The need for speed in public sector PR                                        

In addition to our plans and client campaigns, we are always on the lookout for the Next Big Thing. In a world where news cycles are quick and ‘right here, right now’ platforms like Twitter are King, we have developed a rapid-response process to ensure we always capitalise on industry news and developments. We need to be able to quickly spot and jump on developing news – not just proactively, but also reactively – and use it to our clients’ advantage.

We can share a real-world example of this in action with our client, Carelink. In late October, The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) established a procurement process for network services for the new Health and Social Care Network (HSCN). It is setting up a new framework, RM3825, which will operate as a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS), where new suppliers can join at any time after it has gone into operation.

As soon as the news broke, we spoke to Darren Turner, General Manager at Carelink, with a view to place comments in the press from them, explaining how the development of the new RM3825 framework is a positive shift for suppliers and their ability to list their solutions immediately.

By the end of the day, we had secured two pieces of coverage in target public sector publications – Government Computing and Computer Weekly. We’d also secured a wider opinion article with a broader view from the supplier with Spend Matters. This was all possible because we knew how to position Carelink front and centre of the new framework news; we understood what messages will resonate and we are all experienced enabling us to develop salient content in rapid time.

For this process to work, our clients need to trust us – and they do. They trust us to get content near right first time; they trust our consultancy on how and who to approach and they trust us to work collectively to achieve the objects of most communications, content and engagement programmes: increase awareness with the right buyers, set the right perception of the company and help make the sales process just a little bit easier.