(Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.FederalDirect.net and if you like this, please pass this along to your colleagues. To unsubscribe, email me at amtower@erols.com). Past issues available at http://www.federaldirect.net/newsletterarchives.html)

1) Amtower Off-Center Observations
2) The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: More Quick Hits
3) Amtower Advertisements
4) One Minute Marketing Clinic: .Gov Research

Amtower Off-Center Observations

Item: Tom Peters has a new book out, Re-Imagine! It is well written, thoughtful and thought provoking, and fun. I am in the process of enjoying it, after which I will re-enjoy In Search of Excellence, and maybe a few others. Then I will re-enjoy Re-Imagine! Although this may not directly impact the government market, it has everything to do with the way business is conducted in a thoughtful, proactive and ethical manner. Get it and read it.

The first idea to re-occur to me reading this book is that epiphanies occur to the proactive, not to the lethargic. Actually, they do occur to the lethargic, but when this happens, the targeted recipient of the insight is too complacent to recognize it and they will either roll over or change the channel. American Idle. The proactive would sit up, grab a pen, and shout, "This is cool!" and start writing.

Item: I spoke at Federal Channels event in San Diego earlier this month. As the keynote speaker I was introduced as the "direct marketing to government expert". While this is true (as I do not think anyone knows as much as I do about B2G direct), it is limiting. Over the past decade I have done so much more than direct marketing.

But this is illustrative of the dilemma of owning a niche. Once you are pigeon-holed, evolution/migration to a different space is difficult, and often occurs at a glacial pace.

GSTI, for example, is a government reseller. For several years they have offered services and low-end integration. But to the vast majority of buyers, manufacturers, analysts and others, GSTI is a reseller, not an integrator or services provider.

GSTI will be launching a new advertising campaign soon, designed with positioning and branding in mind. I will be watching and probably commenting. I will be watching other ad campaigns to see what truly rings true, and what clearly falls short. And I will share my thoughts along the way.

And just so you know, Amtower & Company does own mailing lists and consults on direct marketing issues. We also advise on overall B2G marketing efforts, including web, events, space and any other go-to-market tactics, we identify potential partners and make strategic introductions, and provide both public and in-house seminars and workshops on all aspects of government marketing. And I cogitate and annoy people - a real Renaissance kind of guy.

Item: Bill Gates, speaking at a recent industry event, apparently predicted the "end of spam" in about two years. Earth to Bill, I think your sweaters are made with some serious hemp products.

Item: I keep hearing about economic recovery. My personal barometer is ad spending, and I do not see a big pick-up here yet.

Not that I have an opinion..


THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY: MORE QUICK HITS

The Federal Computer Week publication and web site redesign are done and here is my initial take. First, I enjoy the way the magazine ties into the web site. I also like the more readable and more fun-to-read format of the hardcopy. While the web site is easy to use, I think the older version was easier to use and it was easier to find things. The hardcopy is a little larger, and this will make it easier to poly-bag catalogs and other collateral, a good source of revenue.

Beware of publications and events that claim to have support from federal agencies. There are some that do (Federal Business Council and the established publications), but many others are crawling out from under rocks, via telephone and email, claiming direct or "close" affiliation with the Federal government, especially DHS. This sort of technique probably crosses the boundary from devious to criminal, and if any of these weenies are stupid enough to spam me with their offers, I will forward them to some Inspector Generals, then sit back and watch the show.

I received another email from the Homeland Defense Training Conference (really briefing) people, with two interesting points. The first is the THIRD date change. I received the message January 25 telling me the date had been changed from January 20 to 28. Any bets on another delay? In the same message, they off this pricing to attend: "Industry - $295; Small Business ($100 employees or less) - $195:Government - $95". "$100 employees" - hmmm. You may recall that this is the company where you have to CALL to get a web address - hmmm. I do not think anyone is going to steal your ideas, guys, as they do not seem to be working!

And another delay: The Equity International folks (I do not who they are, except they send lots of email) also delayed their "Homeland Security Financing Briefing".

Critical mass for attendance of these long-awaited briefings has yet to be achieved by either of these crucial providers of information. You cannot imagine my dismay.


AMTOWER ADVERTISEMENTS

GOVERNMENT MARKETING BEST PRACTICES will be in San Jose April 20, San Antonio April 22, Denver April 28 and Chicago April 29. Once again, this will include new material (version 4.1). Our sponsors are DM News, the Federal Business Council, Federal Computer Week, and Government Security News.

If you cannot attend the road show, get the audio version of Government Marketing Best Practices at the subscriber discount of $95 (save $30) This three hour session was taped November 11, 2003 at the Tower Club in front of a live audience. It comes with the workbook and is excellent for current staff training, new staff training, and to use for planning your 2004 campaigns. Put "SUB" in the Offer Code box (this gets you the discount) on the order form at http://www.federaldirect.net/gmbpaudio.html

Save $1,495 on the Federal marketing Audit! Until January 30, 2004, we are running a special on Federal Marketing Audits. This does not mean the Audit has to occur in January, but you have to reserve a date by 1/30/04 to get the discount. This is the BEST WAY to benchmark your 2004 Federal marketing program to ensure maximum ROI. Details at http://www.federaldirect.net/audit.html

If you are interested in an inexpensive hardcopy (book form, and it will be inexpensive, $10-15) of the "Best of the B2G Market Report", drop me an email. There have been some inquiries and I need to validate.

Check out our new site, www.GovFacility.com.

ONE-MINUTE MARKETING CLINIC: .GOV RESEARCH

This marks a return to looking at government web sites as sources of information for sales and marketing people. I have about 50 government web sites on my favorite list (I have over 1,000 bookmarked), and among the most important is link

(It used to be http://policyworks.gov/, but that was way too simple, so the GSA web surgeons went to work to hide the site).

This is the site for the Office of Governmentwide Policy (OGP) From here, you can get information on policies and committees that manage several government-wide initiatives, from acquisition, aircraft, e-gov, property, mail, vehicle, transportation, travel and more.

Click on any of these links to find more detailed information on policy, some contact names, other links, and other information.

As always, your comments, questions and suggestions are welcome.

Thanks
Mark Amtower, Berserker

The Amtower B2G Market Report is published and copyrighted by Amtower & Company. It combines our former newsletters into a single, bi-weekly newsletter for companies targeting the government marketplace. Contact us at Amtower & Company, PO Box 339, Ashton, MD 20861-0339 (301-924-0058). This material is copyrighted and may not be duplicated, reprinted or otherwise replicated without written permission of the publisher. EMAIL subscriptions are free by request: sign up at www.FederalDirect.net.

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