sales | Government Sales Insider

Reloading Your Federal Marketing Toolbox

March 7, 2013 by Allan Rubin 1 Comment

by Allan Rubin, Vice President, Marketing

My mother likes to complain that my father takes tools from the toolbox and doesn’t replace them, leaving her with a handful of nails and no hammer to drive them. Frustrating, right?

Marketers trying to attract the attention of government buyers face a similar dilemma: tools are getting taken from our tool kits and not replaced. Since my last posting about government event cancellations, we’ve heard of at least two more: the Department of Homeland Security’s 6th Annual Industry Day and DIA’s Defense Intelligence Worldwide will not take place.

Traditional media sources continue to struggle, with editors and reporters being downsized and print magazines continuing to consolidate. The impact of Sequestration cuts on major contractors and systems integrators is unlikely to help this trend as marketing budgets will surely be hit.

Those of us who are active in lead generation (via phone campaigns, email blasts, and events) will surely see conversion rates take a hit as furloughs kick in. What’s the best day or time to call or email someone if they’re not working that day? Will ongoing furloughs, downsizing, and political fights over giving a meager 0.5 percent pay raise break their spirits and drive them out?

Today’s blog post in FedConnects raised a few interesting questions. Among them:

How will government address the need for civil servants and military and intelligence workers to stay abreast of new technologies, innovate and collaborate in order to increase efficiencies and ensure productivity? As part of President Obama’s Open Government Initiative, we are supposed to be operating under an open government mandate that encourages less siloing, more sharing of services and innovations.

How can true transparency and efficiency be achieved if government is restricting collaboration and opportunities for government leaders and industry to share ideas and work on problems?

If your organization relies on you to create demand in the public sector, it’s time focus on finding new tools to supplement the old ones. Will virtual events play a role as live conferences drop like flies? What role will associations play in educating our customers? How about social media driven information sources like GovLoop and Federal Technology Insider? I think it’s time to work some of these into your public sector marketing budgets, in addition to the targeted, local, and low-key events that were highlighted in Market Connections’ recent study.

Speaking of tools, we have a few that can help you make sense of Sequestration and the ongoing budget mess. Our Sequestration Resource Guide provides our take on how to deal with the pending cuts and also points you to market intelligence resources that can help. In addition, we’ve already had hundreds of IT sales and marketing professionals register for our upcoming webinar on Sequestration and the Federal Budget.

With so many tools vanishing these days, make sure you re-evaluate and take advantage of the ones that are left.

Filed under Marketing Tagged with budget, cancellation, conference, events, federal marketing, Federal Technology Insider, government marketing, marketing, research, sales, sequestration, social media, survey, trade shows, webinar

New Research: Best BD and Marketing Practices of Winning Government Contractors

June 8, 2012 by Allan Rubin 1 Comment

by Allan Rubin, Vice President, Marketing

With all of the news about tightening budgets, travel scrutiny, and possible ethics reform, there’s no doubt our business environment is going to be more competitive and restrictive over the next few months (and years).

As the market for winning new contracts and holding onto existing ones becomes more difficult, our friends at Market Connections are about to release some new research on the state of the government contracting community. The results of their new Government Contractor Study will be presented at an event on June 21, and we expect some of the findings to be surprising and informative for government marketing, business development, and sales professionals.

The study will explore what winning government contractors are doing to differentiate themselves. Sample findings include:

How crucial is thought leadership marketing for contractors?
Are companies with higher win rates using more white papers or webinars?
Are winning contractors doing more speaking engagements or writing more bylined articles?

If you’re interested in learning the answers to these questions and more, you should register to attend the Government Marketing Forum’s 2013 Contractor Outlook Event. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn what it takes to be a winning government contractor. immixGroup is proud to sponsor this event and support the Government Marketing Forum. We look forward to seeing you there.

Reserve your seat now.

