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Tag: creative bid writer

Marketing Tenders: A Guide to Finding and Winning Contracts

Posted on by John Hudson

In today’s competitive landscape, marketing agencies face a unique challenge: how to secure high-value contracts that drive growth and establish their brand as an industry leader. One of the most effective ways to do this is through marketing tenders—formal requests from organizations looking to partner with agencies for their marketing needs.

Whether you’re new to bidding or a seasoned pro, understanding how to navigate marketing tenders can make all the difference in securing those lucrative contracts. In this blog, we’ll walk you through how to find the right marketing tenders, craft an irresistible proposal, and ultimately win the contracts that will propel your agency to new heights.

What Are Marketing Tenders?

A marketing tender is a formal invitation issued by a company, government agency, or non-profit organization that seeks proposals from marketing agencies to fulfill specific needs, such as digital marketing, branding, content creation, or event management. These tenders provide detailed information about the project, including the scope of work, deadlines, and selection criteria.

For marketing agencies, responding to tenders is an excellent way to land large-scale contracts, expand your portfolio, and grow your client base. However, winning a marketing tender requires more than just submitting a proposal; it demands a strategic approach, attention to detail, and a deep understanding of the client’s needs.

How to Find Marketing Tenders

Finding the right marketing tenders is the first step toward winning valuable contracts. Here are some effective methods to help you identify the right opportunities:

  1. Tender Portals
    Many governments and private sector organizations publish tenders on dedicated portals. Websites like Creative Tenders offer an extensive collection of marketing-related opportunities that you can easily filter by location, project size, or industry.
  2. Networking
    Building relationships with key decision-makers in your industry is crucial. Attend industry events, webinars, and seminars to stay informed about upcoming tenders.
  3. Public Sector Tenders
    Government agencies often issue marketing tenders for public campaigns, awareness programs, or digital initiatives. Websites such as Contracts Finder (for UK government tenders) can be a valuable resource.
  4. Industry-Specific Listings
    Keep an eye on tender opportunities specific to your niche, whether it’s healthcare, education, or tech. Websites, newsletters, and publications tailored to specific sectors often list tender opportunities.
  5. Partnering with Other Agencies
    Collaboration is key. Partner with other agencies that may already have access to exclusive tenders, helping you tap into new markets and opportunities.

Crafting a Winning Proposal

Once you’ve found the perfect marketing tender, the next step is to craft a proposal that stands out. Your submission should not only meet the requirements but also demonstrate why your agency is the ideal partner for the job. Here’s how to structure a compelling proposal:

  1. Follow the Tender Instructions Carefully
    One of the most common reasons bids are rejected is failure to follow the tender instructions. Ensure your proposal answers every question and includes all requested documents.
  2. Showcase Your Expertise and Experience
    Highlight your agency’s expertise in the relevant marketing services. Use case studies, success stories, and testimonials to demonstrate your ability to deliver outstanding results.
  3. Offer Clear, Realistic Pricing
    Marketing tenders often have budget constraints. Be transparent and competitive with your pricing while ensuring you offer value for money. Providing clear breakdowns of your costs can also help build trust.
  4. Tailor Your Proposal to the Client’s Needs
    Research the organization issuing the tender and understand their specific marketing needs. Tailor your proposal to address their objectives, challenges, and goals, demonstrating that you have a deep understanding of their requirements.
  5. Highlight Innovation
    Agencies that can offer innovative solutions often stand out from the competition. Propose creative ideas that go beyond the conventional and showcase how you’ll deliver unique results for the client.
  6. Proofread and Edit
    A proposal filled with typos, errors, or vague language reflects poorly on your agency. Ensure your submission is polished, professional, and easy to read.

Tips for Winning Marketing Tenders

Winning a marketing tender is about more than just a great proposal. Here are some additional tips to improve your chances of success:

  1. Start Early
    Tender deadlines can be strict, so give yourself enough time to prepare and submit a high-quality proposal. Starting early also allows you time to seek clarification if you don’t understand any aspect of the tender.
  2. Leverage Your Relationships
    If you’ve worked with the client before or have connections within the organization, don’t hesitate to leverage these relationships. Personal recommendations can go a long way in the decision-making process.
  3. Keep Track of Previous Submissions
    Review any tenders you’ve responded to in the past, whether you won or lost them. Analyze feedback and identify areas where you can improve.
  4. Focus on Long-Term Relationships
    Agencies that aim to build long-term relationships with clients often stand out. Highlight how your agency is dedicated to ongoing partnership and continuous improvement.
  5. Stay Organized
    Keep your tendering process organized. Use software or spreadsheets to track deadlines, requirements, and key contacts to ensure no details are overlooked.

Marketing tenders are an excellent opportunity for agencies to secure high-value contracts, grow their portfolio, and enhance their reputation. By knowing where to find tenders, crafting tailored and compelling proposals, and applying proven strategies, your agency can increase its chances of winning contracts that align with its goals.

At Creative Tenders, we specialize in providing marketing tenders to help agencies like yours find and win contracts. Whether you’re new to tendering or an experienced bidder, we provide the tools, resources, and expertise you need to succeed. Ready to start winning more marketing tenders? Explore our platform today and gain access to a wide array of opportunities!

FAQs:

1. What are marketing tenders?
Formal requests for proposals from organizations seeking marketing services.

2. How can I find marketing tenders?
Check tender portals, industry listings, public sector websites, and network.

3. What should be in a marketing tender proposal?
A clear response, your expertise, competitive pricing, and tailored solutions.

4. How can I win a marketing tender?
Start early, tailor your proposal, offer innovation, and leverage relationships.

5. Are marketing tenders for small agencies?
Yes, they provide valuable opportunities for growth and building a portfolio.

Related Blog: Incorporating Art And Design: Visual Elements For Winning Creative Bids – Creative Tenders

A Comprehensive Breakdown of Tendering for Event Planning Contracts

Posted on by John Hudson

Here’s an overview of what to expect and prepare for when tendering for event planning contracts

If you’re reading this article, you’re likely wondering two things about event planning contracts. The first is probably, what types of contracts are available for companies within the event planning sector? The second, what does the process of bidding for an event planning contract involve?

Finding tendering opportunities that match your services and capabilities can be an arduous and daunting process. Often, you need to filter through countless tendering platforms. The prospect of heading this process is what informed our foray into the industry. We implemented our strategy especially for bidders where existing responsibilities already take up so much of their time. At Creative Tenders, we have extensive expertise and consultancy experience in sourcing tenders and ultimately, in winning them!

The scope of event planning tenders

First, a disclaimer in relation to event planning bids is the breadth and diversity of tenders that are available. To provide a complete overview, we’ll tackle each prospective opportunity type. We’ll also look at what kind of processes you’ll need to follow when organising and constructing your tenders:

Considerations for event planning contracts

Event planning can itself be quite an intimidating term, inclusive of a diverse range of roles and responsibilities. Something we endeavour always to note with our clients is that the two most important factors to successful tendering are:

  • Experience – This refers specifically to the experience of the bidding organisation, rather than the experience of specific individuals within the organisation. 
  • Proposed methodology/solution – In the context of event planning, this encompasses your organisations management strategies and infrastructural commitments.

When demonstrating experience, it’s important to ensure that your examples illustrate, at a minimum, the following features:

  • An established understanding about the processes and procedures involved in event planning.
  • Prior experience of working on contracts with both a comparable scale and comparable planning/management responsibilities.

Typically, you’ll likely be asked to provide, at a minimum, 2-3 prior contract examples where the stated features are present. The strongest responses for contracts in event planning will often use these prior contracts. These not only act as evidence of past experience, but a platform for validating their methodology and why its suitable.

Common oversights

When entering into the bidding process for event planning/management, there are a variety of considerations you should keep in mind. There are countless instances where wholly suitable, qualified enterprises, through neglecting the following features, lost out on desired contracts:

  1. Read AND refer to the specification

Before committing to a particular contract, it is vital that the ITT (invitation-to-tender) is studied in sufficient depth. This ensures you meet the pre-qualification criteria, but also that you possess the appropriate infrastructure. Infrastructure relates to both recruitment and sourcing procedures, in place from commencement through to the conclusion of contracted works.

