The Amtower B2G Market Report

The Amtower B2G Market Report
Volume 3, #06, February 9, 2004

(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: Ricin and Mail Deliverability
3) Amtower Advertisements
4) One Minute Marketing Clinic: Email Basics from ENC Marketing

Amtower Off-Center Observations

Item: After the last issue was sent out, our mailing list was compromised by the MyDoom virus. We immediately pulled the file off our server, but the damage was done. I apologize for any inconvenience – but we were hijacked. The list remains off-line until we have a more secure setting. All of our newsletters remain posted at www.FederalDirect.net.

Item: In the February 2004 issue of Inc Magazine, there is a brief article entitled “Barring Prison Labor” regarding the Federal Prison Industries mandatory contracts. As I was starting to write about this, another friend/client sent an email regarding the passage in the “Senate of the $328 billion omnibus bill held over from last year. The measure stalled earlier this week when Republican were unable to secure the 60 votes needed to end debate on this legislation. However, yesterday the measure passed by an overwhelming vote of 65-28. This bill is important to the office furniture industry because this legislation contains the Transportation-Treasury, and General Government Appropriations Act of 2004 (S. 1589), which contains language that levels the playing field with Federal Prison Industries (FPI). Section 638 of the bill eliminates the mandatory contracting requirement that Federal agencies are subject to when it comes to products made by the Federal Prison Industries.”

I suggest that a panel of academics teaching public policy and criminal justice study the FPI mandate to make certain that the goals, which I assume are teaching marketable job skills, are being met. The panel should determine if this program has simply gotten too bureaucratic to serve the needs of those it is supposed to help. It could take testimony from both government and industry, and make a report to OMB and Congress. The National Academy of Public Administration could supervise this project.

There are some truly innovative and helpful government programs (the CASU program comes to mind), and there are those that have lost sight of their missions (GSA Advantage?). We need to be able to distinguish between the two, and act on what we see. If you find a program cumbersome or onerous, tell your elected representatives.

The DOD eMall could be one of these. It is back on my radar as Homeland Security has announced it is going to get a custom version of the eMall. Unless things have dramatically changed since I last heard about this (over a year ago, when I was on the Board of eGov), the DOD eMall was not getting much traffic or sales. DHS would do better to allow their buyers to go directly to vendors sites, many of which are easy to use, and buy from them rather than put another e-layer in the middle. The buyers know the vendors they like, and they share this information.

Not that I have an opinion.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY: RICIN AND MAIL DELIVERABILITY

Mail deliverability may be affected in the Washington DC area due to the ricin incident at the Senate offices. Mail is still being irradiated in the DC area, but this doe not affect ricin. I will attempt to find out what is being done and how it affects mail delivery in the Washington DC area.

I will post information at www.FederalDirect.net as I get it.

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).

Once again, this will include new material (version 4.1). This 3 hour session presents marketing tactics that work in the government market. Since our first session in 2002, Government Marketing Best Practices has attracted over 700 attenders. Many now attend every year – find out why!

Our 2004 sponsors are DM News (www.DMNews.com), the Federal Business Council (www.FBCinc.com) , Federal Computer Week (www.FCW.com), Government Security News (http://www.gsnmagazine.com) and MeritDirect (www.MeritDirect.com).

There will be limited seating at each venue, so reserve your seats at http://www.federaldirect.net/bestpractices2004.html.

ONE-MINUTE MARKETING CLINIC: EMAIL BASICS FROM ENC MARKETING

I’ve listed a couple of basic tips and tricks for e-mail marketing that have helped ENC implement successful campaigns. I’ve also included information on the new CAN-Spam Act of 2003.

Do’s and Don’ts of E-mail Marketing (the basics on how to avoid the spam filters and attract the audience’s attention):

Avoid using “trigger words” in the subject line; e.g., newsletter, news, free, offer, solution, protect, etc.
Avoid using excessive punctuation.
Avoid using red, blue or green text or graphics.
Make sure your call-to-action is strong.
Consider the time and day you’re sending your e-mail (middle of the week and middle of the day are best).
Make sure the content and message are clear and relevant for your target audience.
Keep content short and to the point.
Create a sense of urgency.
Manage your list to ensure accuracy (delete or refresh aged addresses, manage opt-out files).
Create your e-mail so there’s plenty of white space and with easy to read text.
Proof all copy, check all links and send yourself a test in HTML and text format.

Summary of how the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (that went into affect on January 1, 2004) affects e-mail campaigns.

Marketers are required to maintain a Do Not E-mail (DNE) file and suppress names prior to launching a campaign. We suggest that you keep an electronic record that proves that you removed each person from your list.
The “From” line should name the advertiser.
The “Subject” line and message must clearly state the purpose of the message.
The “Message” must clearly be identified as an advertisement or solicitation
The advertiser’s postal address (not a p.o. box) must be included in the e-mail (a phone number can also be included to increase credibility and the level of customer service).
You must provide an opportunity to “opt-out” of future e-mail campaigns.

For more information on how to successfully use e-mail as part of your marketing mix, please contact Eva Neumann at ENC Marketing & Communications, 703-288-1620 or eneumann@encmarketing.com.

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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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