There is an art of public sector marketing, just like there’s an art to marketing in any industry. The unique approach requires specialised skills, but it also requires the savvy to spot opportunities to cash in on and trends to adopt.
We’re going to look at five of the most effective ways to optimise marketing strategies for your public sector audience.
5 Opportunities For Optimising Marketing In The Public Sector
Optimising just one of these opportunities will help boost your marketing efforts, but to make the most of your strategy you should blend them to form an effective, comprehensive campaign.
1) Data Analytics
Each marketing campaign provides a wealth of information that can guide campaigns to follow. But, you have to know what to look for. Enter data analytics.
Data analytics is basically the foundation for new and improved marketing efforts. This is because it provides:
Customer Insight
Data analytics can provide data on behaviour, preferences, and trends, which enables one of the other areas for optimisation: Personalisation. But we’ll get to that.
The better you understand your target audience, the more narrowly focused the campaign, and the greater your chances of success.
Increased Effectiveness
Analytics shines a light on how well marketing strategies have or have not worked. You can see where you need to tweak your approach, either to build on success or shore up weak points. You might need to reassess the process completely, which is ok because the aim is increased effectiveness not pride protection.
Data-Driven Decision Making
You can make a lot of good decisions when you have the right data to hand. But, you can make even better decisions with real-time data. Real-time data gives you an accurate view of how your marketing campaign is performing right now!
This lets you make informed decisions on the fly, so you aren’t caught unawares if there’s a sudden change on the market, revealing an unexpected opportunity or risk. You can take immediate action and stay a couple of steps ahead of your competition.
Personalisation
Stats from the private sector show time and again that consumers don’t just appreciate personalisation, they expect it and there’s no reason why this can’t also apply to the public sector.
It goes back to customer insight, which enables you to personalise all sorts of content, including emails, ads, and recommendations.
Metrics to measure
Now, you need to know what data you’re looking for. Here are some of the most important marketing metrics to consider:
- Email open rate
- Email click-through rate
- Page views
- Time on page
- Bounce rate
- Conversion rate
- Social media engagement
- Mobile app use
This information shows exactly what parts of your marketing campaign you need to work on to generate qualified leads and boost marketing ROI.
Types of analytics
Three types of analytics are used in marketing.
1) Descriptive analytics: Data from past campaigns influences future campaigns.
2) Predictive analytics: Data on consumer behaviour from past campaigns predicts consumer behaviour on future campaigns.
3) Prescriptive analytics: All relevant data that depicts consumer engagement and interaction, is used to improve customer experience and satisfaction. An example is keywords, which show you the highest performing pages as well as the campaign that generated the most traffic.
Popular Analytics Tools
Analytics tools provide the information you’re looking for. Some of the most popular include:
- Google Analytics
- SEMRush
- Salesforce
- Hubspot
At least one employee must understand exactly how the tools work and how to make them work optimally. It’s a good idea to invest in staff training to ensure accurate results.
2) Personalisation
Personalisation is hugely important in modern society. Without personalisation you risk being shunned – no one opens your emails, no one subscribes to your newsletter, no one registers for your webinar, and no one engages on your social media channels.
But, if you use personalisation correctly, the world is your metaphorical oyster. Let’s look at some benefits.
Better Customer Relationships
It’s been found that about 73% of people choose brands that use personalised emails. With a number like that, you can’t afford to sideline personalisation.
Bigger Revenue
People are more likely to buy your products/services. In fact, they’re likely to be repeat customers. This is great because repeat customers lead to loyal customers, and one of the biggest aims of public sector marketing is to develop customer loyalty.
Savvier Customer Interactions
Data can reveal contact preferences. For example, when and how often customers want to be contacted. This is important so you don’t flood them with information and turn them off your brand.
Better Brand Reputation
How can all of the above not boost your brand? Word of mouth can be particularly significant here, by which we mean recommendations on social media and shared content to spread the word.
Greater Marketing ROI
This is what marketers are after – conversions, obviously, but a better return on investment (time, money, resources, staff) is both satisfying, productive, and profitable.
Effective Retargeting And Upselling
You’ve got government agencies’ attention, which makes it easier to retarget them, for example, judicious use of marketing tactics to turn repeat visitors into repeat customers. It’s also a great opportunity to remind them that less is not more, more is more and sometimes bigger is better.
3) Digital Platforms
Digital platforms support and enable all types of digital marketing, such as SEO, paid advertising, mobile apps, and social media. They’re how you reach your audience and the tools you use to generate and convert leads.
A good example is Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. It’s a single platform that houses everything customer-related, from contact details and communication history to purchase history and multi-channel engagement.
Social media platforms are becoming increasingly important. It’s been found that the average consumer has between six and eight social media accounts and they spend nearly two-and-a-half hours a day trawling between them. Most importantly, 64% of consumers want to engage with brands on social media.
What better way to play right into their hands than developing a relationship marketing strategy that builds trust and communication on social media channels?
4) Public Trust And Transparency
Transparency is important in all modern media marketing approaches, but it’s extra important when marketing to the public sector. Central government departments and local authorities are accountable to the public for their actions, which should all be for the public good.
But, the public doesn’t want to take the government’s word on it. They want to see for themselves what’s what. Embracing transparency in all processes builds public trust and public trust is the holy grail. Part of this entails giving the public access to data on things like public services and initiatives and encouraging engagement regarding public sector services and initiatives.
Unfortunately for government bodies goodwill is easily lost. They can’t afford to be connected, even indirectly, to organisations with slightly murky business practices. Punt things like ethical supply chains with no hint of modern slavery or unethical product sourcing.
Showcase social value initiatives and environmentally friendly operations. If you’re proud of the positive impact you have on your community, public sector contracting authorities should be more than happy to partner with you.
This leads nicely into …
5) Sustainability And Social Value
The Procurement Act 2023 has put social value squarely in the spotlight. You can use this to your advantage. First of all, ensure you have an initiative that is worth mentioning. If all you have are energy-saving light bulbs, keep it under your hat.
If you don’t have anything more significant than that, start something.
Consumers demand environmental and social responsibility and the UK public sector is under pressure to prove that they take the responsibility very seriously. If you can make this easier for them, the better it’ll be for your business.
Cadence Optimises Your Public Sector Marketing Strategy
Optimising your marketing strategy for the public sector takes a lot of work, not to mention in-depth industry know-how. Cadence Marketing, backed by its parent company BiP Solutions, has decades of experience marketing in the public sector.
You won’t find anyone better suited to optimise your email marketing campaign or help you research your target audience.
Contact us to arrange a free consultation and find out how our services can optimise your marketing campaign and boost your win rate.
