Not too long ago, John and I had the opportunity to go to the Tower Club and spend a few hours participating in Mark Amtower’s Government Marketing Best Practices seminar. If you ever get the chance to go to one of his seminars, I highly recommend it. Not only is he full of useful information, but he is also a highly engaging speaker.

Without giving away all of his secrets, here are a few take-aways from the seminar:

1. Know your target market: What do they read, what events do they attend, and what organizations do they belong to? These are the areas in which you should focus your efforts.
2. Build a solid foundation of supporters first: It’s better to have a loyal contingent in one agency than a mere smattering of followers in several agencies. Build a strong foundation in one agency or department before branching out.
3. Nurture your network: People in the government space switch jobs often, so keep track of your loyal customers, reach out to them often, and they may just bring your business with them next time they make a move.
4. If you host an event, feed people: You may host a brilliant event, but if you don’t feed your attendees, they will like the event a lot less than if there had been donuts. (Mr. Amtower does tend to follow his own advice, so you can expect some goodies if you attend an event of his.)

For more information about Mark Amtower, his publications, and events visit www.federaldirect.net.

Thank you to everyone who joined us in July for our webinar, “How to Create a Competitive Advantage Using Market Research”. We hope you found it very informative. During the broadcast, we welcomed questions from listeners, but because of time were unable to answer all of them. Below are two viewer questions about research that we’d like to take a few moments to answer now.
Q: How can one calculate the cost versus benefit of market research?

A: This question relates squarely to your objectives.
• How much are you investing to bring that product to market?
• How much are you spending on the marketing campaign you plan to implement over the course of the next 12-18 months?

Consider these factors and then set a portion of that budget for research.

A companion issue to the above is not only to conducting the research, but also to paying attention to the results. For example, one client ignored the results of a study we conducted that showed several flaws in the product they were planning to launch. They launched it anyway, and unfortunately, that company went out of business months later. Consequently, it’s not simply a matter of budgeting for research, but of understanding that the research may reveal issues that must be resolved prior to launching the product or service. This means that resources and flexibility in the launch schedule should be built into the larger marketing plan.

Q: How do you get hard to reach public sector customers to participate in research studies? What methodology is best for reaching these customers?

A: The public sector is a tough audience in general, but it’s an audience we specialize in, with 80-90% of our studies targeting this sector. Market Connections has worked hard to build a reputation of honesty and integrity, and our vast experience has made ours a name public sector respondents can trust.

Our experience has shown that telephone surveys are more effective with this audience than online. This is the case for a few reasons. Mainly, we’ve seen online results drop dramatically since 9/11, and especially in the past few years. Public sector employees are inundated these days with email, and also have a number of filters on their PCs that may further hamper messages getting through to them. Another issue is that with online research, you cannot control who is responding to your survey. For these reasons, we recommend an online methodology only for specialized studies in specific cases.

Through experience, Market Connections has learned that to reach public sector employees requires persistence. It is often the case that the first person contacted is not the one we need to speak to. Also, it’s important to use interviewers trained not only in eliciting responses during the interview, but also in the right outreach techniques, and who are capable of the special handling public sector respondents need.

Did you miss the webinar’s original broadcast? Watch it online NOW!

In today’s world, many professionals rely on email—a quick and convenient communication tool—as their chief form of communication. Personally speaking, I use email daily to keep in touch with almost all my clients and vendors. With so many messages going out—sometimes as many as a hundred a day—it is important to always keep in mind the proper etiquette for business emails.

Here are a few tips and tricks we at Market Connections use to send effective emails with a positive impact:

1. Re-read your message before sending it. Just step back and take a moment to consider your wording, and who the message is going to prior to clicking send.
2. Still not sure about sending? Ask a colleague for their thoughts. If you are still unsure about the impact of your message, get a trusted colleague to critique the message for you. A few moments of help up-front may save a lot of time spent apologizing after the message is gone.
3. Can you reach out to the person more effectively in person or over the phone? Face-to-face and over the phone communications can be more timely, more personal, and much more effective than back-and-forth emails.
4. Stop and reconsider all forwards. Jokes and cute stories may be amusing fare for friends and family, but keep your business contacts strictly business.

Want more tips and tricks to send great emails? Check out Send: The Essential Guide to Email for the Office and Home, a book dedicated to making emailing easier, written by David Shipley and Will Schwalbe.

We want to hear from you! How important is email in your daily life? What tips do you have for improving email communications? Leave a comment to let us know!

Don’t miss your chance to join our friend Mark Amtower at the Tower Club next Tuesday morning for an entirely new presentation highlighting what works and what doesn’t work when marketing to the government, including current hot topics such as Traditional vs. Web 2.0 Marketing Tactics. This is the BEST event for product vendors targeting the federal government, so don’t miss your chance to attend!

Where: Tower Club, Vienna, 17th floor
When: Tuesday, August 12
Time: 7:30 AM- 11:00 AM, Continental breakfast included
Investment: $195, including a workbook and TWO special bonus CDs

Click here to sign up for Mark Amtower’s Government Marketing Best Practices 2008!

Last week the Market Connections team attended a “Lunch ‘n’ Learn” about effective networking, where we learned the following eight tips to make networking easier.

1. Read professional magazines outside of your profession, particularly those of your suppliers/vendors or clients

2. Read magazines about hobbies you aren’t interested in (In addition to those you are!)
Popular choices may include jogging, cooking, landscaping, or golfing. Knowing a little bit about a lot of different subjects makes it very easy to chat, and network, with others.

