When you’re trying to grow enrollment, whether for a specific program or for the institution as a whole, the last thing you need is to get stuck in a process that slows you down and sets you up for disappointment. In the education space, the process of finding, gaining approval, and hiring a new vendor can be lengthy enough. Yet, that’s exactly what happens when colleges and universities rely on website or marketing RFPs to find an agency partner.
At first glance, an RFP (Request for Proposal) might seem like the responsible way to source a new agency. After all, it appears to promise structure, fairness, and a clear path forward. However, in practice, the RFP process can cause institutions to waste months of valuable time, only to end up with proposals that miss the mark or a partnership that ultimately fails in the long run.
The problem isn’t the agencies. The problem is the RFP process itself.
Let’s break down why traditional RFPs often fail higher ed institutions and what you can do instead.
Reason #1: RFPs Skip the Most Important Thing: Measurable Goals
Most RFPs read more like a wish list than a roadmap. They outline what the college thinks it needs (like a new website, ad campaigns, or landing pages), but they rarely state clearly defined, measurable enrollment goals.
Even worse, they almost never provide historical benchmarks for reference. Without knowing where you’ve been, it’s impossible for an agency to craft a strategy that can realistically move the needle. In our experience, most colleges and universities do have these numbers, but they’re kept with admissions and aren’t regularly shared with the rest of the team.
*This is why we love it when clients can bring someone from the admissions department, recruitment team, and their internal marketing team into calls with our team. Not only does it help us get the data and clarity we need, but it also provides a chance for added clarity and collaboration between their teams that has often been missing.
Imagine hiring a strength-training coach to help you increase your weight-lifting performance without allowing them to measure your current weight or BMI and without telling them what your current abilities are or your desired weight-lifting goals. The coach would need to do a lot of guessing, thus lowering the chances of an optimum success rate.
Asking for help in increasing your enrollment without telling an agency how many students you typically recruit each semester, how much you want to increase that by, or what channels have worked (or failed) in the past is similar. It’s like asking a coach to win you a championship without sharing your team’s current record.
Reason #2: They Assume Vague (or Impossible) Timelines
Another common pitfall is unstated or unrealistic expectations around timing.
RFPs often demand deliverables in impossibly short windows, or, just as frustrating, set vague deadlines like “as soon as possible.” Neither scenario sets up the project for success.
Strategic enrollment marketing is about momentum. A rushed timeline can lead to sloppy execution, while a fuzzy timeline risks the project getting deprioritized by either party. In both cases, the result is wasted time and missed opportunities to connect with prospective students.
Having specific timelines is also important for proper planning, especially when it comes to seasonal or time-bound industries like education. It’s also helpful in planning for optimal use of your budget for the best ROAS (return on ad spend). If you want to start a campaign in the spring to increase fall enrollments within that same year, the strategy and budget will need to be a bit more aggressive than if you’re running campaigns to promote enrollment for the following year.
Establishing clear goals and a desired timeline will help you and your agency partner to create a more accurate, strategic, and impactful plan.
Reason #3: They Don’t Include a Budget (or Even a Range)
This might be the most damaging gap in most RFPs. Without a budget range, agencies are left guessing. Some respond with proposals far beyond what you can afford, while others undercut scope and strategy to appear competitive.
The result? You spend months reviewing proposals that don’t actually match your institution’s needs.
When agencies know the financial parameters upfront, they can craft a proposal that maximizes impact within your budget. Without it, you end up comparing apples to oranges—and wasting valuable enrollment cycles in the process.
Here’s another metaphor to consider: If you were looking to buy a home, wouldn’t you want your realtor to know not only your desired features and square footage but also what budget range you have to work with?
Reason #4: They Ignore Technical Details: Domains, Subdomains, and Access
Enrollment marketing today isn’t just about a shiny website. It’s about how every piece of your digital ecosystem works together to provide a smooth user experience and to funnel leads toward conversion. Yet most RFPs skip over technical questions like:
- Your current domain and subdomain structure.
- Will the agency have access to create landing pages or troubleshoot website performance issues?
- Who manages your email-sending domains, and how will campaigns be authenticated?
- Do you have the proper social profiles set up for running paid social campaigns or do you at least know who has ownership and can provide access?
