5 tips on how to market your G-Cloud listing to the public sector

The most sought-after support by our clients and suppliers is around the best way to utilise their G-Cloud status in their marketing materials.

With this mind we thought we would give you 5 tips on how to kick start your marketing for G-Cloud:

• Do your research and understand your buyer

Your marketing strategy should start by researching who you see as your target market. Check out some of the government department’s technology blogs and see what they are working on. Do any of the projects sound like something you could help with? Also look at tech publications that specialise in govtech, they often report on the progress of government transformation projects. A good place to start is UKAuthority, Public Technology or Digital Health for health tech.

• Add a page to your website that is public sector specific or build public sector micro site

If you are new to the public sector and G-Cloud is just you dipping your toe into the market. You could start with a specific G-Cloud landing page for your site, in it you should include a summary of your service, links to any frameworks you are on and the details of your public sector point of contact for any potential buyers. Be sure to add any public sector specific case studies or testimonials you have as well.

If you are well versed in the public sector, then maybe you can invest some of your marketing budget in building a separate public sector micro site. This will be especially useful if the public sector is one of your main verticals and you have a lot of content or case studies to share.

• Get involved – online

Part of getting the attention of the public sector is being visible, no we don’t mean spamming them on LinkedIn or sending cold emails, we mean being part of the conversation. That could be by utilising social media, many gov departments and those that head them up are on twitter and actively engaging with people interested in what they are trying to achieve. This will make you a familiar face and just might edge the decision in your favour later down the line. Another way you can engage online is to attend webinars, CCS often hold webinars with buyers looking to talk through the current projects they are working on. These are free to attend and will help you gauge interest in your product and inform your sales/targeting strategy.

• Get involved – offline

Or maybe you prefer to engage in person, if so attend events and network. An organisation that works very closely with suppliers and buyers alike is techUK, they put on regular briefings and govtech specific events so it’s definitely a good one to join! ThinkDigital Partners also host a variety of yearly public sector tech events, often with a theme which may relate directly to what you are offering.

You could even host your own event or roundtable, this will help put you in a position of authority and show that you are committed to the issue and not just looking to flog your stuff. Or you could sponsor an event, to tell if it’s a good one or not, check if the event has been run before and if the sponsors change yearly. This may indicate that the organisers haven’t delivered on their promises or that it didn’t have an engaged audience. If you do go down the exhibiting or sponsorship avenue, make sure you are prepared to work the room. Having a stand at an event won’t ensure the buyers come to you, make sure you take the time to walk around and engage with the delegates.

• Get Case Studies

Case studies can be difficult to get at the best of times and even harder if it’s from a public sector client. But, your persistence will pay off because their value is huge to prospective buyers. Approach obtaining a case study from the outcome angle. Public sector bodies need to be seen to be impartial but helping to publicise what great work they’ve been doing will be more attractive to them than just asking for a bog-standard case study. You can also reassure the client by letting them know that you are willing to work with the press office and will allow them to have final say on the content.

The above should be enough to get you on your way to getting some public sector attention and making the most of being on G-Cloud! But, for more in-depth advice and guidance, register for our upcoming ‘Public Sector Marketing Masterclass’ webinar.