The UK public sector is vast and encompasses governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, infrastructure, public transit, public education, healthcare and those working for the government such as elected officials. Therefore, public sector copywriting requires you to write a range of documents for an audience that is your audience is enormous and diverse, all with their own priorities, challenges, motivations and language. Essentially, copywriting for the public sector is about managing the communications between government organisations, consumers and other parties that are seeking services from them.
Writing well-crafted copy that engages, informs, influences, persuades and motivates such a wide range of people is challenging, particularly when touchpoints are often limited. Therefore, public sector copywriting has to be effective from the very first word, articulate information clearly and concisely and get across the benefits of any initiatives or services without losing the key messaging. To succeed, you need to gain a good understanding of the environment you’re working in, succinctly interpret the information and the objective of the communication, and understand the audience you’re communicating with and any pre-existing viewpoints they may have. Remember, decisions are made on intuition and emotions as often as they are on considered thought. So, it’s essential that you consider what the audience wants to hear and what their decision-making process might be.
Public sector copywriting that wins hearts and minds.
Over the years, I have worked for central Government and written for a variety of public sector bodies including the Department of Communities & Local Government, the Information Commissioner’s Office, Anite Public Sector, The National Health Service, The Cabinet Office, Parliamentary Ombudsman and a number of County councils and local authorities. During this time, I have been called upon to produce content for almost every type of communication imaginable including website content, customer communications, marketing communications, social media posts, policy documents, news stories, press releases, case studies, corporate reports, brochures, leaflets, posters, video scripts, speeches and emails.