Leaving these questions unanswered leads to messy handoffs, broken integrations, and delays once the project starts. And in enrollment marketing, every delay means fewer students in your pipeline.
Reason #5: They Leave Out the Agency’s Process
A great agency partnership isn’t just about the deliverables, it’s about the process. After all, this isn’t just one-and-done. A partnership requires collaboration and transparency, and a good process can ensure everything runs smoothly.
That said, if you’re considering using an RFP to start your next marketing partnership, we suggest considering if it asks questions like the following:
- What are the procedures and requirements for onboarding?
- How will reporting be delivered, and how often?
- What’s the cadence for meetings and check-ins?
- How are revisions and approvals handled?
Without clarity here, you’re not evaluating the agency’s ability to be a long-term partner. You’re just comparing checklists of features. If you’re looking for a successful partnership, you need to be able to compare and evaluate the processes of your potential partners to see which would best fit your goals and ideals for a good partnership. This not only helps ensure your marketing success, but also that you (and your partner) enjoy working together… It’s a win-win!
Reason #6: They Skip Post-Launch Support
For website projects, especially, most RFPs stop at “launch.” But what happens after the website, landing page, or campaign launch is just as important:
- Is there a QA (quality assurance) process to ensure everything works as expected?
- Is ongoing support included or an additional cost? What does that scope look like?
- Will the agency provide training for your team?
Skipping these details is a recipe for frustration. Your team ends up managing issues on their own—or worse, paying extra for support you assumed was included. Many times, agencies will include a certain amount of built-in support for the first week or two after launch or offer support packages at various levels in their proposals. So, it’s beneficial to simply have a conversation with them about your needs and expectations so they can offer what would work best for both parties.
Reason #7: RFPs Sometimes Forget About Content Strategy (Yes, really.)
Finally, one of the biggest blind spots with RFPs: content.
An RFP might request “a new website” or “digital ad campaigns,” but forget to ask critical questions related to what current content is available, how it will be used, and what gaps need to be filled.
Things to consider regarding content and content strategy:
- How will the content migration process for the website be handled? Will everything need to be migrated, or is a bit of clean-up necessary?
- Do you have existing video and image assets the agency can use for campaigns? What is their state (raw, edited, or in-between)?
- If not, can the agency provide content creation support?
- Will the agency evaluate your current content (blog posts, video, organic social, etc) and provide recommendations for optimizations or new content?
View your content as a foundational piece of all your marketing efforts (another would be your message). Content supports your brand, your email and social efforts, paid ads creative, and even your search performance. Without addressing content strategy, you risk ending up with a beautiful site or campaign that lacks the substance to actually engage prospective students.
The Problem Is, RFPs Treat Partnerships Like Transactions
At their core, RFPs reduce a complex, strategic partnership to a list of tasks and deliverables. They focus more on features rather than outcomes, and they prioritize a “fair” bidding process over what really matters: building a relationship with the right partner.
But enrollment marketing isn’t a transaction. It’s an ongoing process that requires trust, collaboration, and adaptability. If you want the best return on your investment, quality leads that become enrollments, optimized budget usage, and your brand to be represented well, and scalable marketing efforts, then a strategic partnership will help you get there.
Here’s What to Do Instead: Start with a Conversation
At Greenstone Media, we’ve worked with colleges and universities across the country, and we’ve seen the same story play out countless times: institutions spend months in the decision and planning process only to walk away with proposals that don’t address their real problems and a new vendor that doesn’t get them the results they need.
That’s why we recommend skipping the RFP altogether. Instead, start with a conversation.
When you talk directly with an agency, you can:
- Share your enrollment goals and historical benchmarks.
- Be honest about your budget.
- Explore their process for onboarding, reporting, and collaboration.
- Ask about post-launch support and content strategy upfront.
This way, you don’t waste time on a flawed process. Instead, you begin building a partnership based on trust, clarity, and measurable results.
Let’s Get Serious About Your Enrollment Goals
Your enrollment challenges deserve more than a templated RFP. They deserve a strategy built around your unique goals, data, and resources.
At Greenstone Media, we believe in cutting through the noise and focusing on what really moves the needle: a clear process, open communication, and results you can measure.
If you’re ready to skip the RFP cycle and build a strategy that actually grows enrollment, let’s talk.