In lieu of an internal writing team, the following list details several strategies for determining personal/corporate suitability:

  • Location: Establish where the contracted works will take place. Firstly, where is the site/event? Secondly, where is your base-of-operations? And thirdly, is it in close enough proximity to assure the buyers of your capability to deliver during the contract?
  • Budget/scale: This should be a key consideration in all bidding proposals. Once you’ve consulted the ITT/specification for an overall budget and contract scale, take this opportunity to determine:
    • Is the budget reflective of the services that your corporation is capable of providing? If not, how will works be subcontracted to supplement this?
    • Is the scale of the project/event reflective of your infrastructure? If no, how will you alter your recruitment and outsourcing practices to make sure events are planned and managed effectively.
  • Key dates: Other key factors when searching for suitable bids are your resources and the timescales for deadlines and production. An awareness of basic key dates: contract commencement and tender submission deadlines being the primary figures worthy of note.
  • Pre-qualifying/required accreditations: Though variable per tender, contracts in the event planning industry can require an array of qualifications and licenses. These are foundational indicators of your ability to carry out and effectively meet the specified criteria for service delivery. Required qualifications may be extended to include individual experience and credentials of team members (lighting, filming, etc.). 

  1. Innovations and USPs (Unique Selling Points)

Given the diverse operational requirements which define event planning, another element worth including in responses is your enterprise’s USPs.

USPs refer to any innovations which might distinguish you amongst your competitors. To demonstrate your enterprises commitment to ongoing growth, it’s worthwhile to include >3 innovations that your company has implemented. These USPs may include any mechanisms which streamline procedures and increase productivity. Innovations come in many forms, including:

  • Systems: Though not exhaustive, systematic innovations can refer to your operating system, communications platforms, planning and reporting tools, and financial software. Assuming, for example, your organisation provides its personnel with IM platform(s), you should detail why these are comparably effective.
  • Resources: An overarching term to describe your material and infrastructural sourcing strategies. For example, if your organisation uses a unique hiring platform/strategy, how is it superior to the standard strategy?

  1. Policies and other pre-requisite documents

Like most enterprises emerging into the tendering market, your company is likely in its infancy. It may be worthwhile – prior to tendering – to ensure all appropriate corporate policies are documented and recently renewed. Though not exhaustive, the list below provides an insight into areas where policies are expected:

  • Data protection
  • Safeguarding
  • Health and safety
  • Equality
  • Code of conduct
  • Complaints

To tenderers, your policies act as indicators regarding your general operations and delivery standards. Additionally, they provide further insights into your enterprise’s lines of accountability, expectations and your treatment of employees. Policies are varied and often span numerous pages, making their production a daunting prospect for those foraying into corporate status. Luckily, at Creative Tenders, our established team of bid professionals have provided aid in refining and producing tenders. We also have extensive experience providing bespoke advice and guidance to organisations creating them.

Why tender for event planning contracts in 2022?

Since the advent of COVID-19, it’s no wonder countless suppliers assume planning contract opportunities would be scarce and excessively competitive. This isn’t completely accurate, however, as the government projection posits 35% of all tourism-based revenue will originate from events. Coupled with the government drive towards SME and VCSE sourcing, this demonstrates the present tendering climate is rife with opportunities.

How can we help?

 Presently (July 2022), restrictions continue to ease, and public events are once more becoming a commonplace occurrence. As such, the need for planning and management personnel on events of all sizes is greater than ever. A subscription to Creative Tenders provides the following support mechanisms to aid you in the process:

  • Access to all exclusive, public and private sector creative contracts in the UK.
  • An on-hand Account Manager is available to answer any questions you may have about event planning tenders. They can help you understand the process and answer any questions you have about the tendering process in general.
  • A daily email bulletin is sent straight to your inbox when new event opportunities are uploaded.
  • Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division.
  • 20-minutes of free consultancy with one of our Bid Management Consultants each month.

Need additional support?

You don’t always have the time or resources to write a winning response in-house. Outsourcing to bid writing experts can help. Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, offers four levels of bid writing support. They boast an 87% success rate and have over 60 years of bid writing experience. The services on offer include:

Contact us to find out how we can help your business grow.

We also source opportunities for sectors including:

Book a free live demo with Creative Tenders to see how we can help your business grow.

Past examples of event planning tenders found on our portal 

Event Planning & Delivery Services of the Para-Cycling Road

2023 UCI Cycling World Championships – Scotland – Budget: £990,000

Ceremonial Event Planning and Management

Scottish Government – Scotland – Budget: £700,000

GB-Middlesborough: ERDF – Grow Trees Valley Annual Conference and Event Planning

Teeside University – North East – £500,000

Whatever route you choose, Creative Tenders have options available for businesses of all sizes and contracts of all scales. We can offer your enterprise an immense leg-up in competing and thriving on contracts within the event planning sector.

Signage Tenders: The Secrets to Success!

Posted on by Charlotte Jarvis

Here’s how you can find and win signage tenders

How to find signage tenders

When you search for signage tenders, you’ll likely start off by using a search engine such as Google. This is understandable, and you’ll find a lot of results! However, the challenge will be narrowing it down to signage tenders that are suitable for you. For example, you may be looking for tenders in a certain location or within a particular budget.

The sites you search will have tenders listed in a variety of ways, and all will be different. It will take hours to go through these to find a tender right for you. They won’t feature the key details on some results either. This means you’ll have to scour through lengthy tender documents. Once you get through these, it might not be a suitable contract, so you’ve wasted all this time!

The good news is that there are helpful solutions available to you.

Creative Tenders

At Creative Tenders, we are one of Hudson Discover’s 11 sector-specific portals. These portals are specifically designed to make the tendering process easier. This is done by listing tenders based on selective filters. You can see tenders based on location, deadline dates, budget, and keywords.

Our Opportunity Trackers add new signage tenders to the portal daily. So, they are always up to date. Plus, we don’t use CPV codes, which can result in missed opportunities. It is what sets us apart from other tender portals.

You can also receive tender notifications when tenders are uploaded that may be of interest to you. It couldn’t be easier! Or could it?

Discover Elite

If you want to streamline the process even further, you can sign up to Discover Elite. With this service, a dedicated Account Manager will find live bids on your behalf. They’ll speak with you weekly to discuss opportunities that may interest you. This is especially helpful for those with little time to spare due to busy schedules.

Examples of signage tenders found on our portal

Creative Enterprise West (Hounslow’s Creative Enterprise Zone) – Wayfinding

London Borough of Hounslow – London – Budget: £50,000

National Signage Framework

Forestry Commission – South West – Budget: £1,200,000

Signs

ESPO – East Midlands – Budget: £25,000,000

GB-Braintree: Wayfinding Signage at Horizon120 Business Park

Braintree District Council – Eastern – Budget: £100,000

Production and Installation of Signage (To Promote the Level of Investment Underway By Hull City Council)

Hull City Council – Yorkshire and Humber – Budget: £35,000

How to win signage tenders

To win signage tenders, there’s a few tips you should know. We sat down with our Senior Bid Writers to see what their top tips are for winning signage tenders!

1.     Don’t use technical jargon

The buyer is likely to be unfamiliar with your industry. So, to avoid confusing them, make sure you don’t use any technical words that they won’t understand.

2.     Be clear and concise

Similar to our previous point, you don’t want to confuse the buyer. Keep your bid proposal as clear and concise as possible. Focus on answering the questions and don’t ramble about anything irrelevant.

3.     Express what makes you different

You should always showcase your unique selling point (USP) in your bid. This gives the buyer an idea of what you can bring to the contract that other suppliers can’t. It is also a great way to help you stand out.

4.     Showcase your experience

The buyer wants to see that you have evidence of completing signage tenders. You should include three to five case studies that detail similar projects that you did well.

5.     Proofread and edit before submission

Before you submit any bid proposal, not just ones for signage tenders, you must proofread them! If you don’t, you are almost certain to have left mistakes and errors that the buyers are likely to notice. This will give them the impression that you do not thoroughly check your work. If you don’t do this, they won’t trust you to handle their contract well.

6.     Use bid management to stay organised

You should use bid management to stay on track when working on a bid proposal. It can be easy to become overwhelmed with the workload. By breaking it down, you separate it into manageable chunks.

7.     Don’t submit the bid last minute

One of the worst things you can do is submit proposals for signage tenders at the last minute. This is often a recipe for disaster. You may come across technical issues or find that there is further information to submit. If you are already close to the deadline, it will get extremely stressful. If you submit your proposal even a minute late, you won’t be considered.

Who can help you win signage tenders?

Worried you don’t have enough time to dedicate to writing a bid? Help is available! Professional Bid Writers are at hand to support you with your bid proposal. They can take all the stress off of your hands and handle the entire process on your behalf. This is ideal for organisations or individuals that do not have the spare time.

