Thank you to everyone who attended the April 8th Government Marketing Forum event; and a special thanks to all of you who offered feedback through our post-event online evaluation.  I am sure you will agree that our distinguished panelists offered great insight into Successful Marketing: Resonating with the Government Buyer.

It was an engaging discussion filled with humorous anecdotes about what works and what doesn’t when marketing to the government.  The room was packed before and after the program, with a great buzz of networking, which I know I found quite beneficial. This is not the end – only a start to a string of GMF events.  So, be on the lookout for future announcements.

Don’t miss the Government Marketing Forum’s upcoming panel: “Successful Marketing  — Resonating with the Government Buyer.”

Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Tower Club, Vienna, VA
4:30pm - 7:30pm

Lisa Dezzutti will lead the panel where you’ll hear directly from government IT decision-makers including:

• Linda Cureton, CIO, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• Jonathan Alboum, Deputy CIO, Department of Agriculture
• Ed Meagher, Deputy CIO, Department of Interior

For more details and to register visit:  http://www.fbcinc.com/gmf/.

We are excited to announce our recent move to new offices!  The move allows us to take advantage of updated facilities and accommodate our expanding team and client base. 

We’d like to give a special thanks to everyone who has helped contribute to our growth.

Please stop by and visit us anytime in our new offices at 14555 Avion Parkway, Suite 125 in Chantilly Virginia.

What have you done lately to feed the Beast?  It seems a common refrain now in all the focus groups we do. Google (the Beast) is the gateway to content, information, and vendors.  No matter how accessible and easy you make your website, the first thing most buyers do when investigating a solution is “Google” it.  They will then look at the results and take an information gathering session from there.

It’s not just home pages that folks will jump to.  White papers, press releases, and other meatier content within the website is very attractive to those looking specifically for key pieces of information.  They will bypass the home page all together. So the question to you would be, are you “optimized” for search engines?

PR is a good tool to gather hits through search engines.  I noticed that SpeakerBox public relations is hosting a session in the DC area on January 9, 2008 about using PR and other strategies to get more press, and therefore, search engine hits.  Click here for more information.  We’ve worked with a number of companies to leverage surveys of their market into press stories and positions as “thought leaders.” Everyone is always trying to Google the thought leader.

A few days ago, I attended the Amtower Summit on Selling to the Government.  Though a variety of topics were discussed, the most significant point I took away from the event was the overall importance of relationships in B2G marketing.  Building relationships increases top-of-mind awareness, makes it more likely that your customers will come back to you, and can ultimately increase your market share and revenues.  But how does one build relationships?  Truly, there is no “silver bullet”, but with a dedicated effort, you can steadily build mindshare among your market.

First of all, you need to understand exactly who your market is.  It is difficult to build relationships with too many different people at once, so some segmentation should be done.  Choose one or two niche markets you most wish to serve (or that you are already in) and concentrate on them.  You can always expand later, once you’ve honed your relationship-building skills.

And don’t forget about your current customers!  Generally, 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your clients.  Get to know that 20%—their needs, their likes, their pet peeves, their quirks—go that extra mile and make them feel special, because they ARE.  You definitely don’t want to lose them!

One of the biggest mistakes companies make is not contacting prospects and clients often enough.  The truth is, in this modern cluttered world, you have to maintain almost constant contact to be even remotely memorable to your prospects and clients.  To put it numerically, it takes 12-18 contacts a year to turn a prospect to a client, and 24-36 contacts each year to keep a client.  This can be as easy as forwarding news articles of interest, calling “just to check-in”, or sending nice cards in the mail at holidays.  Other great ideas include inviting them to a webinar your company is running or sponsoring, hosting special invitation-only “mini-events” at tradeshows and seminars, and sending them white papers your company has released that they will find interesting.  Never be insistent or overbearing, and make sure every single outreach adds some value for them.

Make sure that building relationships with clients is a top priority to your company and you will be well on your way to increasing your bottom line!

