Across the federal government, agency IT leaders demand integrated approaches to technology to tackle their most pressing mission challenges. Govplace, a leading enterprise IT solutions provider exclusively to the public sector, turned to Bluetext to develop FedInnovation (www.fedinnovation.com), a destination designed to help government agency executives get the latest information on current technology challenges and solutions for big data, cloud, security, mobility and storage. Developed in conjunction with leading technology providers including Dell, Intel Security and VMWare, it includes exclusive content, videos, blogs, and real-time social feeds.
FedInnovation represents the concept of combining relevant, fresh content, complementary offerings, and financial resources to deliver an educational platform to drive awareness and leads for Govplace across its target market.
From this platform, Govplace will drive blog posts, webinars, and other marketing programs to ensure its target audience understands the value that it, working with the leading IT providers to the Federal Government, can deliver.
The development of platform is a continued focus for Bluetext as we look to conceptualize, design and develop creative solutions that deliver measurable business impact for our clients. We are finding that the customers of our clients are demanding unique experiences with premium content delivered in an easy to consume manner. That is the goal behind FedInnovation. Explore FedInnovation today (www.fedinnovation.com).
L-3 Communications, in partnership with Harris Corporation, hired Bluetext to help them pursue the Air Force’s $1B Satellite Control Network (AFSCN) Modifications, Maintenance & Operations (CAMMO) Contract. Air Force AFSCN is a critical operational national security resource used for the global deployment and operation of National Security Space (NSS) Systems used primarily by the DOD and NASA to protect vital US interest worldwide.
L-3 is currently a subcontractor under the existing contract and as such is already vertically and horizontally integrated within Air Force teams inside of these facilities and in fact are the only team with current experience on all consolidated CAMMO elements and as such could provide a low risk, seamless transition.
Bluetext worked with the L-3/Harris Capture teams to develop a campaign strategy that would position them as a Prime by highlighting the many advantages they bring to the table. The overarching campaign theme we developed is:
“The Power of Partnership, From Vision to Reality”
The creative strategy of this project began with the core concept of the ad, “from vision to reality.” The left side of the ad is a wireframe representing the vision with the right side representing its reality. After the wireframe of the satellite was created, it was overlaid on top of the red diagonal to create a striking visual element to draw attention to the campaign. We incorporated a large area of blackness to emulate space that would further support the strong type of the advertisement.
The first series of ads were placed in a high visibility areas inside of Colorado Springs Airport, a key travel hub for Air Force brass. The media plan for the campaign also includes online, print and OOH media placed strategically to maximize reach and frequency throughout the entire contract RFP and award life-cycle.
The Cloud continues to be one of the hottest technology themes across all enterprise organizations, and that’s no different for government agencies at the Federal, state and local levels. Then-U.S. Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra even announced an Administration-wide “cloud first” policy three-and-a-half years ago requiring agencies move some of their systems to a cloud-based service, and while budgets are in flux, that remains a priority for agencies. I read a recent article from IBM around top technology trends shaping the government’s future, and cloud computing was right behind mobile devices at the top of the list.
While there are conflicting reports across the public sector regarding the extent to which spending Cloud spending will grow in the near term, there is no uncertainty that the underlying spend figure is massive. As a result, companies in the cloud services business face opportunities and challenges in effectively marketing their offerings to federal agencies.
At the top of the list of challenges that makes government agencies a tough sell when it comes to moving to the cloud is security. Agencies require assurances on who has access to and controls their data, and about how they will get it back if a cloud provider goes out of business, is acquired or simply disappears. Messaging that works for the commercial sector might not resonate with government executives, while concepts around hybrid approaches might be a better solution.
My partner Don Goldberg recently wrote a blog post around Ten Tips for Marketing to the Government. Thinking about cloud service providers, some of these apply. Here are five that really need to be considered:
1- Dedicated Government messaging that is clear and easy to find is essential. Agency decision-makers will not sort through corporate messaging to discern what might be important to them.
2 – Speak the language of Government. Their needs are different than the needs of commercial enterprises. Understand their pain points and realize that mandates and mission requirements are driving a lot of the decision making. At the same time, don’t become consumed in ‘defensive messaging.’ In other words, companies become so sensitive to agency cloud concerns that messaging assumes a defensive posture that attempts to negate pre-conceived notions around security and control. These pain points are important, but don’t lose sight of putting forward positive messaging on all the benefits the Cloud can deliver.
3- Easy-to-find government specific landing pages are a must. If decision makers don’t quickly find information that is directly relevant to them, they will move on to a competitor’s website. We all too often find government subpages buried deep into a site, and masked with an all too obvious government façade that will only serve to completely negate the hard work of your sales and field marketing teams dedicated to this market
4 – Get involved in the community. If you are just getting started and don’t have case studies, getting involved in the community is important. Carpet baggers don’t succeed selling to the Federal government. It takes a dedicated, focused effort and commitment to the community.
5 – Think about many marketing avenues to get your message out. Buying some radio or sponsoring one event is not enough. Work with specialists who understand the government market and how to drive an integrated message into it – the impact of your spend will be easy to measure.