Summary

Here’s a summary of everything we covered in our blog on signage tenders!

To find signage tenders, you should use tender portals such as Creative Tenders. You can upgrade to Discover Elite to have an Account Manager do it for you!

To win signage tenders:

1.     Don’t use technical jargon

2.     Be clear and concise

3.     Express what makes you different

4.     Showcase your experience

5.     Proofread and edit before submission

6.     Use bid management to stay organised

7.     Don’t submit the bid last minute.

Need help writing your next tender?

If you don’t have the resources or time to write a winning bid, why not outsource it? Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, boasts an 87% success rate and have over 60 years of collective bidding experience. They offer four bid writing support packages to help you on the path to success. Whether you’re new to tendering, or simply need someone to proof your written response before you submit – we can help.

Tender Ready

Our Tender Ready programme is designed for those who have never tendered before. This 4-week programme works with you to ensure you have everything in place to tender successfully.

Tender Improvement

Tender Improvement can help if you’re already tendering but aren’t seeing success from your current efforts. Our Bid Writers will assess your previous submissions and supporting documents. They’ll give you feedback and guidance on how to improve, helping you to secure your next tenders.

Tender Mentor

If you’ve written a tender and need someone to proofread it – Tender Mentor is for you. A Bid Writer will double-check it’s in line with the specification and free of any grammar or spelling mistakes.

Tender Writing

If you’ve found the perfect tender but don’t know where to start – we can help. Send the specification over to us and our Bid Team will do the rest. They’ll let you know what they need from you and provide you with a full breakdown. They’ll even submit it on your behalf, leaving you more time to focus on your business.

Get in touch to find out more information.

Want to save even more time?

Upgrading to Discover Elite will ensure you never miss a tendering opportunity even when you’re busy!

The Ultimate Time-Saving Tool offers your business:

  • An annual subscription to a maximum of two Discover portalsof your choice.
  • Up to five bid breakdowns per month to help you make your bid or no-bid
  • Weekly phone calls with your Account Manager to discuss viable leads and tendering opportunities.
  • Award and pre-market engagement notices monitored on your behalf.
  • Public and private buyer portal management including registering, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid strategy.

We also source opportunities for sectors including:

Book a free live demo with Creative Tenders to see how we can help your business grow.

Contact us for more information.

 

The Keys to Finding & Winning Publishing Tenders

Posted on by John Hudson

Here’s how to find and win publishing tenders

Looking for publishing tenders? You’re in luck! At Creative Tenders, we know all about publishing tenders. So, if you have questions, we will be happy to answer them. In this blog, we will cover what publishing tenders are, where to find them, and how to win! Keep reading, you don’t want to miss out…

What are publishing tenders?

For those that are unsure, publishing tenders are contracts that require some form of printing and publication services. A company or organisation may require the following to be printed/published:

  • Magazines
  • Books
  • Articles
  • Newspapers
  • Leaflets
  • Brochures
  • Posters
  • Invitations
  • Academic works
  • Electoral supplies.

Do you offer any of these services? Do you want to bid for contracts to expand your business? There are plenty of opportunities out there, which is why it’s so beneficial to tender for work. Looking for contracts allows your business access to opportunities you wouldn’t know about otherwise. Keep reading if you want to know where to find the perfect publishing tenders for your business…

Finding publishing tenders with Hudson Discover’s Creative Tenders

Most of us will turn to a search engine such as Google when we need to find something. It is the wizard that has all the answers to our questions. But when you search for ‘publishing tenders’, you’ll find yourself swamped with countless sites to visit. Each site will feature information differently. Most will not make it easy for you either.

You’ll likely have to read lengthy tender documents to get to the key details of each tender. This could be the deadline date, location, budget, or perhaps an element that dictates whether or not you are eligible. Imagine reading over 50 pages to find out you aren’t eligible for a tender, or the deadline is too soon. That is a lot of time wasted!

There are easier ways of finding publishing tenders…

What is Creative Tenders?

As one of Hudson Discover’s 11 sector-specific portals, Creative Tenders makes it easy to find opportunities.

These portals were designed to make it simple to find tenders suitable to your preferences. For example, you can use filters to search for tenders based on location, keywords, dates, and budget. You may be familiar with tender portals, so what makes ours different?

Well, each of our portals are updated daily by Opportunity Trackers that don’t use CPV codes. These codes are used to identify contract opportunities, but they can often have errors. This means that we will never miss a tender due to the wrong code.

Every day, we will send you a tender notification of all the new opportunities you may be interested in.

Want to save even more time looking for publishing tenders? Try Discover Elite

What if you could streamline the process even further?

The good news is – you can!

Sign up to Discover Elite via your chosen portal where a dedicated Account Manager finds live bids on your behalf. They’ll speak with you weekly to discuss opportunities that may interest you. This is especially helpful for those with little time to spare due to busy schedules.

Upgrading to Discover Elite will ensure you never miss a tendering opportunity even when you’re busy!

The Ultimate Time-Saving Tool offers your business:

  • An annual subscription to a maximum of two Discover portalsof your choice.
  • Up to five bid breakdowns per month to help you make your bid or no-bid
  • Weekly phone calls with your Account Manager to discuss viable leads and tendering opportunities.
  • Award and pre-market engagement notices monitored on your behalf.
  • Public and private buyer portal management including registering, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid strategy.

Examples of publishing tenders found on our portal

Publications Production with End-to-End Print Services

Swansea University – Wales – Budget: £1,000,000

 

Contract for Publishing Guidebooks

National Museum of the Royal Navy Hartlepool – South East – Budget: £85,000

 

The Provision of a Publications Dispatch Service

Department of Social Protection – Republic of Ireland – Budget: £200,000

 

The Provision of NIHR Journals Library: Production Services

University of Southampton – South East – Budget: £7,000,000

 

South Devon College ITT for the Design of Publications

South Devon College – South West – Budget: £60,500

4 tips to win publishing tenders from expert Bid Writers

  1. Make sure your answers are clear, concise, and relevant
  2. Don’t use technical jargon as this can confuse the buyer
  3. Ensure you proofread your proposal before submission, so it is of the highest standard
  4. Use writing and language skills to keep the buyer engaged with your bid.

Summary

We have reached the end of our blog on publishing tenders. Here is a recap of everything we covered:

What are publishing tenders?

Here are some examples of products needed as part of a publishing tender.

  • Magazines
  • Books
  • Articles
  • Newspapers
  • Leaflets
  • Brochures
  • Patient identification bands
  • Posters
  • Vouchers
  • Product packaging
  • Invitations
  • Academic works
  • Electoral supplies.

To find publishing tenders, you can use the Creative Tender’s portal. By upgrading to Discover Elite, an Account Manager will find tenders on your behalf.

4 tips to win publishing tenders from expert Bid Writers

  1. Make sure your answers are clear, concise, and relevant
  2. Don’t use technical jargon
  3. Ensure you proofread your proposal before submission
  4. Use writing and language skills to keep the buyer engaged with your bid.

Need help writing your next tender?

If you don’t have the resources or time to write a winning bid, why not outsource it? Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, boasts an 87% success rate and have over 60 years of collective bidding experience. They offer four bid writing support packages to help you on the path to success. Whether you’re new to tendering, or simply need someone to proof your written response before you submit – we can help.

Tender Ready

Our Tender Ready programme is designed for those who have never tendered before. This 4-week programme works with you to ensure you have everything in place to tender successfully.

Tender Improvement

Tender Improvement can help if you’re already tendering but aren’t seeing success from your current efforts. Our Bid Writers will assess your previous submissions and supporting documents. They’ll give you feedback and guidance on how to improve, helping you to secure your next tenders.

Tender Mentor

If you’ve written a tender and need someone to proofread it – Tender Mentor is for you. A Bid Writer will double-check it’s in line with the specification and free of any grammar or spelling mistakes.

Tender Writing

If you’ve found the perfect tender but don’t know where to start – we can help. Send the specification over to us and our Bid Team will do the rest. They’ll let you know what they need from you and provide you with a full breakdown. They’ll even submit it on your behalf, leaving you more time to focus on your business.

We also source opportunities for sectors including:

Book a free live demo with Creative Tenders to see how we can help your business grow.

Contact us for more information.

Check out some of our other blogs:

How Can I Win A PR Tender?

Posted on by John Hudson

How can I increase my success bidding for a PR tender?

Are you wondering how you can win a PR tender? If you’ve never tendered before, you may have some questions about the tendering process and what to include.

