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Marketing to the GovernmentThe United States government purchases hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods and services each year. In this way, the only company that rivals the government in purchasing is perhaps Wal-Mart. Doing business with the government can be a very attractive opportunity. As with any new sales channel it requires a commitment of resources and attention to marketing. This section provides articles on specific recommendations and approaches for your marketing efforts with the government. Many of these examples are based on the past experiences of our customers, while other articles are based on the observations we've made consulting and performing surveys. We've tried to include specific examples and recommendations on marketing to the government in this section, but the lessons learned can be applied to all of your marketing efforts. Please let us know if you'd like to see an article in a specific area. What do we mean by marketing?Definition: Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders." Approaching marketing with this definition is very academic - most people we work with understand what this means but don't know the process for getting from here to there. Marketing is often described as a marketing mix. Within this, "mix," is your product, pricing, promotion, and placement (or distribution). It's important to understand each of these areas and how they operate. Knowing the relation between various methods of promotion and your product can save you thousands of dollars while improving your results. That being said, marketing is also intuitive. The more consistent a person becomes with their process of observation, the better they become at their overall marketing efforts. How do we move from these definitions to usable practices? Many people think in terms of processes and procedures. The following steps are semi-sequential steps - they generally follow the order here, but may require you to go back and revise - for your marketing efforts.
We'll be covering Conversion & Retention efforts in the coming months. Be sure to check back at this web site or on our electronic newsletter for more details! ^ |
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