The Amtower B2G Market Report

The Amtower B2G Market Report
Volume 3, #29, August 2, 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: The Feeding Frenzy
3) Events
4) One Minute Marketing Clinic: A Guest!

AMTOWER OFF-CENTER OBSERVATIONS

Item: There will be no newsletter the week of 8/9/04.

Item: Most of those I work with in the DC area know that I am a member of the Tower Club. Most do not know that I am on the membership committee. The membership at the Tower Club represents many of the top integrators and resellers, and is an unparalleled networking venue on any given day for breakfast or lunch. It is not prohibitively expensive, and it is a great venue for meetings. If you are interested in membership, give me a call at 301-924-0058 or email me. Or call Ardell Fleeson at 703-761-4250 and tell her I told you to call.

Item: Mark Del Franco of Catalog Age magazine will be conducting a “town hall” style session at the third annual B2G Catalog Summit in Chicago on November 11. “Big D” is a good guy and a great reporter, I am pleased he will be with me this fall. If you use direct marketing, especially catalogs, as a primary marketing tool, there is no better event to attend.

Item: Lisa Dezzutti (Market Connections), David Powell (Federal Business Council) and I did a session at Federal Channels called “Fifty End of FY Marketing Tips in Fifty Minutes.” We actually came up with over 60 ideas and they are posted at www.FBCINC.com and www.MarketConnectInc.com.

Item: According to the Schedule Sales Query page at GSA, there are now 4,696 vendors on Schedule 70. According to the same report, over 1,860 have yet to report sales this FY.

Item: GovSec, now in its third year, had decent traffic, and from initial reports, the right people attended. Heavy slant on physical security, so it is a different crowd than the IT group, but overall a solid event. More to come.

Item: Most of you know Congress adjourned without passing the 2005 appropriations bill, which probably means a continuing resolution in October. These people are as responsible as the television executives (see next item) programming re-runs while fewer and fewer people vote.

Item: Last week the “major” networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX) devoted a mere hour on Tuesday, and no time Wednesday, then an hour Thursday to the Democratic Convention, and plan to do the same for the Republican Convention. Comedy Central devoted more time to the Convention. At least MTV is encouraging young people to vote. In the post 9/11 environment, we could hope for more from the alleged major networks, but I guess the three “R’s”, “reality”, re-runs and ratings are more important than who runs the country. We can assume Dan, Tom and Peter are all proud of their respective “news” organizations. These will be the same guys who will lament about “voter apathy” when less than 55% of the eligible voters participate. Will they point a finger at networks looking for the highest ratings by pursuing the lowest common denominator? Probably not, as their respective “news” programs invariably include updates on their respective “reality” shows, eschewing legitimate content for truly mindless crap. Remind me to send “Thank You” notes to CNN, MTV and Comedy Central.

Not that I have an opinion.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY: THE FEEDING FRENZY

We are now truly in the midst of the end-of-FY spending, the feeding frenzy of busy season. Not only is a significant portion of Federal money spent in these last two months, and lots of advertising dollars are spent chasing it. The Federal market publications are always fatter (and more frequent) in the summer months.

There are more radio spots for the Federal Market during the summer than at any other time of the year. If you are at the Maryland or Delaware beaches, you may see that the planes carrying banners will include government vendors. With more than 300,000 Feds in Washington and another 50,000 in Baltimore, you can count of plenty of Federal employees seeking refuge at the beach on any given day.

The subway stops in Washington usually have some Federal advertising, but in the summer it goes up. And there will be more snail mail and email.

Is it important to advertise before the end of FY? Of course. The question is, is all this money well spent? I would argue that creating and maintaining name recognition is a year-round task, and spending the majority of your money during busy season may not create the same long-term result. I would also argue that many low-cost venues are overlooked in this same period.

The goal of advertising and marketing should be the creation of gravitational pull around your company when your niche is mentioned. If you sell facilities maintenance supplies, how do you get facility managers to think of you first? The same goes for any product or service. Developing a program that creates this pull is a year-round task, and the elements can vary from company to company. Regardless of your niche and the marketing program in place, improvements can be made.

For a different slant on end-of-FY, see Geoff Livingston’s comments below.

If you need an educated outside opinion, I am offering a special on the Federal Marketing Audit. See www.FederalDirect.net.

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: End of Federal Fiscal Year Advertising
By Geoff Livingston, Vice President, Widmeyer Communications, Geoff.Livingston@widmeyer.com

It may be August, but those savvy to the federal market are not resting on their laurels. With end of federal fiscal year looming, frenzied business development executives will be pounding the pavement to get those precious “use it or lose it” dollars that have to be awarded by September 30.

Marketing executives can help their BD counterparts by running intelligent mini-advertising campaigns targeted to federal buyers. But time is running short, and plans centered around end-of-year marketing need to be developed and executed immediately.

Before deciding to execute a federal fiscal year campaign, a company that wants to succeed must use a critical eye and target the effort. Target by agencies or federal verticals (RE: civilian, intelligence, military, etc.), the type of buyer you are trying to reach (executive or mid-level), as well as the right media outlet for the target audience.

One type of end of year campaign helps BD executives who have a deal in the balance, but need help closing. This would be agency centric marketing. Because of Internet technologies it is perfectly legal to target agencies using their IP addresses. Using a targeted email newsletter or a WashingtonPost.com web buy to reach usda.gov or army.mil employees is the most underused advertising tool available to marketing executives in the government arena.

Metro stations near key federal facilities are another good example of targeting. For example, the Foggy Bottom station is ideal for State Department deals. Be careful because monthly outlets like metro stations and Signal have September placement dates in August for creative, so you have to buy now.

Another type of campaign shoots for general use-it or lose-it dollars. Be direct in this type of advertising with an intelligent call to action that offers simple procurement mechanisms. Don’t be greasy, and always maintain corporate dignity.

The most difficult aspect of end of federal fiscal year campaigns is purchasing media on the fly and getting creative done. But media outlets and advertising agencies are ready to help.

“It's not too late to put together a year-end advertising campaign,” said Tania Norris at Federal Computer Week. “[As a weekly publication,] FCW accepts ads 7-10 days prior to the issue date. Most design firms can create a professional-looking ad fairly quickly. Most advertising sales reps can provide design firm recommendations and other options for ad creative.”

And any ad agency can help someone looking to make a campaign happen quickly. Good luck and happy hunting!

**

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

Thanks
Mark Amtower


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