The Amtower B2G Market Report

The Amtower B2G Market Report
Volume 3, #14, April 5, 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: The Customer is King
3) Government Marketing Best Practices Spring 2004 Road Show
4) One Minute Marketing Clinic: Publication Web Sites

Amtower Off-Center Observations

Item: GTSI is rolling out the I Rely On GTSI campaign. GTSI is leveraging its longevity, and tying it back to how many people have purchased from it over the years. This is a significant campaign for several reasons. First, it is the first time in memory that GTSI is trying to define and manage its position and brand publicly. GTSI has been in a default mode for buyers. Second, this attempt is on at least partially sound ground. GTSI is well-known, having been in this space longest, now twenty years. It can be argued that GTSIs name recognition is not all positive, in part because of the lack of brand/position management, and in part because in the early years it was not easy to work with.

Having waited this long to manage the position has led to occasionally changing default tag-lines defining GTSI for the last twenty years. As I point out in Government Marketing Best Practices – and have pointed out for years – positioning can be done by you, for you or to you. The decision is yours. More to come as the campaign unfolds.

Item: PC Mall (MALL) was trading at 15.95 on 3/25/04. It closed April 1 at 20.52. Hmmm.

Item: The MIS Training Institute has an offer for the first 100 attenders of its upcoming Windows Security event: you get free Red Sox tickets. Does this apply to Feds? And does it violate Office of Government Ethics and FAR regulations? And do you think MIS thought to ask these questions before they sent this out? Hmmm.

Item: Apparently one consulting firm is selling a roadmap to IT success in the government market. Beware of any short-cuts! The promotion piece introduces the concept of Feds buying from those who make it easy (which is part of the equation) and then offering to identify the buyers and buying vehicles. OK, so how do you make it easy for them? They forgot to mention Government Marketing Best Practices! They did not mention Federal Channels! They also forgot to mention that growth is incremental. There are no magic eight balls here. It is all hard work, incremental growth, and more work. Are we having fun yet?

Not that I have an opinion.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY: THE CUSTOMER IS KING

Automated calling devices, with automated voices, make me just a little irritable. I receive regular “courtesy calls” from MSBA (MNBA?) auto-dialer. Courtesy calls from robotic devices – how quaint. There are several things I find offensive about this. First, that some lazy, flat-lining marketing executive thinks I have the time or inclination to listen to an automated voice that called me. The second irritant is that they think this could possibly masquerade as customer service. The third irritant is they probably think of themselves as laser-focused marketing brain surgeons.

Gentry Lee, the director of Interplanetary Flight at the Jet Propulsion Lab, has frequently stated you should not send a human to do a robot’s job. Apparently some overzealous marketers have heard this and reapplied the concept. Apologies are due to Dr Lee.

It is little wonder that many – including sales executives – find marketing a less than worthwhile partner in some ventures. The instant gratification world in which we find ourselves seems to demand the mindless, low-cost approach, regardless of actual and residual results. Those who use short-cut tactics are responsible for the “do not call ” and the Can-Spam activity and legislation. Not only do their tactics not work well, they detract from legitimate use of these tools.

The Washington Post ran an excellent story on Sunday March 28, 2004 in the business section titled Customer Disservice”. Although the story highlighted consumer issues, the same applies to both B2B and B2G.

Dell is a good example. Dell moved customer service off-shore, apparently had a ton of complaints, and moved the large business customer service back (see “Target Practice” in http://www.federaldirect.net/newsletter120803.html).

Companies that maintain good or great customer service are going to have a significant advantage not only in customer retention, but in all sustained growth. The word gets around. The word also gets around about auto-dialers, spammers and fax blasters.

According to the annual Buying Habits study from Market Connections (www.MarketConnectInc.com), customer service ranks first in attributes Feds look for in vendors. For two years, I have had Joanna Brandi, the Customer Care Coach (www.CustomerRetention.com), on my Board of Advisors, for both me and my clients. Her easy to use weekly Customer Care series is extraordinary.

Customer service is not optional, and there are chinks in most approaches to this critical area.

GOVERNMENT MARKETING BEST PRACTICES SPRING 2004 ROAD SHOW

If you like this newsletter, you will love this seminar.

The government marketing man in black is going on the road again, five cities in April, and more this fall. More use-able information in three hours than you get from most multi-day events. No platitudes, but the Amtower attitude, with real information in what works in government marketing - and what does not work. Registrations are coming in and seating is limited at each venue - register today!

Government Marketing Best Practices (version 4.1) will be visiting
Vienna, Virginia, April 14
San Jose April 20
San Antonio April 21
Denver April 28
Chicago April 29

This 3-hour seminar covers proven tactics that work in the government marketplace.

best web site characteristics for attracting Feds
eight tips for successful Federal direct mail and email
tried & true methods for event identification, selection and marketing
identifying, creating and exploiting press opportunities
the role of special interest groups and how to find the best one for your niche
and more - with lots of new examples, and audience interaction.

Once again, this will include new material (version 4.1). Our 2004 sponsors are DM News, the Federal Business Council, Federal Computer Week, Government Security News, Carroll Publishing and the Public Sector Institute. If you have suggestions for city selection for the fall, 2004 Road Show, email me!

Over 700 professionals have attended Government Marketing Best Practices since the first session in March, 2002. Register today and find out why!

Information is available at http://www.federaldirect.net/bestpractices2004.html

ONE MINUTE MARKETING CLINIC: PUBLICATION WEB SITES

Regardless of the publication redesigns, it is content that will drive circulation. The same is true of traffic at the publication web sites. Updated content, good links, information targeted to the core audiences is what keeps visitors returning to a web site. There are lessons for vendors here, too. What can your site use to attract repeat visitors?

There are several useful features at the Federal Computer Week site (www.fcw.com). One of my favorites is when you click on a story, there is a box to the right of “Related Links”, usually others stories on the same topic, so you can get closer to the roots of the story.

At Government Executive (www.govexec.com), you can click on the “topic” buttons on the right side (Jobs and Careers, Pay and Benefits, etc) and it will take you to a page of story links as well as links to informative government sites with further information on each topic.

Government Computer News (www.gcn.com) has a combination of the above. Click on any of the “Hot Topics” and you will go to a page with both stories and links (not all topics have links, but many do).

What does this have to do with you and your web site? You can regularly post articles at your site that are germane to your niche. Archive these, but keep adding new ones. Link to the government sites which offer information on your product/service area.

There are many things you should do at your site apart from posting your products, services, and contracts. To attract visitors you have to give them information which helps them justify the purchase: white papers, articles, trend information, whatever you can find.

**

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

Thanks
Mark Amtower

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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