Top 10 Tips for Working With the Public Sector

We recently caught up with Paul Halford, Manager Campaigns, Public Affairs Ministry for Primary Industries. In this article, he shares his top tips on working with the public sector, and why it's 'same, same but different' to working with the private sector. Whether you're a media agency, creative agency, publisher or booking platform, here are some practical tips.

Author: Paul Halford, Manager Campaigns, Public Affairs | Ministry for Primary Industries - Manatū Ahu Matua

Most of us working in marketing in New Zealand know that the lion’s share of advertising spend comes from the private sector. But as a country where the public sector is focused on improving outcomes for New Zealanders, and educating the public about government services that will improve their lives - public sector marketing is an important part of the advertising industry.

Most marketing follows the same principles whether you are in the private or public sector, but at the same time - not at all. Same, same but different? 

Whether you are a media agency, an advertising agency, a publisher or a booking platform, here are some tips to get the most out of working with public sector agencies. 

1. Demonstrate value for money + cost effectiveness

This is a must have for anyone in marketing but in the public sector we are spending taxpayer dollars so it is always front of mind in every decision we make. It doesn't take much to become a news headline if there is a perception of taxpayer dollars not being spent wisely; so how can you as an agency or a publisher demonstrate cost effectiveness with the budget available? 

Beyond pricing, what other ways can value for money be demonstrated? 

2. Help achieve the right outcomes

Public sector marketing isn’t about selling products or driving revenue. It is focused on positive outcomes such as increasing understanding of a subject, education about an important social issue, or changing behaviours or attitudes. 

How can you work with us to clearly show the positive impact of our work for New Zealanders? That is ultimately what we need to do (and it is what many in the public sector are motivated by). 

3. We need to reach the right people

It's not too hard to deliver impressions and scale to achieve large audience numbers - especially with the way digital channels evolve. In many cases however, public sector campaigns have quite specific audiences they are trying to reach. There is a growing need to be able to reach these unique and niche audiences (without any wastage) through the media we book.

4. Embrace our processes 

Having robust processes is how we show accountability, value for money, and at the end of the day - get approvals. That may be via senior leaders within our organisation, a board or other external stakeholders so be open to our processes and how you can support them. FYI Public Sector agencies in New Zealand have guidelines and financial thresholds regarding Ministerial approvals for advertising and publicity expenditure.

5. Make sure our briefing to you is tight

What we get out will only be as good as what we put in so if you don't think our brief is tight enough - say so. If you don't think we've been clear enough about our objectives - say so. And if we've suggested channels that you don't think are right - say so. Use these feedback mechanisms as a way to show your value. 

6. Work with us to set benchmarks and success measures

Benchmarks help give a gauge on performance - what to expect, what good looks like, and what we think sucess could be. Push us to be clear about this so we have something we can learn from or measure against. 

7. Meaningful and measurable metrics 

Whether it’s programmatic, out-of-home, geo-targeted media, digital audio, or Meta - we need metrics that allow us to get a real understanding of channel effectiveness. Ideally from a cost effectiveness perspective, and tied back to benchmarks to illustrate performance. 

8. AI Visibility 

Rule of thumb - no surprises. If any recommended media includes AI, take the time to explain how it works tell us what the level of AI optimisation may be with copy. Be as transparent as possible with what is planned. Many government agencies AI policies include using AI in creative and images - so make sure you're across this before you start. 

9. Happy to try new things...to an extent

We want to see creativity, unique approaches, new media ideas and emerging tech - but at the same time we need to have checks and balances for what is reasonable (to the public) in line with the cost and public perception. Show us you've got a solid risk radar and filter across our work. 

10. KISS reporting 

When it comes to campaign reporting, Keep It Succinct and Simple. Use simple language (without jargon), provide insights (not just reporting on numbers), and give actionable recommendations, and tied it all back to value for money and cost effectiveness. Think of the report as something to go to the Chief Executive - but without needing a rewrite to make it easy to understand. 

Don't be backwards about going forward if something failed, or didn't work as planned - call it out. Insights like these are just as valuable as highlighting what did work. 

11. Don’t leave procurement to assumptions

A top 10 was too hard so we've added one extra.

If you're responding to a pitch (or submitting a proposal), assume nobody on the panel knows anything about you and the work you've done. 

Internal panels often bring together people from different parts of the organisation (who are not marketers). They may not even know what programmatic is. Don't leave room for any assumptions to be made and make sure your response is relevant to what has been asked. These small things could make a big difference to final scoring or evaluation.