team to use without needing a lot of technical know-how. A user-friendly platform means the marketing team can hit the ground running.
Data Integration and Management
Another critical area is how well the platform can integrate and manage data from various sources. Ask about the pre-built integrations they offer with third-party tools and data warehouses. Understanding their data ingestion process and the formats and protocols they support is also essential. This ensures the platform can handle current data infrastructure and adapt to future needs.
Experimentation and Attribution
For brands focused on experimentation and accurate attribution, it’s essential to understand the platform’s capabilities. Find out about the features available for running marketing experiments and the types of attribution models they support. Additionally, inquire about the speed of bringing in new real-time data into ongoing tests. This will help understand how quickly a marketer can adjust strategies while running numerous live campaigns simultaneously.
AI’s Current and Future Role
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reinventing how we, as marketers, interact with modern marketing platforms. Ask about the vendor’s philosophy regarding AI in marketing and how AI is integrated into the platform’s core functionalities. This will give insights into how AI can enhance personalization, predictive analytics, and overall marketing efficiency.
Native and Integrated with Channels
It’s crucial to know how the platform manages various marketing channels. Ask about the native channels integrated directly into the platform, such as email, SMS, mobile apps, and website personalization. Also, check which ad networks they are integrated with and how these integrations support marketing campaigns across different channels.
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Personalization at scale is key for effective customer engagement. Ask how the platform handles personalization, ensuring each customer gets a tailored marketing message based on their unique preferences and behaviors. Additionally, understanding how the platform tracks and optimizes the customer journey across multiple touchpoints and channels is essential for delivering seamless experiences. Ask how easy the vendor makes it to run many campaigns at once and prioritize the right campaign and the right message.
Compliance and Security
Data privacy and security should always be top of mind. Ask about their measures to ensure customer data privacy, especially when using AI models. Also, the security measures for data exchanged with third-party and custom channels should be inquired about. This helps ensure that data is always protected.
Implementation and Support
Finally, understanding the implementation process and ongoing support is crucial. Ask about the typical implementation timeline and the types of training and support they offer. This ensures a smooth onboarding process and continuous support to make the most of the platform.
In Summary
By crafting a detailed RFP with these focused questions, brands can find a marketing automation, CDP, and journey orchestration solution that not only meets their current needs but also supports future growth. Asking the right questions ensures marketers partner with vendors who provide robust, scalable, and secure solutions, leading to successful marketing outcomes.
Ben Tepfer is a storyteller with over a decade of experience in product marketing. He is passionate about driving growth through innovative product marketing strategies. As the Director of Optimove, Ben drives the shaping of the narrative and positioning of the company's cutting-edge technology.
Ben specializes in developing comprehensive product marketing strategies through storytelling to showcase the unique value propositions of Optimove that resonate with target audiences across diverse industries.
Beyond his day-to-day responsibilities, Ben is a thought leader in marketing technology. He frequently shares his insights at industry conferences, contributes articles to leading publications, including Entrepreneur, Adweek, Cheddar, Huffington Post, VentureBeat, and MediaPost, and engages with the marketing community.
