AI Marketing Vendor RFP Template
A comprehensive Request for Proposal template designed for CMOs and marketing leaders evaluating AI marketing solutions. This template guides vendors through your specific requirements, evaluation criteria, and implementation expectations, ensuring you gather comparable responses that directly address your business needs and technical constraints.
How to Use This Template
- 1.**Step 1: Customize the Business Context Section.** Before sending this RFP to vendors, fill out Section 1 completely with your company details, specific challenges, and success metrics. This section should be specific to your situation—avoid generic language. For example, instead of "improve campaign performance," write "reduce cost-per-acquisition by 25% for our Q2 paid search campaigns while maintaining conversion volume." Spend 1-2 hours researching your current state metrics (campaign volume, budget spend, team size, current tools) so vendors understand the scale and complexity they're solving for.
- 2.**Step 2: Prioritize and Customize Functional Requirements.** Review Section 2 and identify which capabilities are must-haves versus nice-to-haves for your organization. Delete or modify questions that don't apply to your use case. For instance, if you don't use email marketing, remove that question from Section 2.1.C. Add 2-3 vendor-specific questions based on your research—if you've heard a particular vendor excels at audience segmentation, ask detailed questions about their approach. This customization typically takes 2-3 hours and ensures you get comparable, relevant responses.
- 3.**Step 3: Map Your Existing Technology Stack.** Complete the integration requirements table in Section 2.2 with your actual tools, APIs, and constraints. Contact your IT/MarTech team to confirm which systems have available APIs and any data volume or latency requirements. This is critical because integration complexity often determines implementation success and hidden costs. Allocate 1-2 hours for this step and include any custom integrations or data warehouse connections that vendors need to know about.
- 4.**Step 4: Define Your Data & Security Non-Negotiables.** Review Section 3 and confirm which compliance certifications are mandatory for your organization (GDPR, CCPA, SOC 2, etc.). Consult with your Legal and Security teams to ensure you're asking for appropriate documentation and controls. Remove or modify questions that don't apply to your risk profile. This step typically takes 1-2 hours but prevents costly misalignments later—a vendor without required compliance certifications should be disqualified immediately.
- 5.**Step 5: Set Realistic Implementation Expectations.** In Section 4, define your actual implementation timeline, available resources, and support requirements based on your team's capacity. Be honest about how many people you can dedicate to this project and what level of vendor support you'll need. Adjust the timeline table to reflect your realistic go-live date. This step takes 1-2 hours and prevents vendors from over-promising or under-scoping. Share this section with your IT and operations teams to ensure feasibility.
- 6.**Step 6: Establish Evaluation Criteria & Distribution.** Customize Section 7.3 to reflect what matters most to your organization. If implementation speed is critical, increase that weight from 15% to 25%. If you have strict budget constraints, increase pricing weight. Assign 2-3 people to evaluate proposals using the scoring rubric—this ensures consistency and prevents bias. Plan for 4-6 weeks total for the RFP process: 1 week for vendor questions, 2 weeks for responses, 1-2 weeks for evaluation and reference calls, and 1 week for final selection and negotiation.
Template
# AI Marketing Vendor RFP
**Issued By:** [YOUR COMPANY NAME]
**RFP ID:** [RFP-YYYY-MM-DD]
**Submission Deadline:** [DATE AND TIME]
**Contact:** [PRIMARY CONTACT NAME] | [EMAIL] | [PHONE]
---
## 1. Executive Summary & Business Context
### 1.1 Company Overview
[Provide 2-3 sentences about your company, industry, annual revenue, and market position]
### 1.2 Current State & Challenge
[Describe the specific marketing challenges you're facing that AI could address. Example: "We process 50+ campaigns monthly across 8 channels but lack real-time optimization and spend $X annually on manual analysis."]
### 1.3 Project Objectives
[List 3-5 primary business outcomes you expect from this AI solution]
- [Objective 1]
- [Objective 2]
- [Objective 3]
- [Objective 4]
- [Objective 5]
### 1.4 Success Metrics
[Define how you will measure success. Include specific KPIs and targets.]
| Metric | Current State | Target | Timeline |
|--------|---------------|--------|----------|
| [Metric 1] | [Current Value] | [Target Value] | [Months] |
| [Metric 2] | [Current Value] | [Target Value] | [Months] |
| [Metric 3] | [Current Value] | [Target Value] | [Months] |
---
## 2. Functional Requirements
### 2.1 Core Capabilities (Required)
Please describe your solution's capabilities in each area:
**A. Campaign Optimization & Automation**
- How does your platform optimize campaign performance across [LIST YOUR CHANNELS: paid search, social, email, display, etc.]?