4 things to expect from a PR tender

The contents of the PR tender will depend on the needs of the buyer. Each tender will be different and because of this, we will detail what is generally required and expected.

  1. Provide an outline of a PR plan

When you are responding to a PR tender, you will likely have to provide an outline of a PR plan. You should be prepared to detail how you will provide PR services for the contract you’re applying for.

Pay attention to what is noted in the tender documents. They will likely note specifics and objectives that the buyer wants to achieve from this contract. Read them carefully and demonstrate your understanding in your answers. You’d be surprised how many businesses don’t do this.

  1. Propose a working methodology

Along with the PR plan, you will often need to propose a working methodology. This could be inbound or outbound. This can include, but isn’t limited to the following:

  • Content strategy
  • Content bank
  • Content distribution
  • Web content
  • Content measurement.

The PR methodology will vary depending on the needs of the buyer and the project at hand. This is a great time to demonstrate your expertise in PR and your knowledge.

  1. Explain why your organisation is best suited to the project

For any PR tender, you want to persuade the buyer that you’re the best for the job. For this, backing up what you’re saying with facts. You could include any awards that your agency has won. Hard statistics and facts really help drive your point home.

Other metrics for reiterating why your company is the best choice, is by mentioning credentials and skills. Did anyone on the project study this at university? How many years of experience do you have collectively? Does anyone specialise in a certain area of PR? Including information like this can really strengthen your PR tender.

Your experience will have a part to play in your PR tender response. For a PR tender, you will need to detail up to three case studies. Ideally, these contract examples will be similar in scope, style and complexity to the tender you’re applying for. Remember to keep in relevant demonstrating your skills. Including how you overcame any unexpected challenges is always a plus. This will convey flexibility and problem-solving giving the buyer confidence in your capabilities.

  1. Outline of reporting methods 

Consider the reporting methods that you’re going to use during the contract. These will likely be classic PR reporting methods over a specific period. For example:

  • Website traffic
  • Volume of mentions
  • Social media engagement
  • Website views by demographics, device and region.

In conclusion

You should have a better idea of what’s required for a PR tender now. Reading the tender documents can help you gain a better understanding of what the buyer wants. You can expect to include a PR plan and working methodology.

Demonstrating your experience is essential and remember to keep it relevant. Be persuasive in your responses and explain why your company is best for the job.

DO YOU NEED ASSISTANCE WITH DIGITAL MARKETING TENDERS?

You don’t always have the time or resources to write a winning response in house. Outsourcing to bid writing experts can help. Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, offer four levels of bid writing support. They boast an 87% success rate and have over 60 years of bid writing experience. The services on offer include:

NEED HELP SOURCING PR TENDERS? WE CAN HELP!

Running your own business takes up a lot of your time. The last thing you want to be doing is trawling hundreds of websites searching for digital marketing tenders. Most websites post multi-industry opportunities and filtering them with CPV codes can produce unreliable results. Luckily for you, we have a solution.

Enter…Creative Tenders

Creative Tenders is an easy-to-navigate, centralised portal hosting live creative tender opportunities from across the UK.

Below are 5 past examples of PR tenders sourced on our portal:

SLaM ST21 – P150 PR Support

South London and Maudsley’ NHS Foundation Trust – London Budget: £40,000

Single Party Framework for European PR Agency Services

IDA Ireland – Republic of Ireland Budget: £700,000

Admittance to a Panel for Supply of Brand & Marketing Services and/or PR Agency Services

Yorkshire Water Services Limited – Yorkshire and Humber Budget: £7.5million

Climate and Nature Communications Plan and Delivery

Herefordshire Council – West Midlands Budget: £150,000

PR & Marketing Campaign

Glenville Walker and Partners (“GWP”) – North West Budget: £7,000

A SUBSCRIPTION TO CREATIVE TENDERS CAN OFFER YOUR BUSINESS:

  • Access to all exclusive, public and private sector creative contracts in the UK.
  • An on-hand Account Manager is available to answer any questions you may have about tenders for design work. They can help you understand the procurement process and answer any questions you have about the tendering process in general.
  • A daily email bulletin is sent straight to your inbox when new, sector-specific opportunities are uploaded.
  • Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division.
  • 20-minutes of free bid management consultancy each month.

WE SOURCE OPPORTUNITIES FOR SECTORS INCLUDING;

Book a free live demo with Creative Tenders to see how we can help your business grow 

WANT TO SAVE EVEN MORE TIME?

Upgrading to Discover Elite allows you to optimise your tendering opportunities even when you’re busy. Our two upgraded packages can improve your competitor awareness and bidding success rate. Each can help save you even more time when searching for tenders for design work.

THE ULTIMATE TIME SAVER PACKAGE OFFERS YOUR BUSINESS:

  • A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
  • An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option can help businesses that overlap two industries such as Creative and Technology, for example.
  • Pre-market and award engagement notices are monitored on your behalf.
  • Buyer portal management, including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid
  • Weekly phone calls with your dedicated Account Manager to discuss viable creative tendering opportunities.

THE BECOME A PRE-BID MASTER PACKAGE ALSO INCLUDES:

  • All of the above.
  • Up to seven tender breakdowns per month.
  • A Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager with a minimum of 5 years of experience. It will also be managed by our Global Bid Director.

Contact us to find out how we can help your business grow.

We also source opportunities for sectors including:

Book a free live demo with Creative Tenders to see how we can help your business grow.

Contact us for more information.

Check out some of our other blogs:

How to Win Digital Marketing Tenders

Posted on by John Hudson

What to expect from digital marketing tenders 

Do you want to bid for digital marketing tenders but aren’t sure how to get started? If that’s the case then don’t worry, we can help.

This blog will tell you what to expect from digital marketing tenders. We’ll cover different subsectors and the key things you’ll need to consider before producing your bid. Keep reading to find out more!

 What type of digital marketing tenders are out there?

Digital marketing tenders can be found in both the public and private sectors, and include a range of subsectors. The different services include, but is not limited to:

  • SEO
  • PPC
  • PR
  • Media monitoring
  • Press cutting
  • Content writing
  • Copywriting
  • Social media.

What can you expect from digital marketing tenders?

When you’re tendering for contracts in the creative sector, there are certain things that you should expect. These include:

  1. Economic financial standing

When bidding for digital marketing tenders, you’ll likely have to provide information about your economic financial standing. Your economic financial standing considers the following:

  • Your annual turnover
  • Financial ratios
  • Insurance(s).

Buyers consider this to make sure that you’re able to carry out the work.

As a general rule, we advise that you don’t bid for contracts worth more than 50% of your annual turnover. For example, if your annual turnover is £1,000,000, you should avoid contracts worth more than £500,000. 

  1. Experience

When bidding for digital marketing tenders, you should expect to provide evidence of your previous experience. This helps reassure the buyer that you’re capable of delivering the project.

You should aim to provide the buyer with 2 – 3 case studies from the last 3 – 5 years. Ideally, these examples will be similar in size, scope and complexity to the tender at hand. The most important thing to remember is that your evidence needs to be relevant. For example, your experience with design won’t show the buyer how well you’ll manage a social media campaign. If it’s not relevant to the buyer’s project, don’t include it in your tender response.

  1. Added value

To successfully bid for digital marketing tenders, you’ll need to demonstrate added value in your tender response.

Added value, also known as social value, is now mandatory in public sector contracts, with a compulsory weighting of 10%. You need to demonstrate how your business will deal with the environmental, social and economic aspects of the contract.

For example, you should consider how your business will:

  • Support COVID-19 recovery
  • Encourage economic growth
  • Tackle climate change
  • Create new job opportunities.

Do you need assistance with digital marketing tenders?

You don’t always have the time or resources to write a winning response in house. Outsourcing to bid writing experts can help. Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, offer four levels of bid writing support. They boast an 87% success rate and have over 60 years of bid writing experience. The services on offer include:

Need help sourcing digital marketing tenders? We can help!

Running your own business takes up a lot of your time. The last thing you want to be doing is trawling hundreds of websites searching for digital marketing tenders. Most websites post multi-industry opportunities and filtering them with CPV codes can produce unreliable results. Luckily for you, we have a solution.

Enter…Creative Tenders

Creative Tenders is an easy-to-navigate, centralised portal hosting live creative tender opportunities from across the UK.

