The Amtower B2G Market Report

The Amtower B2G Market Report
Volume 3, #28, July 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: IDEAS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
3) Events
4) One Minute Marketing Clinic: PR ADVICE

AMTOWER OFF-CENTER OBSERVATIONS

This is going to be another short issue. A variety of summer activities are taking a toll on my time.

The interview with Tom Hewitt and Dan Young is up, and here is the link. The interview runs about 45 minutes and covers several topics germane to our community. I will be conducting the second interview in the next few weeks with my friend John Sanders. I met John in the late 1980s when he was publisher of Washington Technology. He is the past president of the DC Tech Council and a wealth of information. John advises a number of small contractors and sits on several Boards. His web site, www.JohnSanders.com has some very interesting information, especially is “Parables for Entrepreneurs”. He does not lack for opinions. One thing we will do differently is to break John’s interview up into three or four distinct segments, designed for easier listening.

GSA decided CACI will not be used as a scapegoat in the Iraqi prison scandal. Score one for GSA.

I am going down to GovSec this week. I was there the first year, missed last year, and will be there for year three. GovSec combines physical and IT security into a single event, and they have “co-located” with the US Law Enforcement conference and Ready! (the emergency preparedness ands response conference) to create a multi-government event. My thoughts will be forthcoming. It is at the DC Convention Center this week. The first year was not strong traffic-wise, but I was told by exhibitors there were no tire kickers. I would rather have fewer attenders, but people who influenced any time

The Washington Post reported 7/26/04) GTSI, the government computer reseller, getting the video surveillance contract ($1.7 million to build the system) for the Super Bowl. This is part of the GTSI InteGuard Alliance, “a group of companies that specialize in security products and services.” While this is a big win in the sense that it is the Super Bowl (potentially good PR factor), it is a small contract. It indicates a new direction for GTSI, which has been deploying “tech teams” for a couple years. Is this significant? I don’t think so. First, the dollars are small, and this will be part of a massive security effort for the Super Bowl. Second, this is a crowded category (attend GovSec this week to see some of the players) and it will be difficult to carve a significant niche. If GTSI is happy to go after the small contracts (under $2 million), they can make a go of this. But the larger deals will remain the playground of the larger integrators.

Not that I have an opinion.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY: IDEAS AND CONTRIBUTIONS

I am interested in end-of-FY best and worst, so please send me your suggestions for print ads, email, radio, whatever. I am interested in both the good and the bad, and certainly the ugly!

EVENTS

ITS GOV: Technology Buying at Year End, August 25, Ronald Reagan Building
www.itsgov.com

Third Annual B2G CATALOG SUMMIT, Doubletree O’Hare (Chicago), November 11, 2004

ONE-MINUTE MARKETING CLINIC: PR ADVICE

This is PR advice from a reporter friend of mine, unedited.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that any news organization will print your press release just as you wrote it, or without seeking other points of view. That almost never happens, and if it does, it will be in a brief. News organizations are not in the business of being a free extension of a company's marketing efforts. If you want to control the message, buy an ad.

If you pitch a news or feature story, you should do it with the knowledge that a good reporter will seek to serve his audience (not you), and that the final product may not bear much resemblance to what you had in mind. Good PR people know how to offer good ideas that their clients can play a role in; bad PR people think they can tell reporters what to write and have it appear just that way.

Don't agree to an interview and try to move some part of it "off the record" after the fact. That has to be agreed on before you speak, not after. If you are about to answer a question and say "Can we go off the record for a minute," most reporters will agree and honor that. If you say something and then say, "That was off the record," that's too late. Some reporters will accommodate it, especially if it wasn't a crucial piece of information, but there is no obligation to.

And never ever ask to see a draft of the article before publication. No good reporter will ever agree to that, for two main reasons. Number one, we don't want there to be even a hint of appearance that we're allowing the subject of a story to control the overall shape of the story ... You control what you say in your interview, and that is as far as it goes.

Number two, it is an affront to the reporter's professionalism. When you agree to be interviewed, you should have already decided that you trust the reporter and the organization the reporter works for enough that you are not worried about being misquoted or misunderstood.

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

Thanks
Mark Amtower


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