As part of our ongoing B2G blog series, we recently spoke with Fiona Jukes, PR and Communication Manager at YPO, about how they’ve developed a successful long-term partnership with Cadence to support their public sector marketing needs.
YPO is a leading public sector buying organisation providing a diverse range of products and services via their procurement frameworks. The organisation predominantly works with schools and local authorities, but also with public bodies such as the NHS.
Thanks for taking the time to speak with us, Fiona. First off, how did you find out about Cadence and what are YPO and Cadence working on currently?
My introduction to Cadence came through a colleague who was carrying out a study into procurement practices in higher education. Currently we’re working together on two big research projects with a webinar event to follow, and we have more in the pipeline for 2021/22. A busy year ahead!
What barriers is your current work with Cadence helping to address?
Our two research projects have quite different objectives and challenges. For the first piece, we needed accurate industry data to support our messaging on COVID recovery in local government. We knew what the marketplace looked like, but we needed solid market research to back our observations. The survey findings will enable us to strengthen our messaging and create PR opportunities – through press releases and thought leadership content, for example.
The operational team really liked the sound of that, which led to the second piece. They wanted operational insights to help shape a new service focused on digital transformation. We decided on another survey-based research piece around this topic and a subsequent webinar to help the team generate leads for the new service.
What does Cadence do differently compared to other marketing partners?
We’ve worked with Cadence for over five years now and there’s a real familiarity there. YPO is quite complex, and working with other agencies we’ve found that it can take a while for them to get to know us and our audience. But we have complete confidence in everything we do with Cadence because the team understands both our needs as an organisation and the sector we operate in.
What are the biggest benefits of working with Cadence?
Access to an accurate and engaged contact database, but also the reach that Cadence has and the hands-on public sector experience. Most recently, the digital transformation survey generated over 250 responses from senior public sector leaders, with 12 of those requesting a diagnostic session with a YPO Solutions Director. The follow-on webinar currently has over 80 registrants and we’re expecting to double that number over the coming weeks.
Cadence’s holistic approach, which ties accurate data and targeted content together, is a big benefit as well. It’s great to keep everything all in one place, rather than outsourcing bits and pieces to separate agencies. And the quality of the content they produce has always been really good, simplifying often quite complex topics. That’s really beneficial because it makes my life easier and I don’t have to spend time writing loads of copy!
Finally, any plans for YPO to work with Cadence again in the future?
Definitely! We already have something booked in for later on in the year. We haven’t decided what this will be yet as we have to adapt to the changing needs of the public sector, but we’re certainly looking to continue our work with Cadence.