Below are 5 past examples of digital marketing tenders sourced on our portal:

Digital Marketing Consultancy to Target an International Audience  

International Pheromone Systems Limited – North West – Budget: £10k

Promotional Materials, Internal & External Signage & Wall Art & Digital Marketing Materials

Delta Academies Trust – Yorkshire – Budget: £200k

Digital & Social Media Agency Services (China) 

University of Dundee – Scotland – Budget: £500k

Provision of a Digital Marketing Campaign Programme for SMEs

Advance Northumberland Limited – North East – Budget: Undisclosed

Invitation to Tender for the Provision of Event, Production & Digital Media Support for the 4 Corners Festival 2022 

4 Corners Festival – Northern Ireland – Budget: Undisclosed

A SUBSCRIPTION TO CREATIVE TENDERS CAN OFFER YOUR BUSINESS:

  • Access to all exclusive, public and private sector creative contracts in the UK.
  • An on-hand Account Manager is available to answer any questions you may have about tenders for digital marketing work. They can help you understand the procurement process and answer any questions you have about the tendering process in general.
  • A daily email bulletin is sent straight to your inbox when new, sector-specific opportunities are uploaded.
  • Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our Bid Writing Division.
  • 20-minutes of free bid management consultancy each month.

We also source opportunities for sectors including:

Book a free live demo with Creative Tenders to see how we can help your business grow.

Contact us for more information.

Check out some of our other blogs:

WANT TO SAVE EVEN MORE TIME?

Upgrading to Discover Elite allows you to optimise your tendering opportunities even when you’re busy. Our two upgraded packages can improve your competitor awareness and bidding success rate. Each can help save you even more time when searching for digital marketing tenders.

THE ULTIMATE TIME SAVER PACKAGE OFFERS YOUR BUSINESS:

  • A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
  • An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option can help businesses that overlap two industries such as Creative and Technology, for example.
  • Pre-market and award engagement notices monitored on your behalf.
  • Buyer portal management, including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid
  • Weekly phone calls with your dedicated Account Manager to discuss viable creative tendering opportunities.

THE BECOME A PRE-BID MASTER PACKAGE ALSO INCLUDES:

  • All of the above.
  • Up to seven tender breakdowns per month.
  • A Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager with a minimum of 5 years of experience. It will also be managed by our Global Bid Director.

Contact us to find out how we can help your business grow.

3 Things to Consider from Event Management Contracts

Posted on by John Hudson

What to Expect from Events Management Contracts

Knowing where to begin with event management contracts can be daunting and even overwhelming at times. Luckily, we are on hand to help!

We’ve put together a list of three things to consider when applying to events management contracts. However, it’s worth bearing in mind that every tender is different, and every buyer will have different requirements. It’s best to refer to the tender documents to see what exactly is required for your specific bid.

When tendering for contracts, you should always make sure you’re eligible to apply for an opportunity before progressing. Ensure you meet the economic financial standing. As a rule, you shouldn’t be going for contracts that are more than half your annual turnover.

What’s involved with events management contracts?

Some events management contracts may involve an end-to-end process. This could be including, but is not limited to, the following:

  • Event creation
  • Design
  • Management
  • Marketing and Communications
  • Management of key contributors
  • Post-event services
  • Risk mitigation.

Interested suppliers are often asked to outline the event that they are responding to. This will likely need to include a risk register or assessment.

3 tips for writing winning responses to events management contracts

  1. Proof of experience

Buyers will be expecting you to have a bank of experience of successful contracts. They will likely require you to detail up to three case studies within the last three to five years. These case studies should be similar in scope and style to the events management contracts you’re applying for.

It’s worth detailing how you overcame any unexpected challenges on these projects too. This will demonstrate your problem-solving skills and flexibility; both of which are essential in events management. This can help instil confidence in the buyer that you’re the best business for the contract.

  1. Structure your response

A winning bid for events management contracts will be well structured using clear and concise language. This isn’t just formatting, it’s also other things such as sticking to the word count. You want to ensure that you’re writing as close to the word or page count as possible. They’re there for a reason.

In terms of formatting, using bullet points can help break up blocks of text. Subheadings can also help. Often questions will contain three questions within one question. A good way to ensure that you’ve answered every aspect is by breaking it down with subheadings. That way, it will be clear for both you and the buyer that you’ve covered all bases.

Just because the tender is pre-formatted doesn’t mean it has to be boring. Consider including your brand colours and logo in your proposal. This can help your response for events management contracts stand out from others.

  1. Be united when it comes to company CVs

When you’re tendering for work, you may need to include company CVs. Putting forward uniformed CVs shows attention to detail. Imagine you’re the buyer and you’re faced with 10 CVs from a business that all look different. Then imagine you’re presented with 10 unformatted CVs – it will look a lot more professional.

Buyers often want to know will carry out each duty. Including a professional yet friendly-looking photo can be a nice touch. That way they can put a face to a name. Remember to include all the key and relevant information such as qualifications and their experience. This with further cement your capability.

So, now you know how to better your response to events management contracts. Demonstrating your proof of experience can build confidence in the buyer. Structuring your response can put you in the buyers’ good books.

NEED ASSISTANCE WRITING YOUR upcoming Events management contracts?

You don’t always have the time or resources to write a winning response in house. Outsourcing to bid writing experts can help. Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, offer four levels of bid writing support. They boast an 87% success rate and have over 60 years of bid writing experience. The services on offer include:

WHERE CAN I FIND events management contracts FOR MY BUSINESS?

Running your own business takes up a lot of your time. The last thing you want to be doing is trawling hundreds of websites searching for public affairs tenders. Most websites post multi-industry opportunities and filtering them with CPV codes can produce unreliable results. Luckily for you, we have a solution.

Enter…Creative Tenders

Creative Tenders is an easy-to-navigate, centralised portal hosting live creative tender opportunities from across the UK.

Below are previous public affairs tenders sourced on our portal:

Invitation To Tender for The Provision of Event, Production and Digital Media Support For The 4 Corners Festival 2022

4 Corners Festival- Northern Ireland- Budget: Undisclosed

Organisation Implementation and Management of Bolsover Town Centre Events Phase 2

Bolsover District Council- East Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

Major Ceremonial Event

Transport for London- London- Budget: Undisclosed

Procurement of an Outdoor Events Management Service under the Ancient Connections Project

Pembrokeshire County Council- Wales- Budget: Undisclosed

QU523 – Christmas family event on Edgbaston Street (Birmingham City Centre)

Birmingham City Council- West Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

A subscription to Creative Tenders offers your business:

  • Access to all exclusive, private and public sector opportunities within the creative industry.
  • A dedicated Account Manager on hand to answer any questions you may have about public affairs tenders. They can help you understand the procurement process in general.
  • A daily email bulletin sent straight to your inbox when new, sector-specific opportunities are uploaded.
  • Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division.
  • 20 minutes of free consultancy with one of our Bid Consultants each month.

WE SOURCE OPPORTUNITIES FOR SECTORS INCLUDING;

Book a free live demo with Creative Tenders to see what creative contracts in the UK can help grow your business. 

WANT TO SAVE EVEN MORE TIME?

Upgrading to Discover Elite allows you to optimise your tendering opportunities even when you’re busy. Our two upgraded packages can improve your competitor awareness and bidding success rate. Each can help save you even more time when searching for video and film tenders.

THE ULTIMATE TIME SAVER PACKAGE OFFERS YOUR BUSINESS:

  • A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
  • An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option can help businesses that overlap two industries such as Creative and Technology, for example.
  • Pre-market and award engagement notices are monitored on your behalf.
  • Buyer portal management, including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid.
  • Weekly phone calls with your dedicated Account Manager to discuss viable creative tendering opportunities.

THE BECOME A PRE-BID MASTER PACKAGE ALSO INCLUDES:

  • All of the above.
  • Up to seven tender breakdowns per month.
  • A Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager with a minimum of 5 years of experience. It will also be managed by our Global Bid Director.

Contact us to find out how we can help your business grow.

3 Things to Expect from Public Affairs Tenders

Posted on by John Hudson

Public affairs tenders explained

Winning public affairs tenders can be a great way to grow your business. They can help secure a pipeline of work for your business and guarantee pay (depending on the sector). Businesses will issue public affairs tenders in order to procure public affairs services.

If you’ve never submitted a response for public affairs tenders before, you may be wondering how to begin. Or, if you aren’t seeing success from your current tendering effort you may be looking to improve. Luckily for you, we can help. This blog will explain how public affairs tenders work and what to look out for.

