So, new client contract signed – now the pressure is on to demonstrate we know our onions. But are we nervous? Hell, no!!!! We have been here time and time again since Mantis started at the height of the worst global recession to hit our generation – and previous generations. Ten years on and we are still here, why? Simple, because we get like no other agency where the public sector and technology merges. We know how to craft a story and we know who, in ‘media land’, is going to be interested in publishing it. Our knowledge and relationships with public sector tech journalists and influencers is unrivalled. So, when our client wants us to work on a story that we feel is potentially ‘non-headline grabbing’ in the first week of our engagement, the pressure is on the team to provide the right consultancy and come up with a plan that is going to get the right results [but no nerves here though, right!].   In that first week, instead of writing a press release which probably wouldn’t cut the mustard, we drafted a news memo to explain the story and targeted a very niche group of journalists. Knowing the news itself was not strong enough to generate any output on its own, we used it as an opportunity to engage the media and develop ideas in collaboration with them to ensure the ‘non-news’ was not a missed opportunity. So, what has that single piece of content lead to:

1. A Q&A piece with a key title – check
2. A feature piece involving a key government stakeholder and influencer in a one of the UK’s most widely read technology news and opinion sites – check
3. A feature piece whereby we will be collaborating with our client’s partners, technology end users and government departments for publication in THE most respected public sector technology title – check
4. An interview alongside the government department responsible for healthcare technology strategy to be featured in the UK’s longest serving technology title – check
5. A 1200-word opinion article in a key public sector technology title – check
6. The basis of a roundtable for our client to debate further a key healthcare technology theme with the media, partners, customers and prospects and government departments – check

  And the point? A piece of content deemed non-news worthy can be your gateway to a whole host of alternative opportunities. If your comms’ team is clever enough, knows what buyers of tech in the public sector want to read about and is driven and tenacious enough not to stop then you will still get results.