EDAC narrows choices to Suasion, Performance
SOMERS POINT — The city is closing in on hiring a marketing firm to help promote its events, boost the business community and bring more money into town.
City Council approved soliciting bids for promotional services in February and the Economic Development Advisory Commission was tasked with researching, interviewing and recommending suitable agencies.
Charlie Haberkorn, co-chairman of the EDAC, previously told City Council the body’s role is to provide advice on current and future economic conditions in the city and market its economic strengths. Through meetings over the past six or seven months, they concluded a third party was needed to help further their goals.
The 10-member group created a request for proposals (RFP) with help from City Administrator Jason Frost and the finance committee. He said the goal would be to “help stabilize businesses in town, help new businesses transition into the city and look for potential business where we might be missing a type in town and try to get them.”
They hope to be up and running by June.
“It’s been several years since we’ve had an active firm working on behalf of the city,” Chuck Westcott, co-chairman of the EDAC, told City Council on May 11.
Westcott said five agencies submitted proposals and all exceeded the board’s budget, but that all said they were willing to provide services catered to what the city could spend.
“It’s interesting to note that a marketing RFP is not like an RFP on a piece of equipment or a truck or some other utilitarian item, it’s much more conceptional in nature so there is a lot of variance on what they provide and what the cost would be,” he said.
He said Haberkorn provided a side-by-side summarization of key elements of the request for proposals, noting all five firms met all of the criteria.
Westcott said the EDAC formed a subcommittee “to do a deep dive and analyze it,” noting he, Ginny Nelson and Rob Hopkins analyzed the information and reduced the candidates to two — Suasion Communications Group and Performance Marketing.
Westcott said they narrowed the field to three and went back to the firms to try to focus the proposal. He said they asked how the firms could be flexible on cost and what methods would be used to target the proper demographics.
“All three responded, saying they were completely willing to work within our budget limitations,” Westcott said.
He said all three firms were virtually identical on a per-hour basis, so they decided “a local firm is best equipped to meet out needs.”
Suasion has previous experience working with the city and Performance “stood out because of the success it has had with the Atlantic County Economic Alliance.”
“Our recommendation is that we move forward with selection of a suitable marketing firm that can be executed by June 1,” Westcott said. “We feel both of them have the knowledge and are fully capable.”
The successful firm would create a marketing plan for June to September to market the city and surrounding area by working in conjunction with the Somers Point Business Association. He said metrics would be put in place to measure the outcome.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff