Most people understand the power of professional networking as individuals, yet surprisingly few recognize its potential on an organizational level. As a public sector employee, you might partner with dozens of other organizations on a regular basis for a variety of important initiatives; but if you aren’t also harnessing the power of those partnerships through strategic digital cross-promotion you’re missing out on a key opportunity to increase your organization’s visibility and better serve citizens.
Last week we explored the first of seven ideas for expanding your organization’s reach from our post “Build your audience first: 7 ways to grow your reach for greater impact.” This week we’re going to take a closer look at the second idea: leveraging public sector partnerships.
Here are three easy tactics to get you started:
Network during sign up
When you make a purchase on Amazon, they always take advantage of that moment to offer you similar or complimentary products. This up-sell/cross-sell tactic has created a huge boon for the private sector, and public sector agencies are now seeing amazing results with a similar tactic: the civic up-sell. Partnering with other public sector entities to automatically cross-promote each other’s services and content during sign-up is a win-win. The GovDelivery Network uses this technique to automatically connect citizens at the moment when they are most engaged with content and services from similar government organizations, yielding a 500% – 1000% increase in new audience members for agencies that participate in the Network.
Take advantage of the footer
Another great place to direct your cross-promotional efforts is in the footer of your emails. Simple, effective, and easy to update, many public sector agencies have seen impressive results from including temporary call-outs encouraging subscription sign-ups at the bottom of their emails. GovDelivery can help your organization connect with similar agencies and customize your email footers to cross-promote for specific subscriber lists, an entire email campaign, or during specific times of the year.
Direct cross-promotion
Taking cross-promotion one step further, some government agencies even send out direct messages to their audience dedicated solely to promoting the digital content of similar public sector partners—and vice versa – resulting in incredible growth and impact. This is especially useful in initiatives that involve more than one agency. For example, an organization helping veterans and an economic development organization can cross-promote content to help place more veterans in local jobs. GovDelivery can help your organization find relevant partners and can oversee the implementation of a cross-promotional campaign.
To learn more about how your organization can increase its digital outreach for greater impact, take a look at our previous post on the topic and keep reading for more in-depth tips and information on each of the seven outlined strategies!