- What automation workflows are available out-of-the-box?
- Can you provide specific examples of optimization improvements your clients have achieved?
**B. Audience Intelligence & Segmentation**
- Describe your audience segmentation capabilities and data sources
- How does your AI identify high-value audience segments?
- What first-party data integration options do you support?
**C. Content Generation & Personalization**
- What types of marketing content can your AI generate (ad copy, subject lines, landing page content, etc.)?
- How do you ensure brand voice consistency?
- Can you provide sample outputs for our industry: [YOUR INDUSTRY]?
**D. Analytics & Reporting**
- What dashboards and reporting capabilities are included?
- How frequently are insights updated (real-time, daily, weekly)?
- Can you integrate with our existing analytics stack: [LIST TOOLS: Google Analytics, Mixpanel, etc.]?
**E. Predictive Analytics**
- What predictive models does your platform offer (churn, LTV, conversion probability, etc.)?
- How far into the future can you predict with reasonable accuracy?
- What historical data is required to train models?
### 2.2 Integration Requirements
**A. Existing Technology Stack Integration**
Our current marketing technology stack includes:
| System | Purpose | API Available? | Notes |
|--------|---------|----------------|-------|
| [Tool 1] | [Purpose] | [ ] Yes [ ] No | [Any constraints] |
| [Tool 2] | [Purpose] | [ ] Yes [ ] No | [Any constraints] |
| [Tool 3] | [Purpose] | [ ] Yes [ ] No | [Any constraints] |
| [Tool 4] | [Purpose] | [ ] Yes [ ] No | [Any constraints] |
Please confirm compatibility and describe integration approach for each system above.
**B. Data Integration**
- What data sources can your platform ingest? (CRM, DMP, CDP, data warehouse, etc.)
- Do you support real-time data syncing or batch processing?
- What is your maximum data volume capacity per month: [YOUR VOLUME]?
- How do you handle data privacy and compliance (GDPR, CCPA, etc.)?
**C. API & Custom Development**
- Do you provide a documented REST API?
- Are webhooks available for real-time event triggers?
- What is your SLA for API uptime?
- Do you have a partner ecosystem for custom integrations?
---
## 3. Data & Security Requirements
### 3.1 Data Governance
- How do you handle personally identifiable information (PII)?
- Where is data stored geographically? [WE REQUIRE: [LOCATION]]
- What data retention policies do you offer?
- Can we delete our data on demand?
### 3.2 Security & Compliance
Please confirm your compliance certifications:
- [ ] SOC 2 Type II
- [ ] ISO 27001
- [ ] GDPR Compliant
- [ ] CCPA Compliant
- [ ] HIPAA (if applicable)
- [ ] Other: [SPECIFY]
Provide documentation for all checked items.
### 3.3 Access Controls
- How do you manage user permissions and role-based access?
- Do you support single sign-on (SSO) via [OKTA/Azure AD/other]?
- What audit logging capabilities do you provide?
- How do you handle multi-team/multi-account scenarios?
---
## 4. Implementation & Support
### 4.1 Implementation Timeline
Provide a detailed implementation plan for a [DURATION]-month engagement:
| Phase | Duration | Key Deliverables | Resource Requirements |
|-------|----------|------------------|----------------------|
| Discovery & Planning | [Weeks] | [Deliverables] | [Your team + Vendor] |
| Data Integration | [Weeks] | [Deliverables] | [Your team + Vendor] |
| Configuration & Training | [Weeks] | [Deliverables] | [Your team + Vendor] |
| Pilot/Testing | [Weeks] | [Deliverables] | [Your team + Vendor] |
| Go-Live & Optimization | [Weeks] | [Deliverables] | [Your team + Vendor] |
### 4.2 Training & Enablement
- What training formats do you offer (live, recorded, documentation)?
- How many training sessions are included in the implementation?
- Do you provide ongoing training for new team members?
- What certification programs do you offer?
### 4.3 Support Model
- What support tiers are available?
- What are the response times for critical issues?
- Is there a dedicated account manager or support team?
- What hours are support available (business hours, 24/7)?
- How do you handle escalations?
### 4.4 Success Management
- Do you assign a Customer Success Manager?
