The Amtower B2G Market Report

The Amtower B2G Market Report
Volume 3, #25, June 27, 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)

In this issue…
1) Amtower Off-Center Observations
2) The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Focus on PR
3) Events
4) One Minute Marketing Clinic: Even More on Dunkin

AMTOWER OFF-CENTER OBSERVATIONS

Item: It is not my job to educate the voluntarily or otherwise willingly ignorant. As busy season gets moving, more and more people call or email me regarding email lists. We have over 250,000 Federal records in our database snail mail addresses. We do not sell or rent email data for a simple reason: the likelihood of it getting through is minimal. The Federal Webmasters have been dealing with this issue for several years, and though the spam filters are set differently, they all contain these elements: size of email, attachments, volume from specific ISP, volume from ISP in a defined time period, ISP identified as spammer, and others. Set off any of these, or worse, a combination, and you are toast. Snail mail still works, especially outside of Washington, DC. Email is a very iffy proposition – even if you have an “opt-in” list. Government marketers becoming more reliant on email as a primary marketing tool will find their marketshare eroding.

Item: Interesting tidbits from report of the Civilian and Defense procurement councils: Federal agencies spent $321 billion in FY 2003, 60% of which were services (from Washington Technology). That is a sizeable chunk of bucks.

Item: The Third Annual B2G Catalog Summit will be held November 11, 2004 at the DoubleTree O’Hare (Chicago/Rosemont). This is the only event for B2B catalogers and other B2B direct marketers targeting the government market. Full details will be up at www.FederalDirect.net within a week, but if you are interested, register early, as we will limit attendance to 75.

Item: Cancel those tickets to Las Vegas. This will beg the question about when my FOSE 2004 Off-White Paper is coming, but Comdex 2004 has been cancelled, supposedly to return next year. My Off-White Papers (3, 3.1, and 21) deal with government trade shows. www.FederalDirect.net/offwhitepapers.html

Item: Another call came in from someone looking for Federal contracting officers. A good source for these names is Carroll Directories – www.carrollpub.com. Carroll Publishing has been around for years They offer hardcopy directories, online directories, and agency org charts. They have the directories for Federal HQ, Federal Regional, State, County and Municipal. Talk to Tom Johnson or Gordon Peil (800-336-4240) and use my name for a 10% discount. These are good references and should be part of every company library.

Item: You may have heard news lately that legislation was considered about bumping Accenture from the $10 billion U.S. Visit contract due to the fact that Accenture moved offshore to avoid paying U.S. taxes (see Off White Paper 19, www.federaldirect.net/offwhite19.html). The House, in its infinite wisdom -and with Accenture campaign donations dropping from selected Congressional pockets – voted against this action. Apparently some of the money they do not pay in U.S taxes still finds its way to the Hill.

Not that I have an opinion.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY: FOCUS ON PR

I have gotten a fair amount of press over the years, and I work hard for it. If I get a call from a reporter on an issue where I am borderline, I suggest a couple other sources and help the reporter make contact. Although the person I referred them to may not acknowledge this, the reporter always remembers, and I move higher on their list. There is nothing you can do for yourself that provides the credibility of being in an article that serves the market your are in.

This is the fourth article where I have asked some industry veterans for their views. The complete article, with comments from several sources, will be posted at www.FederalDirect.net next week. The following comments are from Fern Krauss (301-424-9140), who I have used for years as a press advisor.

If you ask most people what public relations is, many will respond, “free press.” (Translated: “We send the release and the publications print it.”) Several years ago, before e-mailing releases became popular, I was the volunteer publicity director for an upcoming organization. Another officer in that same organization took me to task because the Washington Post hadn’t printed the release I sent out. “But you sent it,” she said indignantly. The disconnect at that time is the same as now; sending a news release is never a guarantee that it will appear.

If you are considering a public relations or strategic communications effort, it’s important to first do a “reality check”. The reality check consists of asking yourself (and answering) a series of questions. “What do I want the outcome to be?” Some still answer, “I want to be on the cover of choose one Business Week, Federal Computer Week, Time Magazine, Washington Technology, etc.). It’s logical, what I offer is the best kept secret in town.” Maybe so, but…

“What do I know about how what offer fits into the market?”
“What do my customers think about my product/service/solution?”
“What do I have that my competitors don’t?”

The most important thing to remember is that getting the attention of the press does not happen with one appearance (paid or earned) in any publication. Public relations must be integrated into your overall marketing and communications strategy and conducted as a campaign over time.

EVENTS

TAKING ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE TO THE NEXT LEVEL: Implementing EA to Effect Organizational Change, July 13-14, 2004 EA Boot Camp July 12, 2004 www.digitalgovernment.com

FEDERAL CHANNELS: Selling and Marketing to the Government
Date: July 19, 2004 Time: 8:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
Location: Fairview Park Marriott, Falls Church, VA

The Federal Marketplace has undergone significant change in the past few years. Federal Channels 2004 will feature sessions on the most recent changes to the federal business environment and the best methods for using those changes to your advantage. This is a really good informational and networking event, with something for people of any skill level, novices and professionals alike. The FBC staff spends lots of time putting together a good program, and they always have great presenters. See full details at http://www.fbcinc.com/federalchannels/default.asp

ITS GOV: Technology Buying at Year End, August 25, Ronald Reagan Building
www.itsgov.com
This is the first year for this event, and I have been invited to moderate the day-long marketing. I am looking forward to this as I get to meet Pat Wood of the Federal Communicators Network, see some old friends like business development master Bob Davis of CACI, Eva Neumann (ENC Marketing) and Toby Reut (CMA), and meet some new people as well.

ONE MINUTE MARKETING CLINIC: Even More on Dunkin
Here’s a Dunkin story from Jay Horman of CDWG.

This weekend while traveling to Philadelphia, I went to Dunkin Donuts to buy my family some breakfast. I waited in line, picked out some donuts, milk, bagels, cream cheese and even some donut holes for later. I then went to pay, but they didn't take credit cards. With no ATM in sight, I just turned around and left to hit the grocery store. I was OK with that so long as I make a future mental note that "DD is much like McDonalds or Taco Bell" – a cash business.

If they want to compete with $tarbucks, they might want to start by taking credit cards. The adventurous Starbucks regular that ventures in to DD to try the new Lattes will be sorely disappointed when their plastic money isn't welcome. Their risk will not be rewarded. So agreed, DD is doomed to fail at this effort.

I bet some DD's take credit cards, but obviously not all do. But I would bet a lot of $$$ that ALL Starbucks take cards.

I'm not in marketing, but one of the keys (to me) is the ability to deliver on the whole package. MY company does a decent job of that, and I've worked at places that haven't. DD offering high-end lattes breaks down at many points "where the rubber meets the road":
- pink and orange don't go with expensive coffee
- donut holes don't go
- lower rent locations don't go
- and not accepting credit cards CERTAINLY doesn't go.

DD might be lauded for branching out. But if I were them, I would sooner attempt to capture lunch or dinner $$$s that DO fit their image, rather than capture MORE BREAKFAST dollars that DON’T.

I find this germane to marketing to the federal government as I write proposals where I have to present my company to potential government buyers. It is my job to convince them that the marketing we do is for real and that we can accomplish their goal. DD, right off the bat, would have a hard time convincing me that their Latte is worth the "value add" that a high price expects.

It is amazing that they have such a High Idea that will fall apart literally at the point of sale. I mean, I could smell the donuts I was about to buy - but then was denied. Very harsh!

**

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

Thanks
Mark Amtower


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