Marketing Services and Visitors Website Management

Description: The City of Blanco, TX Request for Proposals 2026-RFP-004 Marketing Services and Visitors Website Management Published: October 21, 2026 Point of Contact: Callie Ann Alex, City Secretary Phone Number: (830) 833-4525 Email: citysec@cityofblancotx.gov REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) MARKETING SERVICES AND WEBSITE MANAGEMENT FOR THE VISTORS, EVENTS AND BUSINESSES WEBSITE OF THE CITY OF BLANCO The City of Blanco, Texas ("City"), through the discretion of HOT Funds Committee ("Committee"), is requesting Statements of Qualifications from qualified firms, companies, agencies, or individuals interested in providing website management services for the City's Visitors, Events & Business website. 1. Introduction The current website used as the marketing hub for the City of Blanco for tourism and lodging establishments has been funded by the Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue. Mission: Increase the visibility of Blanco businesses that provide services available to the tourism community and promote and increase overnight stays in Blanco's lodging facilities. Vision: Make Blanco a top travel destination for people seeking diverse opportunities and lifestyles, leisure experiences, conventions, or small group gatherings that can be centered in Blanco, Texas as the heart and hub for tourism in the Texas Hill Country. The site is service-minded and rooted in unity of the Blanco community. It tells compelling stories, pursues and hosts businesses thoughtfully, and shows visitors the fresh air, night skies, natural beauty and open spaces of the Texas Hill Country, and Texas hospitality that make Blanco memorable. The selected provider will work collaboratively with designated community members and City Staff to ensure the website remains current, engaging, visually appealing, easy to navigate, and useful to its intended audiences. Services may include website content management, event promotion, business listings, visitor information, digital marketing support, search engine optimization, technical maintenance, and other related services. The City is interested in establishing a professional working relationship with a provider who understands the value of promoting small communities, supporting local businesses, encouraging tourism, and highlighting the events, attractions, and experiences that make Blanco unique. 2. Project Overview The City of Blanco seeks a qualified partner to provide a marketing / advertising partnership to accompany website management, ensuring cost effective marketing strategies that achieve an increase in tourism and overnight stays in local lodging establishments. The provider will evaluate the current site for needed updates, and offer a migration and maintenance strategy and an alternative option for complete redesign and development strategy for the site on a modern Content Management system (CMS). The website should be sleek, nimble, easy to navigate and easy to manage. It must consolidate the current content footprint while remaining capable of supporting a large collection of indexable, feed-generated and editorial pages. The primary objectives of this project include: 1. Centralized Source: Make the site the trusted, authoritative source for information about Blanco for travelers, residents, meeting and group planners, partners, search engines and large language models (LLMs). 2. Visitor Promotion: Increase meaningful engagement and trip-planning actions. Measures of success should go beyond mere website traffic. 3. City Branding: Express the overarching pledge declaration that Blanco is the "The Heart and Hub of The Texas Hill Country" through an authentic view of an experience in Blanco. Every area of the site, should carry a cohesive touch reflecting a small town charm and the friendly culture of a rural community, while remaining modern, authentic and relevant to the subject matter. 4. Website Usability: Simplify information architecture, navigation and content governance while protecting high-value search visibility through a disciplined migration and redirect plan. 5. Continued Partnership: Provide the City of Blanco with a flexible platform, direct access to responsive development and support staff, and a clear rate structure based on an annual base fee and additional Ad-On features for an hourly or piece rate schedule. 6. Marketing Outreach: Provide a comprehensive marketing approach and service to maintain or establish relationships with traditional and digital media, maintain consistent brand-aligned content, and improve website visibility through SEO and digital marketing. 7. Information Continuity: Ensure the coordination of website content and various social media updates (example: facebook, instragram, you-tube, etc.) are regular and in alignment with the website content. 8. Event Promotion: Maintain an accessible and regularly updated calendar of community events, festivals, activities, and special occasions. 9. Local Business Support: Provide accurate, organized, and engaging information about local businesses, services, restaurants, shops, lodging, and other commercial establishments. 10. Community Engagement: Create opportunities for local businesses, event organizers, community organizations, and other stakeholders to contribute current information. 