3 things to expect from public affair tenders

  1. Proof of experience

Buyers will often expect to you have a bank of experience of past successful contracts. Often, they will require 2 – 3 case studies within the last 3 – 5 years. These case studies must be similar in scope and complexity to the contract you’re applying for. They should demonstrate your capabilities to work on the proposed contract.

Depending on the word count, you should include how you overcame and challenges on these projects. This will strengthen your response demonstrating your problem-solving skills and flexibility. Some buyers may require you to detail the contact information of previous clients. So, it’s best not to over exaggerate on the example as you might be caught out.

  1. Added value

A winning bid for public affairs tenders will include how they will bring added value to the contract. Buyers want to get the most value for their money. Therefore, you will need to demonstrate how you will add value.

If you’re tendering in the public sector, this is referred to as social value. There is now a mandatory weighting of 10% on social value for public sector contracts. Here you must detail the environmental, social and economic aspects while fulfilling the contract. You should consider how your business will:

  • Support COVID-19 recovery
  • Encourage economic growth
  • Tackle climate change
  • Create new jobs and skills

  1. Framework agreements

Public affairs tenders may be a part of a wider framework agreement. A framework agreement is a multi-supplier agreement typically used within the public sector to procure a good or service. Securing a place on a framework can be a lucrative opportunity for your business. They can run for years at a time with the possibility of extension.

Framework agreements are often split into lots, with each lot representing a specific good, product or service. They can also be split into geographical locations. They allow suppliers to apply for specific lots they specialise in. Public affairs services can often be found as part of a wider agreement for other creative services. For example:

Lot 1 – Public Affairs Services

Lot 2 – Public Relations

Lot 3 – Digital Design Services

Lot 4 – Events Services

So, now you have a bit more of an idea of what to expect from public affairs tenders. You want to be clear and concise in your response. Make sure you adhere to the formatting guidelines in the specification and answer every question. You should be persuasive in your response and demonstrate why you’re the best business over your competitors.

Need assistance writing your next public affairs tenders?

You don’t always have the time or resources to write a winning response in house. Outsourcing to bid writing experts can help. Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, offer four levels of bid writing support. They boast an 87% success rate and have over 60 years of bid writing experience. The services on offer include:

Where can I find public affairs tenders for my business?

Running your own business takes up a lot of your time. The last thing you want to be doing is trawling hundreds of websites searching for public affairs tenders. Most websites post multi-industry opportunities and filtering them with CPV codes can produce unreliable results. Luckily for you, we have a solution.

Enter…Creative Tenders

Creative Tenders is an easy-to-navigate, centralise portal hosting live creative tender opportunities from across the UK.

Below are previous public affairs tenders sourced on our portal:

Public Affairs Consultancy

Stonewater Limited – East Midlands- Budget: £132,000

Provision of Public Affairs & Public Relations

St James’s Hospital- Republic of Ireland- Budget: £300,000

Contract for the Provision of Communications Support Services including Media Relations, Public Relations & Public Affairs

Health and Safety Authority- International- Budget: Undisclosed

Communications, Campaigns and Public Affairs Framework

Leeds City Council- Yorkshire and Humber- Budget: Undisclosed

AC/2020/09 – Public Relations, Public Affairs and Media Relations

Arts Council- Ireland- Budget: Undisclosed

A subscription to Creative Tenders offers your business:

  • Access to all exclusive, private and public sector opportunities within the creative industry.
  • A dedicated Account Manager on hand to answer any questions you may have about public affairs tenders. They can help you understand the procurement process in general.
  • A daily email bulletin sent straight to your inbox when new, sector-specific opportunities are uploaded.
  • Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division.
  • 20-minutes of free bid management consultancy each month.

WE SOURCE OPPORTUNITIES FOR SECTORS INCLUDING;

Book a free live demo with Creative Tenders to see what creative contracts in the UK can help grow your business. 

WANT TO SAVE EVEN MORE TIME?

Upgrading to Discover Elite allows you to optimise your tendering opportunities even when you’re busy. Our two upgraded packages can improve your competitor awareness and bidding success rate. Each can help save you even more time when searching for video and film tenders.

THE ULTIMATE TIME SAVER PACKAGE OFFERS YOUR BUSINESS:

  • A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
  • An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option can help businesses that overlap two industries such as Creative and Technology, for example.
  • Pre-market and award engagement notices monitored on your behalf.
  • Buyer portal management, including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid.
  • Weekly phone calls with your dedicated Account Manager to discuss viable creative tendering opportunities.

THE BECOME A PRE-BID MASTER PACKAGE ALSO INCLUDES:

  • All of the above.
  • Up to seven tender breakdowns per month.
  • A Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager with a minimum of 5 years of experience. It will also be managed by our Global Bid Director.

Contact us to find out how we can help your business grow.

 

 

7 Things to Expect When you Tender for Design Work

Posted on by John Hudson

How to tender for design Work

If you’re wondering whether to tender for design work and you don’t know where to begin, we can help. This blog provides 7 things to expect when you tender for design work.

First, let’s start with the basics…

What type of design work is out to tender?

Tenders for design work are released by both private and public sector organisations. They could be looking to procure a range of design services. These could include, but aren’t limited to, the following:

  • Graphic design services
  • Print functions
  • 3D designs
  • Signage
  • Produce design schematics for graphics
  • Artwork
  • Exhibitions
  • CGI
  • Lighting design
  • Illustration
  • Cartography
  • Branding
  • Digital design and more.

7 things to expect when you tender for design work

  1. Your economic financial standing

 When you’re tendering for design work, you can expect to have your economic financial standing to be assessed. This is to make sure that you’re able to carry out the work. It is comprised of three things:

  • Annual turnover
  • Financial ratios
  • Insurance(s)

  1. Case Studies

When writing your tender for design work, you will likely be asked to provide up to three case studies. These should be from within the last three to five years. These case studies should demonstrate projects that are similar in scope and scale to the one you are tendering for. They should demonstrate your capabilities to work on the project at hand.

Depending on the word count, they could include a positive testimonial from a previous client. This will strengthen your response, but bear in mind you might have to provide their contact details for a follow up. So, you shouldn’t make them up. It may also be a good idea to state if there were any challenges and how you overcame them.

  1. CVs

Some buyers may require you to include CVs for those who are to be involved in the project. Buyers want to be reassured that you and your team are experienced and qualified. They should be focused relevant and as concise as possible. Each CV should detail what the specific team member will be responsible for, they should also include:

  • Their job title
  • Any relevant qualifications or accreditations
  • A professional yet friendly picture allowing the buyer to put a face to the name.

  1. Outline methodology

You may be required to provide a concise written proposal setting out what your organisation would do. This outline should state how you will produce the work required as per the requirements of the specification.

  1. Quality assurance

Depending on the buyer, you may be required to provide details of your quality control process. This could outline how you ensure your organisation’s work is of the highest quality. You should provide details of security information and confirm general data protection. Bear in mind, this may not be required for all tenders for design work.

  1. Social value or added value

If you’re tendering in the public sector, you will need to provide details of your business’s social value policy. This is because there is a mandatory 10% weighting on social value for public sector contracts. You will need to detail the environmental, social and economic aspects of the tender. You should consider:

  • Encouraging economic growth
  • Creating new jobs and skills
  • Supporting COVID-19 recovery
  • Tackling climate change.

It’s worth noting again, that within the public sector, the contract will be awarded to the MEAT. The MEAT is the most economically advantageous tender. Here, a buyer will be seeking the most value for their money. A buyer will be evaluating your tender response on more than just price. It’s worth remembering that the cheapest bid does not win. The buyer will be looking at a number of aspects, including, but not limited to:

  • Quality
  • Accessibility
  • Technical ability
  • The proposed design
  • Environmental benefits
  • Innovation
  • Customer service or ongoing support
  • Ability to deliver on time.

The specific evaluation aspects will be stated within the tender documents. These will vary depending on the buyer, so it’s important to read the specification carefully.

  1. Framework agreement

Sometimes you can find tenders for design work as part of a framework agreement. Framework agreements are multi-supplier agreements used within the public sector to procure a good or service. Securing a place on a framework can help you secure a pipeline of work for your business. They can run for years at a time with some having the possibility of an extension.

Framework agreements are often split into lots with each lot representing a specific good, work, service or geographical location. They allow for suppliers to apply for the specific lots they specialise in. This means a supplier doesn’t have to be able to deliver every aspect of the contract.

Need assistance with your next tender for design work?

We understand that you might not have the time, resources or experience to write a winning response in-house. Outsourcing to bid writing experts can help you win your next tender, securing a pipeline of work for your business.