3. Set a connection target and stick to it
If you contact just four people a day, that’s 100 touch-points each month!
When you attend an event, make it your goal to meet at least 5 new people.
4. When speaking with people, ask open ended questions
An easy example of this is “Tell me more about….”

5. Remember things that are important to people
Most people will forgive you if you forget things, but remember that their little girl just turned five and started kindergarten, and you’re a star.

6. Connect people with similar interests or to solve a problem
If you know two people who would benefit from knowing each other, introduce them. By offering a favor you have now made yourself look great to both—and they both owe you.

7. POSITIVITY!
Always approach others with a smile on your face and a cheery comment. Don’t be negative or critical right off the bat—remember, you attract more bees with honey!

8. Don’t force networking
If you have an event to attend, but you have too much on your plate—don’t force yourself. There are always more opportunities to network later, and forcing will probably put off more people than it will attract.

As the ultra tech-savvy Gen Y enters the workforce, digital information channels & new technologies are exploding. They’re most likely to use only a cell phone, watch their desired TV shows on their own time, get most of their information on the web, and be super connected to their entire social and professional networks.  Not surprisingly, they’re bringing these technologies and habits into the workforce and making an impact on the way that both private and public sector organizations do business. 

We want to know how the emerging technologies of Web 2.0 are changing the way you work.  Please comment below.

To read more on this topic, click here.

Embarking on one of our more adventurous vacations, in June my wife and I decided (that is, I decided and then begged relentlessly until she agreed) to fly to the Canadian Arctic and camp on an ice floe. My reason for going was simple: alarmed by all the news about global warming, I wanted to experience the land, culture and wildlife before it all melts away. It was a five night trip, although 24 hours of sunshine rendered “night” a meaningless term. There were nine of us in total, a small but very lively group from England, Scotland, Japan, Germany, America and, to headline news in his own country, the first Guatemalan ever to travel so far north.
Read the rest of this entry »

“Going green”, or becoming a more environmentally conscious company, is a growing trend that cannot be ignored in today’s society. Many companies are already taking steps to be more environmentally friendly, including Bank of America, Starbucks, Hewlett-Packard, and Wal-Mart. And going green isn’t just good for the environment—even taking small steps to cut back energy consumption can save companies a substantial amount of money each year.

The federal government is leading the charge, by offering telework options to employees, encouraging the purchase of green products, and enhancing buildings, by adding a “green roof”. (A “green roof” is a roof that has had grasses and other plants added to it. These plants help to reduce greenhouse gasses by cycling carbon dioxide to oxygen and preventing rainwater runoff that causes erosion and pollutes rivers and streams. Some green roofs even include dining or sitting areas!)

Want tips to help your company go green? Check out the Small Business Guide to Energy Efficiency on the Small Business Administration website and the EnergySavers website (a joint project created by the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency).

As you may know, the MRA held its Annual Conference and Research Forum earlier this month. Three of our attendees have written a bit about their favorite program from the event.

John:
One of the sessions I found most interesting from this year’s MRA conference was a team-based, case-study exercise where we were broken up into six groups of 8-10 participants. Each group was given the same background information about a research project for a fictional company, “Bunny Burgers”. That’s when things got interesting—each team was tasked with creating a research project that would help Bunny Burgers understand the market, and guide their marketing investments, but each was assigned a different budget and timeline. About halfway through the exercise, each team was thrown a curveball that affected their research window, budget, or overall ability to complete the project (as so often happens in the real world!). It was fascinating to watch the teams, with people from all sides of the research spectrum offer their expertise and experience to address the challenges, and to develop a solution. The teams who were most successful teams treated the exercise as a collaborative project, worked closely with our “client”, and were capable of rolling with the punches and adapting when the process didn’t go exactly as planned.

Laurie:
One of my favorite sessions at the 2008 MRA conference, was the 4pm keynote speaker on Wed June 4. The session was titled: “Quality – What’s Love Got to Do With It.” The presenter was Robin Pearl – VP Market Research, The Estee Lauder Companies. In a very amusing way, she spoke of quality issues that can plague research projects from sample design and survey content to simple typos in reports. Her speech was entertaining as well as a good reminder that all research professionals need to pay more attention to details, both as a client and a vendor. She noted a great line – that when it comes to research we all need a “PHD (passion, heart and drive)” – you must love what you do! And the best part –free Estee Lauder Lip Gloss for all!

Cynthia:
A very interesting session I attended during the 2008 MRA Conference was titled “Mindreading & Measuring Emotion in Quali-Quant Research: It is NOT Smoke and Mirrors!” – presented by Brent Snider, a Client Director with BrainJuicer.
This presentation offered a peek under the tent at one of the emerging research techniques that attempt to measure emotions and validate insights – going a step beyond offering open-ends in an online survey. In other words, exploring another approach to getting the qualitative “whys” behind quantitative “whats”. Check out the website demo and “juice your brain”.

Sounds like the MRA conference was a great success!

Market Connections is gearing up for something brand new. Starting in July, we will be presenting a series of free webinars. Held every other month, each webinar will present a fresh look at topics relating to marketing research methods, using research effectively, the state of the market, and more!

Our first webinar of the series is entitled Create a Competitive Advantage with Market Research and will be held on July 21 at 2pm. Click here to register for our webcast.

We want to hear from you! What topics would you like covered in our webinar series? Leave a comment to let us know.