August 19, 2002, Volume 1, #1, August 21, 2002
Contents:
1. Battle of the B2G PC Catalogs
2. B2G Catalog Summit
3. Web Marketing Issues, part 1
4. Amtower & Company List Info Update
5. www.GovernmentComputerSecurity.com
6. Amtower & Company Business Partner Profiles: CapITal Reps
Battle of the B2G PC Catalogs
If you haven’t been watching lately, things in the B2G PC catalog arena are heating up. Online cataloger Insight.com has purchased Comark, primarily for the government exposure. They also hired a new VP of government. The former President of Comark-Government, Alan Bechara, moved over to PC Mall. Kevin Adams, formerly of GTSI, moved to CDW-G. Bill Shafley, formerly of CDW-G and GTSI, moved to MicroWarehouse. PC Connection of New Hampshire entered the fray a year ago by purchasing a small Maryland company, ComTeq, and renamed the division GovConnection, headed by industry veteran Joel Lipkin. GTSI launched a catalog, and Dell still operates as a cataloger. And after Tom Shipe left CompUSA, they seem to have renounced the government market. Missing from this category are Gateway and MicronPC, both are still active on Schedule 70, but neither as a direct mail cataloger.
CDW-G and MicroWarehouse have heated up the DC radio-airwaves with a variety of amusing 15-30 second ads (mostly on the all-news 1500 AM), GTSI still sponsors the DC metro traffic spots, and more IT vendors seem to be paying attention to this media.
I like the radio as a tactic, especially in the DC market where there are 300,000+ Feds (this does not include the 40,000+ in Baltimore). But it is myopic – DC represents less than 10% of the Federal workforce, so beware how much you spend here at the expense of ignoring the boondocks (read: outside DC).
What is interesting is the B2B PC catalogers, especially PC Mall and Insight, are finally paying attention. MicroWarehouse has had a government division for several years, but their overall visibility varies. While the rest of the economy is down, government spending, particularly IT spending, is up. We have, in effect, a recession-proof market, where growth is about 5% per year, regardless of who’s in office.
A potential problem faced by catalogers is perception: they are perceived as product vendors, not solution providers. If they are content in that role, they can be successful. If not, their messaging has to move into the arena covered by GTSI and CDW-G: we aren’t simply product providers, we are your solution partners.
Another potential problem faced by those entering the market are web presentation issues (more on this in the "Web Marketing Issues", page 3). Insight has no government information at its home page (Insight.com) – relying, perhaps on Comark; nor does PC Mall. MicroWarehouse (aka MacWarehouse, DataCommWarehouse) has a government site, and it’s not bad.
CDW-G probably has the best site for all users at present, with GTSI trying to close the gap. The CDW-G site is rich in usability: easy to navigate, quick to load, easy to find products and easy to shop. On their contract page, they also list, with photo, phone & email, their account execs who are "In". This is a nice touch. One part that could be nice is the "Select your Agency" buttons on the government page. But when you select any agency, they all offer the same product information.
What these companies bring to the market are strong customer service and quick product delivery, both sorely lacking in many traditional government resellers. In surveys conducted by Market Connection of Fairfax ("The Federal Marketing Mix: A Research Study" is a great resource, which you can purchase from Market Connection by calling 703-818-2476) over the past two years, customer service and quick delivery are two important differentiators for government buyers.
That being said, let us not ignore the owners of larger GWACs (government-wide acquisition contracts), companies like Northrop Grumman. Early this year Northrop hired Mark Meudt to replace Bob Koch. Meudt is an aggressive marketer with a solid staff. And he’s not going to be thrilled to watch the catalogers poaching in his pond.
It’s going to be fun to watch over the next year, and see who ends up in the top 25 on Schedule 70 for FY 2003. More to come…. (and look below – what a coincidence!)
*************
2002 Business-to-Government Catalog Summit
An Amtower & Company Seminar
What do you need to succeed in the largest market in the world, a market that buys every legitimate business product & service?
It’s time you found out
- what resources & infrastructure is required
- how the government buys
- how you can sell with or without contracts
- what to mail, when to mail & how to mail smarter
- what your web site needs for government buyers
- how government ethics regulations apply to you
- leveraging telemarketing in the public sector
- get a better marketing $ ROI
- and much more
November 7, 2002, 8:00 Am – 4:00 PM
Tower Club, Vienna, VA
$495/person, group rates available.
Seating is limited - Register today.
This is not a session on marketing IT, it is a session for any B2B cataloger looking for government sales. We will discuss many product categories, including IT, personal planners, office products, furniture and others.
Web Marketing Issues, part 1
I have been monitoring government purchases on the web since I saw the first memo from a CFO establishing guidelines for online purchases using government issued credit cards. The first memo, about six years ago, set simple guidelines:
- the web site must offer secure purchasing;
- buyers should purchase from known vendors.
Short, sweet and to the point.
Over the intervening years, these guidelines have been broadened. Through constant monitoring of government list serves, a variety of vendor web sites, and the input of Amy Africa (Creative Results, Williston, VT), Lisa Dezzutti (Market Connections, Fairfax, Virginia) Ralph Drybrough, et al at MeritDirect (Stamford, CT), Don Libey (Libey/Concordia, Philadelphia), and Neil Sexton (Sexton’s Market, somewhere in the Wild West), I have evolved a list of web "basics" for B-to-G(overnment) sites. These are seven things your site must have in order to attract government buyers. I have added a second tier of "should have" items, as well. I will list them (not necessarily in order of importance), then discuss each.
