Selling IT: Marketing IT to the Government

In this article, we define marketing as activities to make the public, official buyers and end-users aware of your company and your products or services. Marketing includes distributing press releases, advertising, participating in conferences and trade shows, conducting seminars and targeted direct mail, email and fax campaigns.

As a general rule, we think it's unwise to spend big dollars on marketing when first entering the government marketplace.

Remember, the key to success in this market is focusing on target agencies. Marketing tends to take you in the opposite direction. Early in the game, your interest in securing contracts should far outweigh your interest in brand identity.

Marketing works best for large government contractors. Why?
  • They have more money.
  • They have GSA contracts and other contracting vehicles they can advertise to government end-users and buyers.
  • They need to let other companies know about their capabilities for teaming purposes.
  • They like to get together at conferences and eat each other's shrimp.
Companies market all the time in a limited sense as a natural by-product of doing business. Examples include sending out a capabilities brochure to target customers and an occasional press release when there is something significant to report, writing articles for publications, going to local networking breakfasts and evening events. That's not what we're talking about here. Cheap marketing can be effective. What we're saying is be cautious about traveling to out-of-state, multi-day conferences, placing $10,000 ads, etc.

The following marketing activities can work for the small- to medium- sized government contractor:
  • Send direct marketing literature to end-users and buyers. If you do this, follow up with direct sales calls. Try a sample first and continue if the direct sales calls produce results.
  • Conduct your own product/service demo event. Effective, of course, only if you can get buyers or especially end-users to attend.
  • Write articles. They should be highly targeted to the government audience.
  • Write press releases. They are cheap to do and can be effective if they result in an article in a publication that government end-users read.
  • Advertise. For many companies this can be too expensive until the government profits start rolling in. If you advertise, focus on targeted online and offline publications that government end-users actually read.
  • Attend government-sponsored vendor conferences. The buyers are usually there but not the end-users. You might make good contacts, but don't count on it. Try to know who is attending before you decide whether or not to go. It's best to start with your immediate geographic area to keep costs down.
  • Attend large trade shows for the government market. These can be very expensive. If you must go, see if you can attend under the sponsorship of a prime contractor with whom you work. Share a booth; reduce expenses. Again, it's best to start with your immediate geographic area to keep costs down.
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