The Amtower B2G Market Report

The Amtower B2G Market Report
Volume 3, #37, September 27, 2004

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In this issue…
1) Amtower Off-Center Observations
2) The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly: Even More on End of FY Advertising
3) Events
4) One-Minute Marketing Clinic: DOD Procurement Stats

AMTOWER OFF-CENTER OBSERVATIONS

Item: Last week’s reference to the new editor at Government Computer News led to several inquiries about current editor-in-chief Tom Temin. Tom is still editor-in-chief and remains involved in all aspects of the PostNewsweekTech government programs. We can’t afford to lose people with his bandwidth. Now, if he can tell me why Newsweek is a FOSE sponsor, I would be really impressed.

Item: Federal Computer Week has the “Federal List” issue (9/20/04), and overall it is a fun read. However, I have two off-center observations. First, putting the Capital Grille ahead of the Tower Club is obviously a misprint. The Tower Club is Power Central for the contracting community. Each time I am there I see people making deals I want to be part of! Second, GTSI as a systems integrator? Are the lines between integrator and reseller becoming more blurred, or is there a GTSI campaign to alter perceptions? Anne Armstrong (publisher of FCW and a very smart lady) usually points out my occasional (?) linguistic lapses. Am I nitpicking? Of course, it’s in my job description. But this issue is really is a fun issue to read, and gave me a stock pick as well.

Item: I mentioned Guy Kawasaki’s “The Art of the Start” in the last newsletter. It is such a good book I am already re-reading it. www.FederalDirect.net/recommendedreading.html. if you have a recent, or classic, favorite business or marketing book, let me know.

Item: The Ad Club of Washington is promoting a seminar called “”Winning Strategies for Federal Contracts: How to Speak ‘Government’ ”. Caveat Emptor – they are going to cover strategies for breaking into the federal marketplace, identifying opportunities and making bid/no-bid decisions, and how to prepare winning proposals – all in two and 1/2 hours! All this and you will “learn to speak government.” And I thought I was good! Think I’ll call Tom Temin and Anne Armstrong so we can get a group rate to this “eye opener” seminar.

Not that I have an opinion.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY: EVEN MORE ON END OF FY ADVERTISING

Some final observations on what is happening at the end of FY.

The Juniper ads I referenced a week or two ago, were the work of ENC marketing, and the team led by my old friend Matt Arozian. www.encmarketing.com

Here’s one I almost overlooked. Cisco (9/13/04) did an email with the subject line “Learn How to Trade In and Trade Up with Integrated Security Solutions” A long line, but enticing, and an good end-of-FY offer. The text addresses “budget concerns” and offers a white paper, and offers a link to the Security Migration Plan” Very clean and very direct. I would rate this effort very good.

Oracle sent out (via snail mail) a “Homeland Security Resource Kit”. The envelope copy read: “Look inside to get your Homeland Security Resource Kit. Includes the IDC white paper ‘First Responders and Beyond’ ”. The 9x12 envelope also had a picture of a uniformed person leaning against what is probably a fire or emergency vehicle. If this is targeting government buyers, my first thought is way too much teaser copy – this will never make it through a military base mailroom (if this is a target audience). Too much envelope teaser copy indicates major ad agency with little government experience, none of it successful. The teaser copy continues inside – there is no “meat” in the envelope. You have to go to the web to get the real stuff. There you have to have an Oracle account and password, for which you can register. There are just too many hoops to jump through, and I would wager the drop-off rate was high. I rate this bad.

EVENTS

September 28, Defending Your Marketing Budget; panel discussion with the lovely and talented Ann-Marie Clark (CDW-G), Jeff Calore (FCW), Patricia Davis-Muffet (Robbins-Gioia) Tower Club, Vienna, VA:
www.encmarketing.com/tower3

October 5, Homeland Security Update 7:45 AM-10:30 AM, Army Navy Club, 901 17th St Washington DC: . DC Tech Council www.dctechcouncil.org. Speakers include FEMA CIO, and excellent panel chaired by John Sanders.

October 12-13 Citizen Services: How to Develop and Integrated Approach to Service Citizens Better, Cafritz Conference Center, GW University, Washington, DC (Foggy Bottom Metro Stop)
www.digitalgovernment.com

October 26-28: Federal Information Assurance Conference (FIAC) 2004, University of Maryland University College Inn and Conference Center, Adelphi, MD. Keynote is Karen Evans, Administrator of the Office of Electronic Government and Information Technology (IT) www.fbcinc.com/fiac

THIRD ANNUAL B2G CATALOG SUMMIT, Doubletree O’Hare (Chicago), November 11, 2004
www.FederalDirect.net. Our speakers include web diva Amy Africa on the latest web innovations, Richard Mackey on GSA, Mark Del Franco of Catalog Age leading a town hall style session with three catalog veterans, and Bill Singleton of Singleton Marketing on profitably mining your data. I will be doing the keynote and the wrap-up session, which will provide catalog “best B2G practices”. For those who use direct mail, especially catalogs, as a primary marketing tool, the third annual B2G Catalog Summit is a “must attend”. It is a one-day event filled with ideas you can take back to the office for immediate use. The event is in a hotel less than 10 minutes from O’Hare, and there will be limited seating (maximum of 75 attenders), so sign up now at www.FederalDirect.net/b2gsummit.html.

2 NSA events coming up in early December, on site at NSA. www.fbcinc.com

INTELCON National Intelligence Conference and Exposition, February 8-10, 2005 Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Alexandria, VA www.fbcinc.com

ONE MINUTE MARKETING CLINIC: LOCAL RESOURCES

Significant Federal money is spent in the regions.

www.GovernmentExpress.com is one of the other Amtower & Company web sites. The first GovernmentExpress eNews got several inquiries about local resource for small companies. There are several excellent resources that are often overlooked, and we also have them listed at www.FederalDirect.net/resources.html. Local Small Business Administration offices can provide good information, as can local GSA offices. The Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTACs) are also good places for information and training. There are over 100 PTACs, and they are usually associated with a University or local economic development agency.

One other local resource is the Federal Executive Boards (www.feb.gov). There are thirty of these throughout the country in major cities, and each has a mandate to coordinate the field activities and programs of various Federal agencies outside of Washington, DC.

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

Thanks
Mark Amtower

The Amtower B2G Market Report is published by Amtower & Company, and is written for companies
targeting the government marketplace. The opinions expressed are those of Mark Amtower unless otherwise noted. Contact us at Amtower & Company, PO Box 314, Highland, MD 20777-0314 (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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