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Becky Sheetz-Runkle
Tech Marketing ExaminerBecky Sheetz-Runkle is a tech marketing expert. She’s co-founder and VP client services for Q2 Marketing. With nearly 20 years in communications, she’s committed to creating quantifiable strategic marketing programs that drive revenue for B2B and B2G tech firms. (Photo © Joanne S. Lawton/Washington Business Journal)
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9 biggest marketing mistakes government contractors make (Part 1)
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by Becky Sheetz-Runkle, Tech Marketing Examiner
Government contractors frequently view marketing very differently than their private sector counterparts. Some successfully employ best-practices, integrated marketing programs. Others rely almost solely on face-to-face relationship building. Others focus on churning out proposals.
Many focusing largely on proposals and face-time reach a point where they fail to get the market traction they seek, especially when entering new agencies and new markets. Here are the first of our nine marketing pitfalls that plague federal contractors. Does your firm make any of these common mistakes?
1. Leading with 8a, SDB, woman-owned, etc. While these are important factors for government work, they really don’t define your company’s value proposition. There are many contractors who fit these definitions. Your message should focus on what you have to offer in selling against these other firms, beyond your special status. What is your company’s vision and how do you implement it?
2. Missing marketing’s role in driving revenue, gaining market share and shaping mindshare. Too often the role of marketing for the entire organization—even healthy mid-sized organizations—is relegated to an entry level professional with little strategic marketing experience. And so, despite his or her best intentions, the cycle of marketing being unable to help drive revenue continues. An investment must be made if you will leverage marketing to achieve your mission.
3. Positioning too generally. This is a problem for many young firms, as well as companies that have been around for years. They are fearful of defining themselves too narrowly and losing opportunities. As a result, they position themselves as all things to all people. But this too-broad strategy almost always ends up being “nothing to nobody.”
Even the ultra-large firms have definitive practice areas and solution sets. They know where they play and where they don’t, and they continue to grow based on their clear definitions. Contractors need to put all the wood behind one arrowhead and clearly define what they do (solution sets) and who they do it for (industry verticals or specific agencies).
Check back later this week for more of the nine biggest mistakes government contractors make. Visit www.q2marketing.com for more insight for government contractors and technology firms.
Topics: marketing , business , market , government contracting
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