👋 Bringing you the tools that actually help you…

You can support Revenews and your bottom line: try Audience Bridge’s Deliverability Health Check.

Get your Inbox Health Score in under five minutes, plus a checklist with prioritized fixes.

What the *** is an RFP? How to Get on Them and How to Navigate

RFPs aren't the only way into enterprise budgets, but for most large media buyers, they have an agency of record handling media buys. And agencies mostly use RFPs.

There are serious pros and cons to this world. Here's how to win deals even if you're not in the agency's preferred supplier deck yet.

The RFP Trade-Off

Pros:

• Predictability - You know exactly when decisions happen and budgets get allocated

• Structure - Clear briefs, defined timelines, and professional processes

• Large deal sizes - We're talking $50k-500k+ campaigns, not $2k newsletter placements

• No time wasters - When an RFP lands, money is definitely being spent

Cons:

• Time consuming - First RFP responses can take days to get right

• Extremely hard to get your foot in the door - This is the killer. Most media companies never make it past this hurdle

• Relationship and schmoozing heavy - Your audience metrics matter less than who you know

• Longer deal cycles - 3-6 months from RFP to campaign launch is normal

Sponsored by Audience Bridge.

New: Deliverability Health Check

This is how healthy inboxing starts.

Not guesswork, not vibes, just a quick diagnostic that shows where you stand, what to fix first, and how to keep performance strong.

Includes: instant score + downloadable checklist. Takes <5 minutes.

Run the 5-minute check now.

🚪 How to Get in an RFP

There's no easy answer here. I know media companies with 3m+ subscribers and $10m+ million in revenue who still struggle to crack enterprise brand budgets.

Events/trade shows - Agencies staff these heavily. One good conversation IRL is worth 1,000 LinkedIn messages.

Existing network (sorry!) - Leverage it systematically. Ask for agency introductions specifically, not just brand contacts.

Intro to agencies from brands - This is the easiest path without existing relationships, but it's opportunistic at best. Many brands will bypass RFPs entirely or instruct their agency to buy from you if they love the channel.

Direct agency outreach - Really hard, but not impossible. IRL dinners work infinitely better than cold emails. These relationships take time.

The slow burn - Connect, build trust, add value, discuss the landscape, then strike when timing aligns. This can take months or years, but creates the strongest foundation.

😎 Once You're In…

Stroke egos - Agencies love hearing how impressive their strategy is and blue-chop their clients are. "Your approach to reaching this demographic is exactly what we'd recommend, great minds!" goes a long way.

Align with their structure - Make everything easy for them. Use their formats, meet their deadlines, speak their language. These aren't startups, they hate surprises and errors.

Be exceptional to work with - Respond quickly, double-check everything, overcommunicate, and anticipate their needs. Agency relationships are built on reliability over creativity. These aren't startups, they hate… errors.

Offer added value - Agencies love telling clients "Look what we negotiated for you, we got this free media placement because we’re amazing." Give them those wins. You can raise your base prices to accommodate the "free" add-ons, but don't tell them that.

Do dinners - Agency relationships still run on shared meals and face-to-face time. Budget for this reality.

Follow-ups - I normally say follow up until your thmbs bleed, but it’s less important here. Once you submit an RFP response, they won't forget. This is one of their core functions for clients. It will either happen or it won't, based on your submission quality, pricing and alignment, not your persistence.

RFPs: Annoying. Amazing. Impossible. Easy.

P.S. Need help selling more sponsorships? My agency Ad Sales as a Service helps media companies do just that.