I recently attended a Women in Technology (WIT) event entitled Managing Information, Mitigating Risk–An Enterprise Approach.  This event featured a panel discussion about information management and legal issues.  The watchword was “e-discovery” – the discovery of electronic information to be used in court.  

The panel discussed the importance of implementing company-wide policies for information management and encouraging businesses to create protocols to ensure that electronically stored information is easy to find.  This way, the company can feel confident that they are prepared to gather and distribute all the information that courts require in compliance audits or litigation cases. 

Though they can be expensive to set up, proper information management practices are extremely beneficial to companies, especially their legal, IT, management, and accounting departments.  Companies can save themselves time and money in the long-run (and stress!) with a well-implemented information management policy.  Make sure your company has one in place!

Last Thursday was the second annual Battle of the Government IT Bands, and what an event! Organized by 1105 Government Information Group, the event brought together five bands whose members worked for government agencies and contractors all in support of the metropolitan Washington D.C. chapter of the USO.

Musical styles ranged from Tacocat’s 80’s rock covers, to the Moogly Blues Band’s down home southern blues. One band, Outta Scope even played some of their own compositions, jamming out to tunes that recalled Steely Dan and the Grateful Dead (the name of the band is a nod to the band members who work for NASA, and they were introduced as “the band that put the rock in rocket science”.) And when DISA-Peering Act’s lead singer leapt off stage to dance with the crowd during their thrilling final song, the place went wild.

By the time The Groove, who were the last band of the night, got on stage it was easy to forget that these were government IT bands. The Groove’s cover of Billy Idol’s Rebel Yell packed the dance-floor, and they more than lived up to their billing as band that plays “the most memorable dance music from the 70s and 80s – wrapped around a performance like no other.”

With the last song played, the audience was given a few minutes to vote for their favorite bands, and it was clear that for some, this was an agonizing decision. The votes were counted and winners announced by Chris Dorobek, Editor in Chief of FCW, flanked by Amy Fisher, 1105 Government Information Group’s Director of Marketing and event organizer extraordinaire. To wild applause from the crowd, The Groove were presented with the winner’s trophy.

Overall, it was an incredible event – excellent music, a great crowd, and all for a good cause. (Plus, it was just further proof that our industry really does know how to let its hair down!) For those who weren’t able to make it this year, you were missed. But we look forward to seeing you at the Third annual Government IT Battle of the Bands next year!

Rock on!

For more information about the event, its sponsors, and the bands, visit: www.gitrockin.com

Last call to help benefit the USO!!  1105 Government Information Group is hosting GIT Rockin’, government IT’s second annual “battle of the bands”, this Thursday, October 18th at 7:00 p.m. 

This is a great opportunity for government and industry executives to network with peers, colleagues, and spouses.  Tickets are $20 and all proceeds will be donated to the USO-Metro.  For more details or to purchase tickets, go to www.GITRockin.com.

I would like to extend a personal invitation to you to attend the Sixth Annual Amtower Summit on Selling Products to the Government.  This year’s summit will feature presenters who are experts on all aspects of government marketing, including GSA schedules, market segments, list compilation, events, and web activity.  This is the BEST event for product vendors targeting the federal government, so don’t miss your chance to attend!

The event will take place on November 5th and 6th at the Hilton Baltimore BWI Airport and costs $395 per seat.  To register for the event, or for more information, click here.

I recently attended a Women in Technology (WIT) event with yet another fantastic speaker.  The topic of the evening was The State of Diversity in Corporate America: The New Rules of Breaking the Glass Ceiling.  A representative of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) explained how she sees the barrier to women in the technology industry as more of a glass door than a glass ceiling.  As women pass by the door to a career in technology, there is no keyhole, no door handle, and therefore no clearly visible access into the industry.  With little more than a glance inside the door, women either don’t know how to enter or don’t have a desire to enter. 

In many other professional industries, there seems to be less gender disparity in previously male-dominated terrain – so what makes the technology industry different?  Why do men still dominate such a fascinating and fast-growing field?  Leave us a comment and share your thoughts!