The federal, state and local government markets are large and attractive targets of opportunity for technology companies. Because of our location and experience in the public sector supporting the most recognized brands in global technology, Bluetext is frequently asked to develop innovative marketing campaigns to help companies throughout Silicon Valley drive visibility for their brand and demand for their products and services across the public sector market. This can range from a dedicated microsite to traditional public relations and everything in between – including content marketing, social media and, of course, advertising – all integrated to help our clients succeed in an increasingly digital environment.
The challenge for companies seeking to expand from the commercial sector to government market is that agencies speak a different language, have an entirely unique buying cycle and process, and are motivated by different needs and priorities than private sector enterprise companies. For those who don’t recognize this and fail to develop their campaigns with that in mind, their efforts will feel as if they fell on deaf ears when the reality is that you are just speaking the wrong language. Here are some of the rules to keep in mind for the public sector audiences:
1) Think mission goals over ROI. Agencies are driven by legislative mandates and regulatory requirements, and that’s how officials get promoted and move up the chain.
2) Budget savings are important, but don’t talk about how your solution can reduce headcount. No one wants to put their jobs at risk. Talk about how agencies can cut costs and reallocate resources to where they are needed most.
3) Dedicated Government messaging that is clear and easy to find is essential. Agency decision-makers will not sort through corporate messaging to discern what might be important to them. If they can’t find it quickly, they will stop looking.
4) Easy-to-find government specific landing pages are a must. If decision makers don’t quickly find information that is directly relevant to them, they will move on to a competitor’s website. We all too often find government subpages buried deep into a site, and masked with an all too obvious government façade that will only serve to completely negate the hard work of your sales and field marketing teams dedicated to this market.
5) Social media should not be an afterthought in terms of dedicated content. We always recommend government-specific social media handles. Decision makers won’t sort through a dozen tweets about issues unrelated to the government to find the one that is. It is better to have low volume but a dedicated channel.
6) Customer case studies are important. No government official wants to be the beta tester of a new solution. They want to know how it’s been successfully used by other agencies – and there is no better way to tell that story than through the lens of their peers.
7) Highlight your government success stories. Government officials don’t get much recognition for a job well done, and they have strict rules about promoting themselves. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t tell their story, making them look good in the process.
8) The government audience cuts across all demographics. Personas are hard to create because they can be so different in age, how they get their information, what they read and their comfort level with new technologies. While the existing demos trend to the older side and rely on trade publications, agencies are aggressively recruiting in the younger demos who digest most of their content through social media. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all.”
9) Get involved in the community. If you are just getting started and don’t have case studies, getting involved in the community is important. Carpet baggers don’t succeed selling to the Federal government. It takes a dedicated, focused effort and commitment to the community.
10) It is not just Washington. Federal procurement teams and decision-makers are across the country – from U.S Central Command at MacDill AFB in Florida to San Diego to military bases in between, customers are everywhere and need to be messaged to appropriately. Knowing where the influencers are is often half the battle.
11) And a free bonus for listening – while so many brands are focused on the government buyer themselves – they ignore the contracting community around them. The mammoth defense contractors and systems integrators that surround the beltway can walk you down the red carpet into every agency in Washington – if only you spoke their language…
I heard a little story the other day that made me smile. One of our earliest clients, which selected Bluetext for a digital platform and website overhaul as well as marketing and social media strategy, has seen their business go through the roof since executing the campaign with us. What makes me happy is that this client was very hesitant to spend the money, skeptical about the potential results, and had never done any impactful marketing. Thinking back to this early project, I think it’s instructive to explore why working with this reluctant client turned out so well.
First, we did our homework on its industry and competitors, and designed a digital platform that demonstrated to the market that it was serious about the future and committed to the business of its customers. As a rule, when designing websites and digital platforms, you have to understand the user experience, how your customers interact with your business, and what they can and should expect when working with you. Many businesses organize their websites around how they operate instead of how their customers want to consume content. And many businesses think that a new website is merely lipstick on a pig.
Second, the client spent the money on a custom photo shoot, which we strongly recommended and helped to execute, as its products lend themselves to having their customers see them and get a clear sense for what they are going to get (as opposed to, for example, a software product). Sometimes, creating a sense of something tangible in the digital world can be very important.
Third, it got aggressive with social media in a market where it originally believed it was not important to prospects. The client committed for the long haul to develop new content and push it out via all channels.
Everyone wants happy customers that benefit from the work you do for them – in this case, a major investment which was met with skepticism has significantly benefitted the bottom line. That is the kind of success that makes me and the entire Bluetext team smile.
Imagine if Amazon.com’s home page was a photo of CEO Jeff Bezos and contained only corporate information—they wouldn’t have many customers. Believe it or not, this is the way many Federal government agencies view their digital role—not to create relationship through an engaging experience, but to deliver simple information like press releases.
At a time when organizations large and small are trying desperately to develop meaningful relationships with their customers, it seems that government agencies remain mired in the past, mostly keeping citizens at a distance and not attempting to treat them as, well, valued customers. While this won’t come as a surprise to many Americans who have been frustrated when trying to get help at a government website, a new survey from Bluetext and GovLoop confirms how far behind agencies really are on this score.