Our sister company Hudson Succeed, have over 60 years of bid writing experience and an 87% success rate. They offer four bid writing support services that can help you win more tenders for design work. Whether you’ve never tendered before or need your response proofread before you submit – we can help.

  1. A Tender Ready programme
  2. The Tender Improvement package
  3. Tender Writing services
  4. Tender Mentor

Where can I find tenders for design work?

Finding tender for design work for your business can take hours out of your busy day. You likely don’t have the spare time to be searching hundreds of websites and portals for a relevant tender. Many of them post multi-industry opportunities and searching for sector-specific leads can turn into a full-time job!

Luckily for you, we have a time-saving tool that can take the headache out of tendering. Creative Tenders is an easy-to-navigate, centralised portal that hosts all live creative tendering opportunities from across the Creative Industry. There’s no reliance on inaccurate CPV codes!

Our Opportunity Trackers manually search and upload unique, private and public sector opportunities. You’re able to filter and search the results by keyword, budget, location and more. This streamlines the process, allowing you to find the perfect tender for design work.

Below are previous tenders for design work sourced on our portal:

Graphic design commission, Manchester Art Gallery – Platt Hall

Platt Hall- North West- Budget: £6,000

Town Centre Heroes Exhibitions

London Borough of Barnet- London- Budget: Undisclosed

Lelley Fields Crematorium Marketing Strategy and Brand Development

East Riding of Yorkshire- Yorkshire and Humber- Budget: Undisclosed

Restoring Stover Park – Brand and Interpretation Design

Devon County Council- South West- Budget: Undisclosed

Graphic Designer, The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge

The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge- South East- Budget: Undisclosed

A subscription to Creative Tenders can offer your business:

  • Access to all exclusive, public and private sector creative contracts in the UK.
  • An on-hand Account Manager is available to answer any questions you may have about tenders for design work. They can help you understand the procurement process and answer any questions you have about the tendering process in general.
  • A daily email bulletin sent straight to your inbox when new, sector-specific opportunities are uploaded.
  • Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division.
  • 20-minutes of free bid management consultancy each month.

We source opportunities for sectors including;

Book a free live demo with Creative Tenders to see how we can help your business grow 

Want to save even more time?

Upgrading to Discover Elite allows you to optimise your tendering opportunities even when you’re busy. Our two upgraded packages can improve your competitor awareness and bidding success rate. Each can help save you even more time when searching for tenders for design work.

The Ultimate Time Saver package offers your business:

  • A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
  • An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option can help businesses that overlap two industries such as Creative and Technology, for example.
  • Pre-market and award engagement notices monitored on your behalf.
  • Buyer portal management, including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid
  • Weekly phone calls with your dedicated Account Manager to discuss viable creative tendering opportunities.

The Become a Pre-Bid Master package also includes:

  • All of the above.
  • Up to seven tender breakdowns per month.
  • A Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager with a minimum of 5 years of experience. It will also be managed by our Global Bid Director.

Contact us to find out how we can help your business grow.

£500million Scheme Opens for the Film and TV industry

Posted on by Charlotte Jarvis

The Film and TV Production Restart Scheme

It was recently confirmed that the £500million Film and TV Restart Scheme had officially opened. The scheme covers Covid-related insurance costs and is set to support 40,000 UK jobs.

The scheme will provide financial compensation to productions that have been able to restart but incurred additional costs due to Covid-related delays. In order to be eligible for the scheme, at least half of the production budget needs to be spent in the UK.

The Culture Secretary and Chancellor announced that eligible productions could be onboarded within days. They also added that claims could be backdated to the 28th of July, when the scheme was announced.

This Film and TV Production Restart Scheme will be a temporary measure to help the industry kickstart their recovery. However, the original deadline of December 2020 has now been extended to February 2021.

The support has been described as a “crucial greenlight” and “a brilliant initiative” by those in the industry.

“The UK television industry is getting back to work, but has been waiting for the insurance roadblock to be cleared to end the uncertainty over future funding. We welcome today’s announcement from the Government which helps to remove this hurdle and provides us with the greenlight to kickstart our sector and build on the fantastic global success we achieved in 2019.” – Sara Geater, Chair of Pact, and Chief Operating Officer at All3Media.

The UK Film and TV industry

Along with numerous other creative industries, those in the film and TV sector were some of the hardest hit by the pandemic.

In the UK, the industry is responsible for over 180,000 jobs and contributes more than £12billion to the UK economy.

Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, said:

“Our film and TV production sector is respected the world over, filled with talented people. I am delighted that this half a billion-pound scheme will get cast and crews back to doing what they do best. This move will help support tens of thousands of jobs, provide work for creative freelancers and get cameras rolling across the country.”

Other industry professionals have expressed relief as the Film and TV Production Restart Scheme means that the industry can begin to look to its future strategies.

“It is an understatement to say how pleased we are that the Production Restart Scheme is in place giving life back to the film and television industry to provide jobs for freelance cast and crew, turnover for suppliers and ultimately great stories to be seen in our cinemas and on our screens. Without this backing from the Government’s scheme, our industry, which is held in such high regard throughout the world, would have been under serious threat. We have started our own project Mothering Sunday working with the best of UK talent now to secure in their jobs. It is an enormous relief to us and to many people who have been working tirelessly to keep projects alive over the past few months. We would like to thank those who have given their support and to those who have played a hand in reaching this vital and welcome decision.” – Elizabeth Karlsen, Number 9 Films.

New business opportunities for the film & TV industry  

Hudson has been supporting businesses in the creative industry for almost two decades. We understand how the sector operates and how to grow a business within this industry.

That’s why we developed our Creative Tenders portal. The tender tracking system is dedicated specifically to the creative sector.

Our portal is unique because you don’t need to have experience or even knowledge of CPV codes to operate it. We don’t use them. Instead, we use people to find tenders. Our team of manual Opportunity Trackers search thousands of sources to ensure that our clients never miss a tendering opportunity. We also liaise with the private sector, proactively sourcing exclusive opportunities for our subscribers.

Once the tenders have been sourced, they are then uploaded to the system and tagged with industry-led keywords. This means that you can simply log in, search ‘Video Production’ and instantly find all the latest tenders in the UK.

Book a free live demo to take a tour of the system. This will allow you to browse current opportunities and understand how the portal can help your creative business.

Previous tender examples

Below, you will find examples of the tenders we have previously sourced for video, film, animation and production services.

Filmmaker needed
The Anne Frank Trust UK – London – Budget: £10,000

Video Production
Money and Pensions Service – London – Budget: £740,000

Freelance film maker, Portsmouth City Council Library and Archive Service
Portsmouth City Council – South East – Budget: £2,000

New website including corporate video content
Akona Concepts Limited – North West – Budget: £24,999

Provision of Video Production Services
Health Education England – Yorkshire – Budget: £180,000

General Animation Brief
BBC – London – Budget: £40,000

Tender for the provision of Custom Videography Services to the Institute of Technology Tralee
Institute of Technology Tralee – International – Budget: Undisclosed

Photography and Videography
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council – South East – Budget: Undisclosed

Tender for Two Documentary Films
The Playhouse – Northern Ireland – Budget: £50,00

Graphic Design and Animation Services, for City of Glasgow College
City of Glasgow College – Scotland – Budget: £27,000

BBC BITESIZE Starting Primary School
BBC – London – Budget: £4,000

Filming for Dementia Services
The University of Worcester – West Midlands – Budget: Undisclosed

Find examples of our live tenders.

Bid writing for the creative sector  

Our extensive experience in the creative industry allows us to support a multitude of businesses with their bid writing efforts.

Once you have found the perfect tender for your business, it’s time to write the response. We understand that this might not be your forte, that’s why we developed our Hudson Succeed offering.

Hudson Succeed is our bid writing division. Our team currently supports over 700 businesses, globally, and proudly hold an 87% bid success rate.

To ensure that they can support businesses of varying sizes, they provide four dedicated services.

  1. Tender Writing

This is their ad-hoc bid writing service. Tender Writing was designed for businesses who need to write a reactive bid but lack time or resources. Simply send the tender specification to our team and they will take care of the written responses and the submission.

  1. Tender Ready

They know that tendering might be a new avenue for your business, that’s why they created Tender Ready. The package involves the creation of the documents you will need to tender as well as three days of consultancy support. They can write and submit your first bid on your behalf or guide you through two. A 12-month subscription to Creative Tenders is included in the package.

