Request for Proposals: Marketing Online Investor Education

eXtension Online Investor Education Investing for Your Future for Farm Families Marketing

eXtension is seeking proposals for marketing a newly developed Online Investor Education interactive Web presence and learning environment developed in partnership with the FINRA Investor Education Foundation. eXtension will serve as a portal to the nation’s largest educational and information system, branded with individual land-grant university Cooperative Extension identification, bringing the best of the best to Americans. This 24/7/365 Internet-based resource will provide access to objective, research-based programs solving real problems in real time.

Proposals are due by April 22, 2009 and should be sent electronically to:

Terry Meisenbach eXtension Communications & Marketing Leader terry.meisenbach@extension.org

If you have questions while preparing your response to this RFP, please contact Terry Meisenbach at 760-328-8260/760-641-9354.

Purpose and scope of work

Successful investor education programs target a specific audience, address their specific learning needs, and help to overcome barriers to changing behavior. While many American adults could benefit from instruction in investment basics, the target audience for this program is farm households.

In 2008 eXtension conducted an extensive audience analysis for the program entitled Investing for Your Future (IFYF) which is available online at http://www.extension.org/pages/Investing_for_Your_Future. This program will be taken to a national scale through the Online Investor Education (OIE) for Farm Households, now formally known as “Investing for your Future for Farm Families”, project and delivered to farm households via eXtension. Farm households are interpreted broadly where one or more residents own or operate a working lands enterprise (e.g. farming, ranching, timber production). For more information about eXtension go to: http://www.extension.org/main/about.

IFYF has had success in various local and regional "markets." As it moves to national development and distribution, eXtension seeks to take the program to a larger scale. This requires planning and implementation of a comprehensive marketing plan to market Online Investor Education (Investing for Your Future for Farm Families) as identified and determined by the audience analysis based upon baseline information, particularly the investment concerns and learning preferences of farm households.

eXtension seeks a land grant university partner to provide an innovative marketing plan and implementation based upon that analysis.

eXtension, via the selected university partner, will comprehensively market Online Investor Education (Investing for Your Future for Farm Families) to the target audience after thorough development of a marketing plan developed in conjunction with the Online Investor Education Team with Terry Meisenbach, eXtension Communications & Marketing Leader as point of contact & liaison.

The marketing plan will be used to design creative and effective messages about eXtension’s Investing for Your Future for Farm Families that will bring new users to the Investing for Your Future for Farm Families site. Included in this planning and implementation will be establishing and achieving media relations goals and objectives, identifying media targets, developing media opportunities, advertising if appropriate, online media and on-demand media buying if appropriate, and reinforcing brand identity and equity. Use of the vast land grant university communications and marketing network would also be appropriate.

Please Include:

• A brief description of the qualifications of the organization(s) or individual(s) proposing to do the work.
• In addition to qualifications, success stories of previous marketing planning and implementation.
• A work plan detailing strategies and tactics and timelines for planning and implementation.
• The total cost of the marketing planning and implementation but broken into incremental stages by quarters for 2009/2010.

The awarded contract will be administered and paid through the University of Nebraska from funds granted by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation.

Deliverables

• Marketing plan and implementation time table
• Implementation of marketing plan
• Regular briefings and updates as mutually determined by eXtension and selected university partner.

Timeline

• Deadline for proposal submission - April 22, 2009
• Decision made on contract awardee(s) - April 29, 2009
• Attendance at OIE team meeting, Alexandria, VA - May 19-21, 2009
• Work estimated to begin on behalf of eXtension - June 1, 2009
• Work completion date – March 31, 2010 (all billings must be complete by February 28, 2010).