1.) Position Your Product or Service. Define what is the essence and inherent value of your product or service. What are its benefits to the customer? What attributes make it different, better and more desirable than the alternatives?

2.) Research and Analyze Your Market. What is your marketplace? What is your current position in your marketplace? Who are your competitors? What do they do better than you? What do you do better than they?

3.) Define Your Target Market(s). Gain a complete understanding of your existing customer base, your potential customers, and their needs and wants - who, what, where, when and why. 

4.) Define Marketing Objectives, Strategies and Mix. Based on data collected and key findings, define reasonable objectives and a strategy for achieving them that combines minimal risk with the most efficient use of resources. Your strategy should define an appropriate "marketing mix" consisting of these four principal elements:
Product - life cycle projection
Price - strategy for pricing based on product life cycle, demand and competition
Promotion - including brand & corporate identity, packaging, web site, printed collateral, advertising, public relations, trade shows, direct mail, sales promotions
Place - distribution channels for your product/service

5.) Develop a Marketing Calendar & Budget, based on a strategic marketing plan. Develop a timeline & budget for implementation based on the completed research, key findings and marketing strategy. Commit to it completely.  Piecemeal efforts are a waste of time and money. All other things being equal, consistency and persistence is what wins the day. The best marketing plans will incorporate many of the tools of marketing, beginning with public relations as the foundation - as this tool provides the greatest 'bang for the buck' - and adding  web-based public relations and marketing, direct mail, customer outreach, webinars, seminars, trade shows, etc., guided by the goals and objectives to be accomplished as well as by budget considerations.

Marketing to the federal government presents some unique challenges and opportunities. 

The government marketplace offers tremendous opportunity to innovative high-tech companies. The 2003 federal budget allows for $53 billion in IT spending: that's an increase of 9.5 percent over the previous year. In fiscal 2004 it's expected to increase by another 6 percent, and again in 2005. However, along with this increased spending is a heightened sense of fiscal responsibility. Throughout the government - military and civilian alike - executives are under pressure to do more with less. That said, the government marketplace can be lucrative if you understand its unique requirements and market yourself appropriately. 
 

Understanding the Federal Government as a Customer

Understanding your customer is an important step towards effectively communicating the value of your products and services. There are three key differences between government markets and commercial markets, differences you can act on to improve your success.

1.) Efficiency. Government agencies are not driven by profitability or the bottom line. They strive for efficiency. How will your product or service help them do more with less?

2.) Uniqueness. All government agencies feel strongly that they are unique, and they are. The responsibility is upon you, as the person hoping to sell to them, to:
-- learn about the government marketplace as a whole,
-- learn about the specific agency and division you want to sell to, and 
-- understand what they do, their specific challenges, and how your product or service can provide a solution for these challenges. 

3.) Procurement. The procurement process is significantly different in the government space: it is designed to protect against bias and ensure equality with the end result that it is more comprehensive, more complex and more challenging to the sales process. In addition, government agencies are huge enterprise organizations with many different decisionmakers for various programs and offices. This often makes it difficult to target who your salespeople should be calling on, and where your public relations and marketing efforts should be targeted. 

Smart government agency executives champion solutions, not products or services. They embrace those vendors who can clearly communicate how their products or services provide solutions to their unique challenges. 
 

How to Reach Your Potential Federal Government Customers
Government executives look to organizations, publications and Web sites that serve their space for solutions to their specific challenges. This is a tremendous advantage as these venues provide the opportunity to focus on a captive audience. 

There are several organizations that serve this important space. There are two that Advice Unlimited considers the "must-join" organizations in this close-knit market:

-- IAC (Industry Advisory Council), which is a public-private partnership under the Federation of Government Information Processing Councils; and 

-- AFCEA ( Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association), which is the military IT association. 

Join these organizations and appoint someone in your company to become active in each one. This is a great way to learn the ins and outs of this market and to meet many of the industry shapers and influencers as well as potential customers.

There are several key trade shows for the government marketplace: 

-- FOSE, TechNet, and E-Gov are the three biggest that are held here in the DC area. E-Gov also offers valuable solution-specific conferences during the year that are of great value. 

-- NCSI is a major sponsor of tabletop shows. These are small, very focused events within specific agencies that allow you to reach the program managers and key decisionmakers. They also now sponsor two homeland security conferences a year: one is in January in Las Vegas and there will be one next June in Philadelphia. 

These are some of the best trade shows and events you can attend to reach your target audience. They are clearly defined by solution and audience. This is where you should be spending your trade show marketing dollars.

There are 6 "must-read" publications. This is where you should be advertising and this is where you want to concentrate your public relations efforts: 

-- Federal Computer Week
-- Government Computer News
-- Washington Technology
-- Government Executive
-- Signal 
-- Military Information Technology. 

Other important publications that serve this market are: 

-- Defense News
-- Federal Times
-- Armed Forces International Journal
-- Army Times
-- Navy Times 

All of the publications that serve this market are worth investigating: the Government customer reads these publications and uses the information to help make buying decisions. The top six have the broadest reach, but you should investigate any publication targeting a specific audience for a unique solution or pitch.

Use these publications and organizations effectively.

Make your ads and collateral count by designing them appropriately, targeting the government decisionmaker. That means focusing on the solution you provide: explain how it enhances service to the citizen or support for the warfighter. 

Use these publications and organizations effectively from a public relations standpoint, as well. Public relations is an extremely powerful tool in the government because your decisionmakers really read the government publications and use these publications to help them make purchasing decisions. And the reporters and editors understand the value of public relations professionals and are receptive to ideas and information from this source.

The most effective public relations effort is a consistent effort throughout the year, which focuses on highlighting customer success stories, establishes your company as a thought leader in specific areas of expertise, and ties in your company and your company's offerings with trends in the government marketplace. A professional pr consultant that works with the government space can help you with such an effort; the results will be significant. Advice Unlimited has delivered a minimum 3-4X ROI for all of our clients throughout our 20-year history.

Government agencies buy products and services throughout the year through several channels including long term projects that involve RFPs and competitive bids and can involve commitments over several years,  purchases through the GSA Schedule, and  IDIQ (indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity) contracts, among others.

They are consistently, throughout the year, looking at how to solve different problems. The most effective public relations, marketing and sales efforts are consistent throughout the year, proactively communicating how your solutions solve the government's real problems.

That said, there are cycles to selling to the government, particularly for commodities. As you know, the government fiscal year runs from October 1 through to September 30 each year. Government agencies get a budget for the year and they cannot overspend; they also want to spend the total budget, as anything that's left is lost and could mean a reduced budget for the next year. So many agencies are careful and frugal with the budget at the beginning of the year, focusing on programs and materials they absolutely need and then start spending more aggressively in May as they see what they have left in the budget. The most aggressive spending is usually May through August, when everyone goes on vacation except for those lucky suppliers who are processing all of those last-minute orders! Because of this cycle, all of the major trade shows are May through July, and many of the more significant campaigns kick off in that time frame, with planning beginning in January and February to maximize opportunities.
 

The Bottom Line
If you want to successfully sell to the government marketplace you must make the commitment: 
-- Understand its unique qualities and invest the time and resources to make it work. 
-- Expect a two-year ramp-up for sales, as the procurement process is much slower than in the private sector.
-- Do your homework and learn the unique needs and challenges of the specific agency(s) you wish to do business with. 
-- Keep your eyes on your objective: the government is a great customer. They always pay their bills, their checks never bounce and you can take pride in the fact that your technology is providing a needed solution that improves our nation's services and standing.

It is well worth the investment of time and effort required to sell to this important marketplace. I recommend it highly.