Tag: Social Media Trends

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14th November 2016

5 tips to win when bidding – every time

Over the past decade the amount of business won through tenders has increased dramatically, and so too has the standard of submissions. Assessment panels and awarding authorities have seen a dramatic increase in the standard of content and presentation of bids at all levels, whether it be for a major infrastructural project worth millions of euros or a supply contract for considerably less.

In managing any bid or tender we recommend that you consider the following five points:

1. Be compliant

Regardless of how well written or presented your submission is, it MUST comply with the awarding authority’s guideline. Failure to do so will simply result in you losing points, or even worse, being disqualified.

2. Planning and Team Building

Many bids require the input of a variety of internal and external individuals. Always complete the easy sections first. These are usually CVs, case studies and even accounts. Get them out of the way to ensure your team has ample time on the bid-specific content. Create a spreadsheet that identifies all contributors and set agreed deadlines – and stick to them.

3. Executive Summary

Always include an Executive Summary. The allows you to present wider details about your company and why it is the perfect candidate for the bid. It also provides an opportunity to include Infographics, charts and corporate imagery. The Executive Summary may provide the awarding authority with a sense of your organisation that the clinical answers required in the bid submission does not deliver.

4. Invest in presentation

The standard of material being supplied for tenders has increased dramatically over the past decade. If the awarding body requires hard copies, invest in the presentation by applying good design values to the material. If your in-house people are not sufficiently confident, then hire a specialist, particularly if the prize is worth it.

5. Your Brand

Remember that you’re delivering your brand in any bid, and therefore you need to ensure that it is delivered to the highest possible standard. You should also think ahead, and if you don’t win a specific bid you may be elected for future ones, particularly if the awarding body recognises the quality and depth of your services.

 

Nicholas Cloake MIDI

Bid & Retail Account Director
IDEA

The IDEA Bid Management team is led by Nicholas Cloake (previously of Baseline) who has directed and managed over €2.5 Billion successful tenders over the past 10 years. His experience combined with the creative, marketing and project management resources of IDEA ensures that our clients will enjoy a world-class level of expertise and service.

Check out some other works done by Idea Digital:

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19th October 2016

Solving Problems Through Effective Design

Do you assume design means creating something that’s good to look at? Think again… design is a complex process which encompasses many elements in order to reach the final destination (and final sign off from the client!).

While an essential element of design is to make it aesthetically pleasing, it’s not a single, deciding factor or end goal. By examining and getting a better understanding of what, how, when, to whom the design is benefitting, you gain a better understanding of the brief and create a more effective and accomplished end product. In analysing, and solving all the questions involved in the process, you are contributing to a great design, as well as meeting your clients needs.

Designers are essentially problem solvers, interpreting and clarifying problems through design thinking.

Deciphering design briefs means adopting a different approach to traditional problem solving. A designer needs to not just be methodical, they must also expand to be both flexible and innovative. A designer must examine different perspectives in order to come up with different solutions to meet the client’s needs.

Defining the problem is one of the most important parts of the design thinking process – it gives the designer the right direction to explore. Asking the right questions means you can finally think about the possible solutions. It is important to have several options because a problem will always have more than one solution. You can then decide on which solves the design problem more effectively.

The Breakdown of the Design Thinking made by The Stanford D.School helps to visualise how this process can be utilised:

  1. Empathise – Understanding your audience
  2. Define – Establish a point of view
  3. Ideate – Focus on possible solutions
  4. Prototype – Try out multiples solutions
  5. Test – Find the best solution for your audience

Using this process we can see that defining the problem is just the first step to meeting your clients needs. Understanding that the design is there to solve a question is the first step, you can then proceed to the next steps of understanding, establishing and finding the best solution for your client and audience, and wow them with your designs!

Need help for Branding or Marketing for your business? Contact us

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26th September 2016

Avoid confusion – Our tips for writing a great brief

In our eye’s, the single most important document we use on our projects is a briefing document. When we’re approached by a client with a new project we need to gather specific information which will give us a better understanding of the clients needs. While you, as a client, can easily just jot down some notes and points that the client gives you it is far more productive and organised to have a document that you can fill out along with the client and a list of questions and topics that will guide you in the meeting. Alternatively, some clients decide to write their own briefs which are just as helpful but may be missing some information so you may like to add to it.

So, in saying that, where do you start when writing a brief? Well as the song goes… “Let’s start at the very beginning”…

CLIENT BACKGROUND

If you’re working with a new creative team then it’s a good idea to give them a short background history so they will get a good understanding of you and your business. You should communicate to them what your ambitions are for the business so they can get an impression of your personality and the personality of your business.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

You need to give as much information as you can on the project itself. The deadline for the project is very important and from there you can work backwards as to what stages need to be completed by when. Details such as the objective of the job, your target market, any restrictions the project may have and examples of work you like or dislike which will give them an understanding of their expectations. You also need to let them know if you have any resource materials such as imagery or illustrations that needs to be used in the job.

PROJECT DETAILS

The next step is to determine the specifics of the job. The medium it will be executed in so whether it’s online (i.e. website or social media) or offline (i.e. brochure, packaging, signage, advertising) and all the information for this. So for example if the job was a brochure you need to discuss the size, quantity, how many pages might there be, any finishes you might like such as gold foil or a special paper.

Sometimes you might have fixed idea’s of what you’re looking for and sometimes you won’t, so you will need guidance from creatives on what will and won’t work and what idea’s they might have to best suit the project. By having all the above information first this will help you and the creative team in coming up with a strategy that works for you and your business.

And that’s it! Some of these points might seem obvious but by having them in a structured way in a document before you meet with your creative team will ensure you don’t forget anything and will be fully able to brief the job as best you can. You might find it opens up your mind to other avenues you hadn’t thought of or give the creatives a much better idea as to how the project might develop.

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