Case studies
A Leeds agency wanted the Redmayne Bentley stockbroking account and was up against two others. I worked with them on the invitation to tender and the pitch, structuring the response around research rather than assertion: an audit of the current site, SEO benchmark, paid advertising, audience profiles, market position, technology and competitors, with the ITT's objectives turned into high level KPIs. The agency won the contract, valued at over £100k, and the pre-project research that followed produced a digital strategy the board signed off.
A Leeds agency was pitching for a Leeds-based stockbroker, Redmayne Bentley, against two other agencies. Three-way pitches are won on evidence or lost on assertion, and an ITT response assembled in a hurry reads like the latter.
Once the ITT was received we established a team to respond to the various areas of it, with each team member taking responsibility for an area. Deadlines were set to allow plenty of time to collate all the responses, quality check them, and ensure a consistent tone of voice throughout.
The ITT response included high level research across:
Having been shortlisted through the ITT response, we were invited to pitch to the board. The pitch was paper based for the bulk of the information and research, a take away for each attendee, with an abbreviated screen based presentation highlighting the key areas: the objectives and KPIs, the approach, the schedule and the deliverables.
Off the back of the presentation the contract was won, valued at over £100k.
The initial part of the project was in-depth research so the website would be fit for purpose and for the end user: a review of how paid advertising could be used, how to improve the SEO landscape, the content and how a set tone of voice could improve it, what competitors were actually doing, what customers wanted from the website and how they would use it, and a series of surveys to establish benchmarks. Alongside that, creative workshops to establish look and feel, wireframes from the creative feedback, a full creative and branding brief the client signed up to, a functional specification highlighting key pages and a high level technical specification.
The output was a detailed digital strategy document setting out how Redmayne Bentley would be positioned in digital for the next 12 months. It is reviewed every quarter to make sure the strategy is still relevant, because you have to be able to pivot through a delivery as the market changes: just because the strategy was right 6 months ago does not mean it still is.
The strategy was presented back to the board and agreed, which let the project commence with clear deliverables, a creative brief, functional and technical specifications and clearly defined roles on both sides.
A pitch is won in the research, not in the room. Turning the client's stated objectives into KPIs before you are asked, and arriving with an audit, a benchmark and a competitor position already done, changes what the board is choosing between: not three approaches, but one supplier who has already started and two who have not.
The other half is what happens after the win. A strategy signed off by the board, with roles defined on both sides, is what stops a £100k project becoming an argument in month three.
Running a selection from the client side is covered under advise. On the pitch itself, see a pitch day is for probing the gaps.
Arriving with the research already done. The ITT response carried an audit of the current site, an SEO benchmark, the paid position, audience profiles, market position, technology and competitors, with the client's objectives already turned into KPIs. That is a different proposition from three approaches described in the abstract.
Because the research is the argument and a board cannot absorb it from slides. The bulk of the information went in a document each attendee took away; the screen presentation covered only the key points, the approach, the schedule and the deliverables.
No, which is why this one is reviewed every quarter. It sets the 12 month position, but you have to be able to pivot through a delivery as the market changes. A strategy that was right 6 months ago may not be right now.
Most clients begin with a conversation. No pitch, no hard sell.
Just a straightforward discussion about where you are and whether I can help.
Book a free 30-minute call