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When Rubber Meets Road Mark Amtower
When Rubber Meets Road Mark Amtower
2 Conference ‘09
When Rubber Meets RoadWhen Rubber Meets Road
The evolution of communications between and among government and industry –
3 Conference ‘09
And the goal is….And the goal is….
Relationships!
4 Conference ‘09
“Tom Who?”“Tom Who?”
FOSE, 1994
5 Conference ‘09
Questions I like to ask Feds and ContractorsQuestions I like to ask Feds and Contractors
What publications do you read?
What events do you attend?
What web sites do you visit?
What groups do you belong to?
Are you on LinkedIn?
6 Conference ‘09
Rubber meets road in 3 ways…Rubber meets road in 3 ways…
You create or become road kill
You spin your tires
You get traction
7 Conference ‘09
So, how do you start and manageSo, how do you start and manage
Strategic relationships in an environment where your competitors want the same thing, and where they may have more resources?
If you’re in government, how do you manage vendor relationships in a way that conforms to agency policy?
Point A (you)<<<<>>>>Point B (key person)
8 Conference ‘09
Government Marketing Best PracticesGovernment Marketing Best Practices
“This market, any market, is about relationships.”
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Audience questionsAudience questions
Are you on LinkedIn?
GovLoop?
FederalContractor?
Facebook?
Twitter?
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Or are you….Or are you….
The last holdout???
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It is a matter ofIt is a matter of
what you know
who you know
why you know them
what they think of you
can you access them
and does this create leverage and does it lead to traction?
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WhoWho
Is in your network right now?
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1980s communications model1980s communications model
Big events
Small events
Telephone
Direct mail
In agency visits
Space advertising
PR
Associations and SIGs
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1980s Big Events1980s Big Events
Federal Computer Conference
Federal ADP Conference & Expo
ComNet
Government Computer Expo (1984-85)
FOSE
FedMicro
others
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1980s Smaller Events1980s Smaller Events
Table tops
NCSA
SIGCAT
FISSEA
others
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TelephoneTelephone
Very active for cold calling
Develop and maintain IRM-level relationships
Federal Executive Directory & Federal Yellow Book were big
If you were on the receiving end, the annoying thing that rang when you were in the middle of something.
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Direct MailDirect Mail
Personal letters
Sales letters
Catalogs (by the ton!)
Post cards
Announcements & invitations
Mail delivered 3x/day at HQs in DC
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In agency visitsIn agency visits
Go to OPM, get a visitors pass, get into agencies
Almost anyone could get in
Amtower @ GSA and Virginia Bannister…
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Space advertising/PRSpace advertising/PR
Government Executive (late 1970s)
Government Computer News (1982)
Federal Computer Week (1987)
Washington Technology (1988)
Federal Times, et al
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Associations and SIGsAssociations and SIGs
FGIPC/IAC
AFCEA
AIIM
NCSA
Cap PC Users Group, at one time over 30,000 members
others
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80s best traction for relationships80s best traction for relationships
Small events
Telephone
In agency visits
Associations and SIGs
Places where they could see and/or hear you
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1990s model1990s model
Events, big & small and single vendor events
Telephone
Direct mail & email
In agency visits
Space advertising
PR
Associations and SIGs
Web sites!!
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Big, small and single vendor eventsBig, small and single vendor events
The Gov-event world grew exponentially in the 1990s
Some big events perished
Others came in
Many event producers live in dark, slimy places
The first GWAC-specific event: SuperMini
24 Conference ‘09
TelephoneTelephone
Early 90s, still key
As email grew, the telephone became less important
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Direct mail & emailDirect mail & email
Snail mail drops
Email picks up
Federal web masters start using spam filters in mid 1990s; several company ISPs are blocked
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In agency visitsIn agency visits
On April 19, 1995, the rules change.
27 Conference ‘09
Space advertising & PRSpace advertising & PR
Trade pubs are healthy and full of ads
Several ad agencies focus on the government market
Big NY agencies start paying attention to Uncle Sam as a business
Feds actually read GCN, FCW, GovExec
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Associations and SIGsAssociations and SIGs
AFCEA
FGIPC/IAC
ITAA
AeA
PSC
SIGs (PKI, FISSEA, etc)
29 Conference ‘09
Web sites!Web sites!
New, exciting, different
Very little transactional biz
Falcon Microsystems
Portals & Vortals
Early social networks (classmates.com, six-degrees.com)
Agencies deploy web sites before vendors
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And Dendy said what?And Dendy said what?