Survey respondents, primarily government employees, by wide margins believe that agencies need to develop a relationship with their constituents using online tools. Yet, they overwhelmingly believe that their agencies are not doing so, instead publishing “corporate-type” websites that do not engage citizens. The survey of GovLoop’s members was conducted in December and was sponsored by Adobe.
Here are some of the survey’s key findings:
More than one-third of the respondents gave their agencies the lowest marks for their efforts to proactively reach out to citizens through their websites or through social media;
Nearly half gave the lowest marks for their agencies’ creative use of digital strategies to connect with citizens. Only eight percent found their organizations to be “very creative.”
In perhaps the most telling finding, only a quarter of respondents describe their agency’s website as a place to engage with citizens and develop a relationship to help provide services and solve problems.
Instead, according to the survey, agencies are using their websites to publicize programs and initiatives, or provide information to learn about the organization’s leadership and read press releases and Congressional testimony. Forty-eight percent described the way their agency views its website in relationship with citizens as a marketing tool.
And while 85 percent of respondents regard their agency’s engaging directly with its citizens through social media as somewhat or very important, only eight percent gave their organization the highest marks for achieving this. Forty-six percent gave the lowest scores to their agencies.
Government agencies have a lot of work to make up for the gap between where they are and where they need to be when it comes to digital strategy. If they want to be seen as relevant in the eyes of citizens, they need to do a lot more with digital tools to engage constituents.
Bluetext recently released a series of surveys of voters in California and Texas, and government IT professionals about technology and cloud computing. As part of our media outreach, I was interviewed by the Capital Weekly newspaper in Sacramento. Here are some of the key points I made:
- Telework and the cloud are intricately connected. Cloud service enable government workers to telework or work remotely, providing digital security and reliability simply not available with even the best local networks
- The VPN’s days are numbered. Cloud services make it clear how outdated and cumbersome VPN’s have become
- Voters are more sophisticated than we think when it comes to technology. Our survey found broad support for saving recourses and achieving efficiencies through technology in general, and cloud services in particular
- Agency managers and top officials, unfortunately, are not. The survey found a lack of support from folks at the top for taking advantage of cloud services to save resources
To read the full surveys, click here. If you want to discuss the surveys, ping me, and I would be more than happy to walk you through them.
The U.S. nuclear power industry just can’t catch a break. It’s been nearly a quarter century since construction began on a new plant. But with policy makers looking for cleaner alternatives to coal fired plants, it finally got some powerful friends in its corner. First and foremost, President Obama has given his support to including nuclear in the mix of clean energy options that need to be on the table. And in the House of Representatives, Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich), the new chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is a strong supporter of nuclear energy.
So industry supporters must be burying their heads in their hands with the graphic photographs of two nuclear plants in Japan being threatened with core meltdown. There may indeed be absolutely no connection whatsoever between the Japanese facilities and the plants here in America. But that hardly matters. Perception is reality, and the public’s fear of a Chernobyl-like incident will make new approvals that much more difficult. Regardless of what happens at the plants in Japan, there will continue to be saturation news coverage of the nuclear dangers as part of the ongoing reporting on the tragedy last week.
How the nuclear energy industry handles the aftermath of the Japanese situation will be key. Industry spokesmen cannot afford to appear either arrogant or its extreme opposite– unsure. Instead, they need to be honest and forthcoming about if and how U.S. plants differ from those in Japan– and how the safety measures here are designed to eliminate such threats. Compassion, humility, and the way to go forward– those three pillars of damage control are essential now for the U.S. nuclear energy industry.
The industry could start, once Japan’s reactors are under control, with a public assessment of the plants in the U.S. that sit on or near fault lines, and the protections in place at those facilities. Second, it could undertake a credible review of those plants and make recommendations on improvements for safety there. These actions alone may not guarantee the funding and investment needed for build new facilities, but they would go a long ways towards assuring the public that nuclear power can be achieved safely.
I speak with executives with lots of technology companies both here in the Washington, D.C. market and around the country– all eager to sell more to the Federal government. If I had to bucket them into ones that I know are successful versus those that are probably just scratching the surface, one of the trends that quickly emerges is how seriously each company takes its PR and marketing to their Washington customers.
The Federal government cannot be viewed as simply another vertical, like financial services or education. Beyond the vast differences between civilian and defense agencies, there are so many intricacies and nuances that must be considered to be successful. I believe that if you have a good sales team in New York you can be successful in financial services. But the Federal government is different, especially with an administration that is 100% focused on reducing costs and making government more efficient. Vivek Kundra and Aneesh Chopra are the most visible technology executives the government has ever had, and they make noise every week. No area of government is safe, so successful companies must be here and part of the conversation.
Flying in once a month just does not cut it, as one of your competitors will be filling the minds of decision-makers with thought leadership content. Campaigns must be course-corrected and messages delivered every day. And of course, the message cannot be episodic. So here is my advice – if the Federal government is an important arena for your business, make sure you are dedicating the time and resources in terms of people and money to do it right. You don’t want your sales team paddling upstream in a market that is difficult to navigate even in calm waters.