  1. Tender Improvement

Are you already tendering for work but not seeing success? The Tender Improvement package was designed to help you increase your win rate. The service includes a full analysis of your previous tender responses as well as three days of bespoke consultancy. As part of the package, you will also have access to Creative Tenders for a full year. This means that you can continue to source new opportunities and apply your new winning strategy.

  1. Tender Mentor

Tender Mentor is the perfect solution to prevent losing marks due to errors in your content. Our Bid Writers will proofread your tender responses and ensure that you submit an error-free bid that answers the specification and impresses the buyer.

Please get in touch with the Hudson Succeed team for more information or to book a free consultation.

WE SOURCE CREATIVE CONTRACT OPPORTUNITIES IN THE UK FOR SECTORS INCLUDING;

Book a free live demo with Creative Tenders to see how we can help your business grow. 

“THEY ALREADY KNOW WHO THEY WANT TO USE!” – The Tendering Process

Posted on by John Hudson

“THEY ALREADY KNOW WHO THEY WANT TO USE!” – The Tendering Process

We’ve all heard stories about backhanded business deals and brown paper envelopes passed under the table for the decision making to go in favour of a specific business on a particular contract/opportunity.

This is drastically changing for the better, having analysed tender processes now compared to where they were 10 years ago.  We’re not saying this doesn’t happen! We do still live in a world of human interaction (for now).  However, things are getting better and we’re super confident that this will continue.

Here at Hudson Procurement Group we are focused on creating a fair bidding process for all. We’re working hard to make headway with government organisations. Especially into how and why decisions are made when marking tender documents. And also, how buyers issue tender notifications and how to produce a fair Invitation to Tender and Specification document.

"THEY ALREADY KNOW WHO THEY WANT TO USE!" - The Tendering Process
“THEY ALREADY KNOW WHO THEY WANT TO USE!” – The Tendering Process

We like to advise our customers on how they can question the result of a tender notification and the tendering process if they believe they have been incorrectly scored. This does not mean that we’re going to back sore losers and encourage those who think they should have won when in actual fact the right company was awarded the contract.  On occasion, we’re simply pipped at the post and the best man won and we need to take it on the chin and learn from it.

If you truly believe you were not given a good shot, there are a couple of things you can do:

  1. Ask for thorough feedback, and if they don’t provide it then you can question ‘why not?’. If they’re spending public purse, they should spend the time needed to give you feedback against the winning submission.
  2. If they will not provide feedback ask the process for putting in a freedom of information request, this should prompt them into giving you feedback.
  3. If you are still feeling like you’re getting no response, you can contest the decision based on lack of feedback. This means that spending public-purse will be required to complete a thorough internal investigation into how they have purchased the required services/products.

The most important aspect of any ‘rejection letter’ is to look at it logically and ask for feedback, learn from it and make sensible decisions on how to move forward.

Things truly are changing in the world of procurement. We’re going to be central to making sure our customers are given a fair shot when investing the time needed to respond to an ITT.

We’re only ever a phone call away, and we would welcome your feedback on how you believe the procurement process should change to suit SMEs.  If we hear your feedback, we can help shape policy for the better.

See our ‘Rules & Regulations when Tendering’ Blog for additional regulations that buyers must adhere to.

 Want to learn more about the tendering process? We’re here to help you Discover, Succeed, Procure and Invest.

DON’T WORRY ABOUT DISTANCE: We live in a Digital World! – International Tendering!

Posted on by John Hudson

DON’T WORRY ABOUT DISTANCE: We live in a Digital World! – International Tendering!

This is an age-old debate here at Hudson Procurement Group. We’re constantly telling our customers to spread their wings when it comes to bidding for new business and succumb to International Tendering.

Historically, we used to take as much business as we could from our doorstep. It was, after all, deemed easier to deliver logistically and support with brand recognition. It was a major achievement to be a leading regional vendor.

But, things have changed drastically over the years and the government throws hundreds of millions into helping us SMEs to trade internationally. The world and its major cities are so much more accessible and connected with daily direct flights from the UK to the US, Dubai, Australia, China etc., especially for service and product-based enterprises.

We encourage our clients to eliminate any geographical fear when looking for business. We advise you to look at where the work is and look at the logistics of delivery. If it deems possible, then don’t put in place unnecessary barriers that will hinder your company growth.  An international business development strategy should be a core activity for your executive/director team until you’ve established there isn’t any profit in trading overseas.

Here at Hudson Procurement Group, we have over 1,000 clients all over the world. None of which we’ve met face to face, but it’s not important to meet them. We speak with them daily over the telephone, Skype and email. We still deliver the same value-added service regardless if they’re UK based, operate in the US or have their headquarters in India. We too revel in International Tendering!

Our advice when looking at which tendering opportunities are right for you is:

  1. Don’t eliminate any opportunity until you’ve assessed it properly.
  2. Ensure you can make a profit, taking into consideration traveling and shipping costs if this is a required part of the work.
  3. Take a risk! Sometimes these risks pay huge dividends. Just because you’re not based on their doorstep, doesn’t mean you’re not the right provider.
  4. Don’t assume you won’t be chosen just because you can’t pop to their office for a cup of tea. You’ll find that more and more people try to eliminate the number of meetings they have, not increase them.
  5. Seek advice and guidance from your local Department of International Trade. We’ve found them super useful during our research phase of opening our US office.
  6. Give us a call, we’re happy to help and to answer any questions you may have about bidding for work overseas.

 We’re here to help you discover, succeed, procure and invest.

Common Trends in Public Sector Tendering!

Posted on by John Hudson

Common Trends in Public Sector Tendering!

We think it’s safe to say that every year, something new happens in the world of procurement. This is due to the ever-changing landscape that buyers and suppliers constantly find themselves in. Here are, in our opinion, a small collection of common trends across UK Public Sector Tendering as of late:

1. BREXIT

The word coined to fill the hearts of many with either progressiveness or ultimate decline. The word in our opinion is met with uncertainty, especially in the way procurement will be running long-term. It has been recorded that “since Brexit, the total value of tenders has risen”.  This implies that there is more work than ever before up for grabs. However, how long will it last? Well, there are no immediate changes due to the EU regulations being merged with primary UK legislation. However, we can expect a lot more focus on cost-effective supply chains that are held locally, given our potential departures from European partners. Risk assessments and the holistic management of contracts will surely be examined a lot more in technical questions based on the happenings of BREXIT.

2. Modern Slavery

Have you come across it yet? The question on an increasing amount of PQQs which ask if you abide by Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015? What you may not know is that the act contains a clause on ‘Transparency in Supply Chains’, which addresses the role of businesses and what they do to prevent modern slavery from occurring in their supply chains and organisation[s]. As per Section 54, it states that if your organisation has a turnover of over £36 million or more you must confirm adherence. You will then have to publish a ‘slavery and human trafficking’ statement annually on your company’s website. Mainly, to state what you are doing to prevent this. We find that SME’s tend not to worry about this, as it remains non-applicable 99% of the time, but still, it is something that is commonly being asked across the board.

3. Social Value

What are you doing for your community? what environmental aims does your company have? do you work with apprentices? – these are just a few of the questions that are becoming increasingly asked in public-sector tenders. Even if you are the smallest company around, we advise you to think of your corporate and social responsibility and how this is positively changing the world … or at least your local area. Every little helps! – we advise you do liaise with charities, apprenticeship providers, assess long-term goals and ensure that social value (aligned with a local authority and government initiatives) crops up one way or another, as this is becoming a key contribution to finalising scores in ongoing tenders.

4. SME Focus

By 2020, the UK government has promised “big opportunities for small firms” as they are set to spend £1 in every £3 with small businesses/SMEs. One thing a lot of SMEs DO NOT have that bigger companies DO HAVE is experienced and well-educated internal Bid Writing professionals. This means SMEs will see a surge of utilising external support functions to ensure their tenders are of the highest quality. We are one of those companies! Our aim is not to just write high-quality bids, but support you with understanding the procurement world. We’ll support you with:

  •  opportunity tracking (using our elite and secure Hudson Discover platforms, related to each UK industry) tender training (using our upcoming FREE virtual learning environment with regular VLOGs) eventually
  • maintaining/developing your ongoing content for tendering (using Tender Bank).

The increased use of Framework Agreements and Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS) and getting onto these, require rapid and high-quality responses to ensure longstanding work is won and sustained.

These are just a small list of current trends that are recognised as of late. If you need help with writing bids or anything further feel free to get in touch!

We are Hudson Procurement Group and we are here to help you grow, develop and standout!