On Using the Federal Media & Marketing Study Dashboard for Strategy Development In order to understand how federal marketers are using data from the Federal Media & Marketing Study (FMMS) dashboard first-hand, Market Connections president, Aaron Heffron recently reached out to Sarah Kemple, Director of Brand at Booz Allen Hamilton, a long-time FMMS user, on how teams at Booz Allen are using the full set of data for their procurement, business development (BD) and marketing strategies. Watch the interview video or read the Q&A below for more details. AH: Sarah, you’ve been a long-time user of the FMMS data… that we’ve been doing ...

In our last blog post, Should You Reconsider Your 2021 Federal Media Strategy in Light of COVID?, we touched on how to use agency-based marketing (ABM) for media purchasing when space in general federal publications are limited. Federal marketers are oftentimes challenged with tight budgets and high expectations to produce strong ROIs. Simply, they are expected to do a lot with very little. Agency-based marketing when paired with investments in advertising and other broad marketing strategies can provide a boost to the expected return on investment. What is one way to maximize a small budget? Effectively connect with the preferences of your ...

Congratulations to our friends at Verizon for their multi-award win under the Department of Labor’s $50B Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract to provide telecommunications and information technology support services. Transitioning from the Networx contract vehicle that has been in place with the GSA since 2007, the 15-year EIS contract is the GSA’s premiere telecommunications contract. Under this contract, the DOL released its EIS request for proposals in March. Under this mega-contract, Verizon was recently awarded three task orders including a 12-year task order to provide managed network, voice, data and toll-free services valued at $631.5M; a second valued at $10.2M for audio and ...

Brought to you by Market Connections’ strategic partner, Government Marketing University, GAIN 2020 is the premier government marketing conference where you will learn along with the brightest minds in the government marketing community. This year’s conference will be virtual over the course of four days in November with two-hour segments each day focused on the four core areas: Grow, Accelerate, Innovate and Network. (GAIN!) Each day you will hear from dynamic speakers followed by keynote commentary brought to you by senior government marketers, a government CIO, CISO and program manager will be in the virtual house along with a stellar line ...

Insights Pulled from a Sneak Peek of the 2020 Federal Media & Marketing Study From the desk of Laurie Morrow, Vice President of Research Strategy, Market Connections Inc. Over the twelve years my team has conducted the Federal Media & Marketing Study, we have looked at how federal audiences are engaging with different media properties from print publications to online to newer social medias. In addition to analyzing readership, we also investigate habits, trends, levels of trust and confidence and time spent with media along with other marketing tactics year over year. With all the changes and pivots the federal market and those ...

Guest blogger: Mark Amtower, Amtower & Company  Market Connections’ Federal IT (FIT) Persona Study should resonate with everyone selling IT products or services to the government. The always evolving IT landscape shortens the cycle of Moore’s Law every day, making it critical for the savvy IT product or services contractor to educate federal buyers  on a regular basis. Smart federal marketers understand that to increase the likelihood of success, they need to extend this education process to a broader audience of influencers and decision-makers at target agencies. The FIT Persona Study helps marketers understand each type of persona that can participate ...

From the Desk of Aaron Heffron, President Market Connections, Inc. While many of us remember fondly as a kid hearing, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” we all need to remember, “yes, folks, there will be a federal market after COVID.” Setting aside the debate of when the “after” is a reality, it is not too soon to start thinking about how to position your company to emerge from quarantine stronger and ready for action. You can do this by developing and implementing a marketing plan that accounts for the market realities while it hedges against market uncertainty. Here are FOUR ...

Guest blogger: Kris Brinker, Ocean 5 Strategies There‌ ‌is‌ ‌no‌ ‌such‌ ‌thing‌ ‌as‌ ‌doing‌ ‌business‌ ‌with‌ ‌the‌ ‌federal‌ ‌government.‌ ‌‌We‌ ‌do‌ ‌business‌ ‌with‌ ‌people—government‌ ‌decision-makers,‌ ‌federal‌ ‌humans—who‌ ‌all‌ ‌have‌ ‌goals, ‌‌fears,‌ ‌needs,‌ ‌priorities,‌ ‌and‌ ‌pain‌ ‌points.‌ ‌ The‌ ‌US‌ ‌government‌ ‌continues‌ ‌to‌ ‌offer‌ ‌opportunities‌ ‌as‌ ‌the‌ ‌largest‌ ‌public‌ ‌procurement‌ ‌marketplace.‌ ‌Just‌ ‌a‌ ‌small‌ ‌piece‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌federal‌ ‌pie‌ ‌would‌ ‌be‌ ‌a‌ ‌huge‌ ‌win.‌ ‌But,‌ ‌the‌ ‌hurdles‌ ‌and‌ ‌barriers‌ ‌government‌ ‌contractors‌ ‌need‌ ‌to‌ ‌overcome‌ ‌have‌ ‌not‌ ‌only‌ ‌changed‌ ‌but‌ ‌also‌ ‌become‌ ‌greater.‌ ‌ ‌ The‌ ‌customer‌ ‌base‌ ‌for‌ ‌government‌ ‌contractors‌ ‌is‌ ‌becoming‌ ‌harder‌ ‌and‌ ‌harder‌ ‌to‌ ‌reach‌ ‌and‌ ‌contractors‌ ‌have‌ ‌to‌ ‌do‌ ‌more‌ ‌than‌ ‌ever‌ ‌to‌ ‌break‌ ‌through.‌ ‌New‌ ‌marketing‌ ‌techniques‌ ‌and‌ ‌technologies‌ ‌must‌ ...

Sales and BD Teams In part one of our blog series “How Contractors Can Use Federal Personas for the Win,” we shared the importance of getting internal team buy-in from leadership to marketing to sales. In addition to ways federal marketers can benefit from the use of personas, we noted the importance of collaboration between the marketing teams and the sales and BD teams to get the most out of federal personas. Federal personas can, and should, be living documents that are tweaked by newly gathered information. Sales teams can add key insights from their day-to-day frontline experience, as part of persona ...

Marketing Teams Our latest blog post “Beyond the C-level Suite” emphasized  the importance of marketing to both federal IT decision-makers and influencers at agencies in different ways. Detailed personas for each federal influencer, from senior executive to procurement staff to end user can crystalize your approach and give you guidance as to the unique personal and professional challenges that can influence how and why they make decisions. In part one of this series, we’ll focus on how marketing teams can use federal personas to guide their strategy. Originating in the consumer market, personas used for B2G will differ in their area of ...