Filed under Marketing, Sales Tagged with best practice, contractor, federal, government, Government Marketing Forum, Market Connections, marketing, research, sales, study

Smaller Event Audiences are on the Way

May 10, 2012 by Allan Rubin 2 Comments

by Allan Rubin, Vice President, Marketing

We’re starting to hear how the recent GSA event scandals will impact the ability of government employees to attend our marketing events. If you rely on trade shows, conferences, seminars, and other in-person events to interact with your federal customers and prospects, you might want to take another look at your marketing mix.

I’d start by reading the article Jason Miller posted today on FederalNewsRadio.com. The good news, if you can call it that, is GSA employees will still be able to travel to staples like GSA Expo, ACT/IAC’s Management of Change Conference, and other events over the next four months (albeit with specific rules and restrictions). Even with this allowance, approvals will be harder to get, and GSA workers will be encouraged to use other means to communicate.

Miller cites an April memo in which acting GSA administrator Dan Tangherlini announced the suspension of travel to various events unless certain criteria, justifications, and budget restrictions are met. That’s understandable on both practical and political grounds.

More ominous for federal marketers is the specter of GSA’s top-down review of agency operations, which will include a close look at the travel policy. Miller’s sources speculate that “GSA participation in vendor dinners or events will be much lower, maybe by more than half.” So much for marketing ROI.

So far, I’ve only heard specifics about how this will impact GSA employees; the agency has “cancelled more than 35 conferences” already. But I don’t think it will stop there. DoD killed its annual procurement conference. NOAA solicited, and then stopped, a bid solicitation for a magician for its June leadership conference, earning more negative press at a time when government events didn’t really need it. Early reports from this week’s DISA conference indicate lower attendance numbers. We’ve seen this at other recent shows that are not connected to GSA.

We continue to recommend that IT companies take another look at virtual marketing activities and look for teaming opportunities to sponsor conferences, trade shows, and hosted seminars with complementary vendors. We have several programs in place to support these types of initiatives and make it easy (and cost-effective) for our clients and partners to pull them off. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you’re worried about how these changes will impact your marketing spend or lead generation activities.

Filed under Marketing Tagged with audience, budget, cancel, conference, event, federal, gsa, marketing, sales, trade show, travel

Are Your Sales and Marketing Messages Aligned to the Times?

April 30, 2012 by Allan Rubin 1 Comment

by Allan Rubin, Vice President, Marketing

The federal government is a popular punching bag these days. I’m not talking about the poor judgment shown by a relative handful of Secret Service and GSA employees, in scandals that are keeping the journalists, pundits, and special interest groups extremely busy. (Apparently, what happens in Columbia doesn’t stay in Columbia any more than what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas).

No, I’m talking about the budget cuts that are forcing hard-working government employees to do more with less every single day. According to last week’s Commerce Department report on first quarter economic growth, as reported in the Washington Post, federal government spending dropped by 5.6 percent, with defense spending down 8.1 percent, and “those cuts are likely to continue.”

Thankfully, the IT community continues to do pretty well in the face of budget cuts. We know that technology, particularly commercial off-the-shelf products, can often be used effectively to increase productivity and lower costs. The government needs these solutions more than ever before if it hopes to continue doing things like protecting the borders, repairing bridges, fighting wars, and treating wounded veterans with fewer human and financial resources.

We’re urging our clients and reseller partners to keep these realities in mind as they roll out sales and marketing campaigns, whether for lead generation, branding, or awareness. Spend time with your internal product experts to make sure you have a compelling story to tell about how your solutions can increase efficiency and reduce time-to-market for more agile, immediate implementations. Lean heavily on past performance stories within the government. If you’re finding it difficult to get those (not surprising given the recent scrutiny of government/contractor relationships), look for parallels within your commercial business to demonstrate your product’s value in solving challenges that mirror those of your federal customers.

Remember, many of the large, customized, multi-year programs that have dominated in recent years are falling out of favor due to unacceptable cost and schedule overruns. Make sure your sales pitch, collateral, and awareness campaigns reinforce your ability to help a bruised, over-worked, and under-funded customer reduce time, money, and risk. It’s all about doing more with less.