- What is the cadence of business reviews (monthly, quarterly)?
- How do you help us achieve our success metrics?
- What happens if we don't achieve our targets?
---
## 5. Pricing & Commercial Terms
### 5.1 Pricing Model
Please provide pricing for the following scenarios:
**Scenario A: [YOUR PRIMARY USE CASE]**
- Estimated monthly/annual cost: [VENDOR TO FILL]
- What is included in this price?
- What are overage costs?
**Scenario B: [SECONDARY USE CASE]**
- Estimated monthly/annual cost: [VENDOR TO FILL]
- What is included in this price?
- What are overage costs?
### 5.2 Pricing Details
| Component | Unit | Price | Notes |
|-----------|------|-------|-------|
| Platform License | Monthly | $ | [Description] |
| Implementation | One-time | $ | [Included hours/scope] |
| Training | Per session | $ | [Sessions included] |
| Support | Monthly | $ | [Tier level] |
| Data Processing | Per GB | $ | [Volume included] |
### 5.3 Contract Terms
- Minimum contract length: [VENDOR TO SPECIFY]
- Renewal terms: [VENDOR TO SPECIFY]
- Early termination clause: [VENDOR TO SPECIFY]
- Price increase provisions: [VENDOR TO SPECIFY]
- Service Level Agreement (SLA) uptime guarantee: [%]
---
## 6. Company & References
### 6.1 Company Background
- Year founded: [VENDOR TO FILL]
- Number of employees: [VENDOR TO FILL]
- Headquarters location: [VENDOR TO FILL]
- Key investors/funding: [VENDOR TO FILL]
- Financial stability/funding runway: [VENDOR TO FILL]
### 6.2 Product Roadmap
- What major features are planned for the next 12 months?
- How do you incorporate customer feedback into your roadmap?
- Are there any planned deprecations of current features?
### 6.3 Client References
Please provide 3-5 references from clients in [YOUR INDUSTRY] with similar [COMPANY SIZE/USE CASE]:
| Company | Industry | Use Case | Contact Name | Email | Phone |
|---------|----------|----------|--------------|-------|-------|
| [Ref 1] | [Industry] | [Use Case] | [Name] | [Email] | [Phone] |
| [Ref 2] | [Industry] | [Use Case] | [Name] | [Email] | [Phone] |
| [Ref 3] | [Industry] | [Use Case] | [Name] | [Email] | [Phone] |
---
## 7. Submission Requirements
### 7.1 Format & Delivery
- Submit responses in PDF format
- Maximum 50 pages (excluding appendices)
- Use clear section numbering matching this RFP
- Submit to: [EMAIL ADDRESS]
- Deadline: [DATE] at [TIME] [TIMEZONE]
### 7.2 Proposal Contents
Your proposal must include:
1. Executive summary (1 page)
2. Responses to all functional requirements (Section 2)
3. Data security & compliance documentation (Section 3)
4. Detailed implementation plan (Section 4)
5. Pricing proposal (Section 5)
6. Company background & references (Section 6)
7. Any relevant case studies or product documentation
8. Signed NDA (if required)
### 7.3 Evaluation Criteria
Proposals will be evaluated on:
| Criteria | Weight | Scoring |
|----------|--------|----------|
| Functional fit to requirements | 30% | 1-10 |
| Integration capability | 20% | 1-10 |
| Implementation timeline & support | 15% | 1-10 |
| Pricing & commercial terms | 15% | 1-10 |
| Company stability & references | 10% | 1-10 |
| Innovation & roadmap | 10% | 1-10 |
---
## 8. Next Steps
1. **Submission:** [DATE]
2. **Initial Review:** [DATE]
3. **Vendor Presentations:** [DATE RANGE]
4. **Reference Calls:** [DATE RANGE]
5. **Final Selection:** [DATE]
6. **Contract Negotiation:** [DATE RANGE]
7. **Implementation Kickoff:** [DATE]
---
## Appendix A: Glossary
[Define any industry-specific or company-specific terms used in this RFP]
## Appendix B: Current Marketing Tech Stack Diagram
[Include visual diagram of your existing martech stack]
## Appendix C: Sample Data Specifications
[Include sample data formats, volume metrics, and technical specifications]
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Get the Full AI Marketing Learning Path
Courses, workshops, frameworks, daily intelligence, and 6 proprietary tools — built for marketing leaders adopting AI.
Trusted by 10,000+ Directors and CMOs.