Guidance

Supplier marketing toolkit

Updated 26 February 2021

Supplier marketing toolkit

As a Crown Commercial Service (CCS) supplier we encourage you to promote your position. This will make sure existing and potential public sector customers are aware of what you offer and will help to channel public sector spend through our agreements. This will help to maximise savings for the taxpayer.

We created this toolkit to give you advice and guidance on how best to market your position.

In this pack you will find information on:

• our supplier logo

• press release and communications guidance

• notes to editors text

• case studies

 The CCS supplier logo

You can use our supplier logo to help you promote your position. Materials you can use our supplier logo on include:

• business cards

• email signatures

• presentation slides

• letterheads

• promotional material (brochures, leaflets, emails)

• webpages

• event stands

You should use the logo in line with our brand guidelines and only use the logo where it is relevant. For example, you should not use our supplier logo to promote products or services you may also offer but are outside of your CCS agreement.

Press release and communications guidance

We encourage you to actively promote your organisation to existing and potential customers. The following guidance will help you position the messages correctly.

How to describe Crown Commercial Service (CCS)

• use our full name the first time with CCS in brackets, thereafter you can use only CCS (for example, Crown Commercial Service (CCS)

• Crown Commercial Service (CCS) supports the public sector to gain the greatest commercial value when buying common goods and services

What to say about your agreement

• “[insert company name] have been named as a supplier on Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS) [insert agreement name] agreement.”

• give the full title of each lot your company is named on

• say what customers can access through the lot (check the wording of this with your category manager)

Include the following paragraph in your press release:

Crown Commercial Service supports the public sector to achieve maximum commercial value when procuring common goods and services.

In 2019/20, CCS helped the public sector to achieve commercial benefits worth over £1bn - supporting world-class public services that offer best value for taxpayers.

Promoting your position

When promoting your position make sure:

• you share all press releases and written content about your position with your category manager before distributing them

• we have fact checked all press releases and written content (we need to be aware of what is being issued to potential customers)

• you use our supplier logo when promoting your organisation (this will help to highlight your position to potential customers)

• you use the logo in line with our brand guidelines

• you keep your company profile up to date in the eSourcing tool (this information will also appear on our website)

• you only refer to the goods and services that you offer and are available under the terms of the agreement you have been awarded a place on

• you create case studies to showcase the benefits of the arrangements and the savings customers achieve

• you work with your category manager to create case studies (we do provide a case study template in this toolkit to help you)

Always include specific benefits to goods and services you offer in your actual savings.

When promoting your position make sure you do not:

• use the following words to describe your position (accredited supplier, chosen supplier, endorsed supplier, selected supplier)

• describe your agreement as a ‘contract’

• present the indicative potential spend value in the OJEU notice as committed spend

• refer to your score or ranking in the tender process in any marketing and communications materials (once awarded all suppliers are equal)

• refer to goods or services that you offer but are not available under the terms of your agreement

Notes to editors

Include the following text in the ‘Notes To Editors’ section of your press release:

Crown Commercial Service (CCS) is an Executive Agency of the Cabinet Office. CCS supports the public sector to achieve maximum commercial value when procuring common goods and services.

To find out more about CCS:

visit: www.crowncommercial.gov.uk

Follow us on Twitter: @gov_procurement

LikedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/2827044

Case studies

Take the time to create case studies which show the benefits of the agreement and the savings customers have achieved by working with you.

These will help other customers to make the commitment to use the agreement.

We encourage you to work with your category manager to create your case studies. We provide a case study template in this toolkit to help you.

You should send completed case studies to your category manager. Once approved we will add the case study to our website and use it in our customer communications. You can also use them in your own marketing activity.

End note

We hope you find this toolkit useful and we welcome your feedback. Let us know if you have any suggestions on how to develop the toolkit to help you in your marketing and communications.

Please email your comments and suggestions to: info@crowncommercial.gov.uk

Make sure you include ‘marketing toolkit’ in the subject line of your email.

Copyright

This document and the materials herein are subject to Crown copyright protection under section 163 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.