Email prediction
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90s Best traction for relationships90s Best traction for relationships
Small events
Single vendor events – Oracle’s road show
Telephone…email
In agency visits (until 4/19/95)
Associations and SIGs
Some web sites (NASA Procurement site)
32 Conference ‘09
The Gov Dot Com EraThe Gov Dot Com Era
VC go wild for the “portal/vortal” concept
The promise of eFederal
The many faces of PlanetGov
There seemed to be an endless supply of money in the hands of some very strange people
Feds slow to use IMPAC (now SmartPay) on transactional sites
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The Gov Dot Com Era results…The Gov Dot Com Era results…
Lots of tire spinning
Lots of road kill
A couple solid contenders emerge from the rubble – companies like Apptis
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Early 2000s modelEarly 2000s model
Events
Telephone
In agency visits
Space advertising
PR
Associations and SIGs
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EventsEvents
More and more
Sometimes from questionable sources (see slide 23… Many event producers live in dark, slimy places)
Still valuable when you pick the right ones
Traction can occur with events – for Feds and contractors
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TelephoneTelephone
Revitalized & relevant!
The cell phone is so much more than a phone – email, text, voice, web
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EmailEmail
From your phone or computer – try living without it
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In agency visitsIn agency visits
Increasingly difficult, much less frequent
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Space advertising/PRSpace advertising/PR
Early 2000s, trades full of ads
2005, ad pages drop
Ads are expensive and marketing budgets are smaller
2008 frequency drops
Being in the articles is still important
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Associations and SIGsAssociations and SIGs
ACT/IAC
AFCEA
PSC (et al)
ITAA (et al)
SIGs
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Post 2005:Blogs, Twitter, Wikis – Oh My! Web 2.0 is here Post 2005:Blogs, Twitter, Wikis – Oh My! Web 2.0 is here
Blogs
Social networks
YouTube
Wikis
Webinars
more
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What does this mean?What does this mean?
Conversations are occurring – with or without you
Content is being offered elsewhere
Radically new methods of connecting with influencers
Everything is more transparent – if you know where to look
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But what about?But what about?
Control?
ROI?
Accountability?
44 Conference ‘09
What you need to knowWhat you need to know
About these tools
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BlogsBlogs
One of the earliest of the web 2.0 tools
Over 130,000,000 out there
Many businesses use them for customer communication & feedback
Some use them to position themselves as thought leaders
Easy to set up & use
Many government agencies have blogs
46 Conference ‘09
Social networksSocial networks
LinkedIn.com
Facebook.com
GovLoop.com
FederalContractor.us
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LinkedIn.comLinkedIn.com
Over 40,000,000 business users
1,896 government groups as of 5/5/09
Govies? 385,129 as of 5/5/09!
Your competitors?
New functionalities being added
(connect with me…connect with me…)
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What the event needed…What the event needed…
The panic call 7 days out
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FacebookFacebook
200,000,000 users
Business use is growing
Many still prefer this as the “personal” page
Military services recruit here, as do some civilian agencies
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GovLoop.comGovLoop.com
10,815 as of 5/5/09
377 groups
Growing
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FederalContractor.usFederalContractor.us
8,143 members as of 5/5/09
127 groups
Growing
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YouTube/videoYouTube/video
We think in images (the most important part of the remaining texts of Archimedes are the drawings!)
Pithy way to get your message out
NASA videos on YouTube
Cisco has over 100 videos up
Can be the most viral of communications (think Susan Boyle, now about 200,000,000 views)
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WikisWikis
Collaborate
Collaborate
Collaborate
Intel community
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TwitterTwitter
Short bursts to whoever “follows” you
NASA is HUGE on Twitter with 36,079 followers as of 5/5/09
USAF – big following
USGS - Science for a changing world, 2,487 followers as of 5/5/09
(@amtower, 321 followers. Don’t tell anyone, but I‘m still trying to figure this one out….)
55 Conference ‘09
WebinarsWebinars
Great for the travel-challenged
Excellent for internal training
Controlled content
Interactive for “live” attendees
Only the “right” people attend
Replay value
56 Conference ‘09
Web 2.0Web 2.0
Demands content
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More?More?
Web 3.0 is coming….
New tools for communication, collaboration & content
Stranger tools will emerge!
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Web 2.0 does not replaceWeb 2.0 does not replace
Other methods of communication
It adds to the mix
Each communication method is part of a larger strategy – make each component work together
59 Conference ‘09
Rubber meets road in 3 ways…Rubber meets road in 3 ways…
The leaders get tractionThe followers spin tiresThe reluctant become road kill
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The final thoughtThe final thought
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” Charles Darwin
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Thank youThank you
For your time and attention.
62 Conference ‘09
Contact meContact me
301 924 0058
www.FederalDirect.net
http://twitter.com/amtower
http://www.linkedin.com/in/markamtower
"Amtower Off Center", Monday @ noon on 1500 AM in Washington, DC; simulcast and archived at www.FederalNewsRadio.com
