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November 7 , 2007
HP Webcast: Enterprise Human Resource Solutions for Transforming State/Local Government
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November 20 , 2007
HP Webcast: Enterprise Financial Solutions for State & Local Government
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December 11 , 2007
HP Seminar: Enterprise Human Resource Solutions for Transforming State/Local Government
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December 12 , 2007
HP Webcast: Master Data Management for Financial Institutions
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December 12 , 2007
HP Webcast: Customer On-Demand Banking
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| Public Sector Marketing Campaigns |
| Strategies for Success |
By: Joe Corini, President, CMA |
As we enter the second month of a new fiscal year, marketing and business development personnel that market to the public sector are busily assessing what needs to be done to meet their annual sales quota objectives. Firms that market products and solutions are concerned about how they will generate a sufficient pipeline of new sales leads to sustain their growth objectives. The basic problem is there is a crowded field of technology companies all trying to reach the same buyers. The challenge is -
how can your company stand-out with your message ahead of the competition? |
| Based on our observations and experience in the public sector, we have viewed a number of inherent flaws in many marketing campaigns. Several examples are: (1) use of commercially developed content without adaptation to the public sector market, (2) lack of consistent campaign themes and marketing messages to address the challenges of the public sector buyer, (3) a fragmented strategy on the use of events, webinars, lead generation, trade shows, and other activities and (4) a disconnect between the marketing and sales organization resulting in poor campaign execution and sales follow-up. |
Understanding what does not work can be a good first step in developing strategies that will work. We have identified what we believe are the critical success factors to produce a winning marketing campaign.
| 1. |
Learn the business of government. The first step is to understand the major problems and challenges that are faced by the public sector executives today. The business of government is very different than the commercial market. |
| 2. |
Build your campaign around your core solution. Separate campaigns may be required if you offer multiple solution sets. The message should focus on how your solution addresses the problems of the public sector buyer. |
| 3. |
Identify your target audience. Carefully select, where possible, the market segments or agencies that are the ideal targets for your solutions. This allows for focused messages that will resonate with the target audiences. |
| 4. |
Include partners in your campaigns. Where appropriate, incorporate partners that will complement your solution. This provides increased access to more prospects and a more complete solution for the government. |
| 5. |
Select a theme for the marketing campaigns. The theme should be consistent throughout all of the activities that are included in the campaigns. This will support your branding and help differentiate your company from the competition. |
| 6. |
Implement measurements. Metrics need to be developed for each component of the marketing campaign. This allows for proper evaluation of each activity and the Return on Investment (ROI). |
| 7. |
Establish a sales follow-up process. Implement a closed-loop marketing process to track prospects from inception through revenue production. |
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Developing a successful marketing campaign requires careful upfront planning. Include all departments within your organization that can support and affect the outcome – and eliminate any disconnects between marketing and sales. Partner where appropriate. Build in sufficient resources for the execution phase. And, finally implement the proper metrics and make sure there is a strong sales follow-up program in place.
Joe Corini is President of CMA, a government marketing, business development and contract services firm www.cmai.com. This article is based on CMA’s experiences in helping technology companies plan and execute marketing and sales campaigns in the public sector market. He can be reached at jcorini@cmai.com. Comments are welcome. |
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