3. Scope of Work A. Discovery, Destination Immersion and Design • Collaborate with City of Blanco's designated staff to create or update the visual look and feel for the brand and website supported by a full-service marketing advertising capability. • Translate authentic rural character - dark skies, river experiences, small town culture, arts, hospitality, and contemporary creativity - into a distinctive, modern experience. • Create a user-experience and information-architecture that will work for visitor, local, meeting, group, partner and staff needs. • Produce an approved functional requirements document, sitemap, and interactive prototypes for all recommended changes to the existing site or proposed new site development before any major site changes or upgrades are undertaken. • Use a mobile-first approach: establish the information hierarchy, interaction patterns, components and performance for mobile first, then adapt the experience for tablet and desktop. Test representative current devices and browsers, with particular attention to speed, clear calls to action and intuitive navigation, and content equity. B. Content Strategy and Architecture Scanning Requirements • Audit and validate the current site inventory using the CMS, analytics, Google Search Console and a fresh crawl, then recommend which content should be migrated, consolidated, rewritten, redirected, archived, removed. • Provide practical guidance and templates so contributors can write useful, accurate content. C. Core Website Experiences • Essential Pages to Update and Maintain as Primary: o Plan Your Visit o Food and Drink o Shop o Places to Stay o Calendar of Events o About Blanco • Ensure that subpages are concurrently maintained and contain up-to-date information. • Respondents should review the current site for potential content and functionality improvement considerations D. Minimum Deliverables • Marketing plan to promote City brand and events to both residents and visitors. • Update site content and information architecture. • Guide website visual direction, including an approved mobile-first responsive design system, representative page and component designs. • Upload quality-assured content, media and documents E. Security and Confidentiality Vendor shall maintain strict confidentiality and security of all records and comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws regarding records retention and confidentiality. 4. Vendor Qualifications Proposals should demonstrate: • Experience with website and platform management • Experience with traditional and digital marketing • Ability to establish and maintain relationships with partners, vendors, the City, and the Community. • References from similar projects. 5. Proposal Requirements Proposals should include the following: A. Company Information • Company name • Address • Primary contact information • Years in business • Description of services offered B. Experience and Qualifications • Relevant project experience • Description of similar municipal projects • References (minimum of three) C. Project Approach • Proposed workflow and methodology • Estimated project timeline • Quality control procedures D. Pricing Provide the following two detailed pricing options as separate quotes: 1. Website and Platform Management, including: a. Updating events and postings. b. Establishment of subpages as relevant to Core pages. c. Notifications and Alerts as needed for website and mobile app. 2. Marketing Services: a. Newsletter on upcoming and previous events. b. Length of contract and relative discounts. c. May submit as bundle pricing including the Digitization costs included in Item 1. 6. Evaluation Criteria Proposals may be evaluated based on: • Experience and qualifications • Proposed methodology • Cost • Ability to meet timelines • References • Quality assurance procedures The City reserves the right to interview vendors, request additional information, negotiate terms, and reject any or all proposals. 7. Tentative Events Timeline • Event Date • RFP Issued [21 October 2026 2026] • Questions Due [30 October 2026] • Proposal Deadline [13 November 2026] • Anticipated Award Date [19 November 2026] • Anticipated Project Start [01 December 2026] 8. Questions Questions Due by the deadline specified in the Events Timetable, with any written inquiries and requests for clarification directed to the following person by email. It is the sender's responsibility to verify receipt. Callie Ann Alex City Secretary citysec@cityofblancotx.gov Interpretations or clarifications which result in an Addendum will be posted on the City of Blanco website. Responder names will be posted on the City's website. 9. Submission Instructions Proposals shall be submitted no later than: 13 NOVEMBER 2026 • Electronic: Submit one, electronic file (.pdf file preferred) via email to: citysec@cityofblancotx.gov. Indicate in the subject line "2026-RFP-004 Marketing Services and Visitors Website Management - [Firm Name]". The City of Blanco will only accept attachments up to 10MB. • Mailed or Physical Proposals: The envelope or box containing the RFP must be sealed and clearly marked "2026-RFP-004 Marketing Services and Visitors Website Management - [Firm Name]". Submissions that are not received by the deadline indicated in the Events Timetable will not be accepted, no exceptions. Proposals submitted in response to this RFP shall be valid for 60 days from the submittal due date. The City of Blanco retains the right to ask suppliers for further details or clarification. Delivery by the specified date and time is ultimately the Firm's responsibility. Submit proposals to: City of Blanco Attn: City Secretary 300 Pecan Street Blanco, Texas 78606 Electronic submissions may be sent to: citysec@cityofblancotx.gov Late submissions may not be considered. 10. Reservation of Rights The City reserves the right to: • Reject any or all proposals • Waive informalities or irregularities • Request clarification of proposals • Negotiate with any proposer • Cancel or modify this solicitation at any time 11. Compliance With Laws The selected vendor shall comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and ordinances, including records retention requirements applicable to Texas municipalities. 12. Public Information Proposals submitted to the City may be subject to disclosure under the Texas Public Information Act unless otherwise exempt by law.