The Amtower Report

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In this issue:
1) Amtower Off-Center Observations
2) The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Pedigree
3) Events Worth Attending

AMTOWER OFF-CENTER OBSERVATIONS

Item: I keep hoping for great things from Government VAR, and I no longer know why. Several pages of the current issue (only 24 pages) were devoted to an interview with that great channel champion… Newt Gingrich. I think Gingrich is an interesting guy, but if Government VAR is supposed to focus on government channel issues, I can think of 4 or 5 thousand other people I would rather hear from.

Item: I have been asked for my thoughts on the most momentous event for 2005 in our market. My choice is a non-event: Best Buy not getting a GSA. After much hoopla, a series of ads in GCN and FCW, and, oddly enough the BB GovEd President being interviewed in Government VAR, no Schedule was awarded. While there has been no news forthcoming on WHY BB passed on GSA, I will speculate. Does trade compliance come to mind? Or margin erosion? Or perhaps the idea that government employees might not pick up their orders at a local BB store?

Item: Our latest site, www.GovernmentExpress.com, is up and running. There are some great audio interviews up from some of the top people in our profession – Alan Balutis, Bob Davis, Lisa Dezzutti, Chris Dorobek, Wayne Freeland, Bob Lohfeld, Richard Mackey, Valerie Perlowitz, and David Powell, with many more coming. Take a look – and listen (click on GE Radio) - and let me know what you think.

Item: Fair Warning – there are several ad agencies that have registered my name as part of their Google adwords program. While I certainly understand their desire to use my name instead of their own (yes – a cheap shot, but they deserve it), if I see those ads pop up during my Google searches on Amtower or Mark Amtower, I will remove these agencies from any and all future recommendations, regardless of what I have done with them in the past. Cease and desist, or be eliminated from being anywhere near my circle of influence. First and only warning.

Item: David Nadler of Dickstein, Shapiro Morin OShinksy has been appointed as outside Legal Counsel to ACT and IAC.  He will be working with Ken Allen and the Board and responsible for managing the legal affairs of the association. This is a good move – Nadler is a talented guy.

Item: Major differentiator. I needed a special type of envelope for a targeted mailing I am doing, so last Monday (around 3 in the afternoon) I went to the www.Uline.com web site where I can get these envelopes. I placed my order and chose regular UPS, not 2 day or overnight. The 4 boxes of special envelopes were at my home office within 24 hours, followed by a Thank You email that night. This is a radical differentiator for marketing messages.

Repeat Item: Attention All on the East Side of the Potomac! February 23 is the first time I will host a seminar in Maryland. You do not have to cross the river to attend, unless you are attending FROM Virginia! The seminar will be in Clarksville (Howard County, not Clarksburg, Montgomery County) in Claret Hall in the River Hill Shopping Center (near the intersection of Rt 108 and Rt 32). This is the first presentation of Government Marketing Best Practices, version 6.0, and it will be video taped. The video will ONLY be available in the members section of www.GovernmentMarketingBestPractices.com. This updated session will incorporate the feedback I have received from too many sources to recognize individually.

Item: I have been asked by several people what I think of the Google capitulation to Chinese dictators. I love Google as a tool. However the leadership at Google, in capitulating to a repressive regime, is the latest example of short-term thinking by those more concerned with immediate gain than long-term stability. If you think the Chinese are going to evolve into a real ally, get a grip. We have a better chance getting Osama to a baseball game.

Not that I have an opinion.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY: PEDIGREE

A long time friend and GSA Schedule vendor of networking products emailed me asking my advice on something called GSA Monthly ( www.GSAMonthly.com ), an alleged advertising outlet for reaching the government market. Part of the pitch from these people was that they, too, are a GSA Schedule vendor. They gave their GSA number, so I looked them up. As a Schedule 541 vendor (the media and marketing services Schedule) for at least two years (I ran sales reports for FY 2004 and FY 2005), they have done exactly $0 in sales – for both years

My advice to my friend was: they do not seem to be able to market themselves, so how can they say they know how to market you? The business plan is not necessarily bad. They have a directory, a publication, press release program, and an email program. What they do not seem to have is traffic. While they say the actively market to 150,000 government buyers, what they do not say is how they do this. Perhaps the Vulcan mind meld, fingers to computer screen?  If they were successful in reaching this audience, I assume they would have GSA sales of their own.

This leads me, once again, to the issue of pedigree. These guys put their GSA Schedule number on their email – probably assuming this would lead to affinity. With me, it led to investigation, and the results are obvious. If you cannot sell yourself, how can you sell me?

We have seen it before with coffee table tomes supposedly delivered to Key Decision Makers Throughout Government and other nebulous alleged information providers.

Telltale signs:

If you have been in this market a while, and have not heard of them, be suspect;

If they do not provide success stories with people you can talk to, be suspect;

If they are unclear on how the information is distributed (hint: email will not work), be suspect;

If they are a publication and are not audited by BPA, be suspect;

If they fail 3 of 4 of the above, hang up.

Not that I have an opinion.

Beware of the schlock vendors, producing minimal value events, events that eat your money with no significant return! The events listed below are among those I think are worth your time, money and effort. Just because an event is not listed below does not imply it is not worth attending. If you want my opinion on a specific event or producer, call me. This topic is addressed more thoroughly in the members section at www.GovernmentMarketingBestPractices.com.

February 15, 2006 NSA/OPS 1 Building (Day 1), Fort Meade, Maryland In-Agency Event, www.fbcinc.com

February 22, 2006 NSA R&E Building (Day 1), Fort Meade, Maryland In-Agency Event, www.fbcinc.com

February 23,  GOVERNMENT MARKETING BEST PRACTICES – First Maryland Session EVER – Claret Hall, River Hill Shopping Center, – Clarksville, Maryland, 8:00AM – Noon. (session starts at 9:00) www.FederalDirect.net/gmbpfeb23.html

February 23, 2006 NSA R&E Building (Day 2), Fort Meade, Maryland In-Agency Event, www.fbcinc.com

Feb 23-24 EARNED VALUE MANAGEMENT: Measure Results and Manage Performance, Cafritz Conference Center, George Washington University, Washington, DC. http://www.digitalgovernment.com/

February 28 - March 1, 2006 FAA IT/ISS Conference, Denver, Colorado www.fbcinc.com

March 7-9, 2006: FOSE www.FOSE.com 
This will be the thirtieth anniversary of FOSE.

April 18, FEDERAL CHANNELS, Denver www.fbcinc.com  If you have not been to a Federal Channels event and you are in the Denver area – attend this event!

APRIL 19, 2006, Tower Club, Vienna, VA. Amtower & Company presents the one and only Amy Africa and THE ULTIMATE B2B WEB SITE MAKEOVER. For those of you who do not know Ms Africa, she is perhaps the most sought after web consultant in the world, and we have sixty seats available for her first ONE DAY session focusing exclusively on maximizing the impact of B2B and B2G web sites.  www.FederalDirect.net/ultimatewebsitemakeover.html

April 20, 16th Annual OSDBU Procurement Conference, Upper Marlboro, MD http://www.fbcinc.com/event.asp?eventid=Q6UJ9A00AJ0N

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

Thanks
Mark Amtower

The Amtower 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