1) Clearly post your security and privacy policy, including your ability to offer secure purchasing;
2) Post your return policy on your purchasing page;
3) Index your site;
4) Use the SmartPay (government credit card logo) on your site;
5) Offer valid information which helps the purchasing process;
6) Quick loading time;
7) Make the purchasing process easy.
1) Developing an intelligent privacy policy and clearly posting it is critical to any successful web site. In the public sector, online buyers are instructed to visit only those sites which have a clearly posted privacy policy, so if you don’t have one, the (potential) visitor won’t get far enough into your site to consider purchasing.
2) Develop a return policy that is fair and simple, then post it clearly on your purchasing page. The Amazon.com policy is simple and easy to find. At the bottom of the shopping cart page, you find "Here’s Our Return Policy" and click on it to find:
"Returns are easy, and for most returns there's no need to contact us. Once you've read the policyThen it clearly states what can be returned.
below, visit our Returns Center for a shipping label and packing instructions.
Within 30 days of receipt of your shipment (including gifts), you may return any of the following
items, for any reason, for a full refund (We'll even refund the shipping cost if the return is a result
of our error):"
By the same token, your return policy should be clearly enunciated on your purchasing page. In many ways, Amazon.com sets the standard for what a web site should be to be the ultimate in user friendliness. It encompasses all the elements listed above and more.
3) Indexing allows visitors to find what they want quickly, without wasting the time of your prospect. As you add information and features to the site, these need to be included in the index.
4) The government credit card logo (SmartPay) should be posted on the purchasing page, and anywhere else you post AmEx, MasterCard or Visa logos. If you have a government section of your web site, it should also be prominently posted there. Even after several years of the credit card program, many government employees don’t think of the card as a regular Visa or MC, so it is important to overtly state that you accept government credit cards. If you need the GSA SmartPay logo, go here:
http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/content/offerings_content.jsp?contentOID=119096&contentType=1004
5) Posting product specific information, or links to information, that helps the buyer make a decision is good on several levels. First, it immediately gives the buyer a reason to visit you again: you are providing a service that helps the buying decision. Second, it begins to position your company as a trusted partner, because you are providing "impartial" information. This is basic viral marketing – providing information to a targeted community, which will, in turn, share it with other members of the community.
6) The ability of your page to load quickly is critical to get people to visit the first time. A large percentage of people will not wait more than a 30-45 seconds for a page to load. Although many federal employees have faster access, many still rely on slower (even 56K) connections, and consequently have longer waits. The problem here is simple: design your home page to open quickly in the slower arena. If you don’t, not only will they not visit initially, they probably won’t come back. There are almost always other sources for what you offer. If you don’t make your first impression a good one, you are going to be another roadside attraction with no visitors.
7) Your purchasing process has to be seemless. Amy Africa does entire sessions on your shopping cart, carefully enumerating those things which she knows have to be in place. Suffice it to say that the process has to be easy, like Amazon.com. I have been at B-to-B web sites where I couldn’t find the products announced in the company email newsletter. Amazon.com has their patented "one click" ordering (which requires registration), as well as the "normal" ordering process, all designed to make it easy to order from them. And it is easy to order from them.
These items are a baseline for you to begin the process of creating a web customer base. Below are a few items to begin the second stage of the process.
8) Key words embedded on each page: call them meta-tags or whatever else comes to mind, but people use search engines, and search engines are driven by key words and phrases. If these words and phrases don’t appear on each of your pages, the engines will not drive traffic to you.
9) News on your niche: this is different from product information, which can be a white paper on ergonomics (if you sell furniture). News for your site should include generic timely information on your industry, including new product information, information from trade associations, merger and acquisitions within the industry, and the like. This allows you to start acting like a portal for your business niche.
10) Email newsletter: a bi-weekly newsletter with the highlights from "News", as well as product specials and other press release material, is an excellent way to stay in touch with buyers and others who will register on your site to receive this free publication. Information on staff if okay, but I’ve seen newsletters which go a little too far in this regard (I don’t care what your cat’s name is!). Keep to the real industry news, and include information on your company as well as monthly specials.
11) Acknowledge various federal holidays: date your home page and acknowledge all holidays. Two years ago we saw two military sites which did not recognize Memorial Day, an unforgivable oversight.
12) Links to other informative sites: link to all pertinent, non-competitive sites, like trade associations and controlled circulation publications. You can link directly to articles in publications that mention you favorably. Be certain the links are active. Often you can post these articles on your site with permission.
13) Bestseller lists: list your best-selling products and your up-and-coming products. People like lists, and this should encourage your best sellers to be even better performers.
14) Monitor all of the above: monitor each of the above on a regular basis (no less than twice each month) and don’t let any fall through the cracks.
The way to encourage web visits, then translate these into sales, is to be as proactive as time allows.
This list is designed to be a "tip of the iceberg", a beginning. I welcome any additions you might think of!
********
Amtower & Company List Info Update: New Federal IT Mailing List
Amtower & Company is pleased to announce our first list of Federal IT professionals. This list is comprised of Federal IT personnel who have attended various government-sponsored and hosted IT conferences, seminars, and other events. There are over 55,000 individuals on this list, representing all government agencies, each of whom has attended a Federally-sponsored or hosted event within the past year. We will be updating this file quarterly as we identify new events & re-FOIA other data.
This list is available for one-time list rental or for unlimited use, annual license (for the exclusive use of the licensing company only; no third party use under any circumstances).
List rental is $115/1,000 names, with a minimum of 5,000 names. Selects are geographic and agency, and are $10/1,000.
Orders from new clients require prepayment; all others are net 30.
Our other lists include
- 165,000 Federal Credit Cardholders
- 8,000 Senior Federal Executives
- 70,000 Federal Purchasing activities
- 265,000 in the combined Federal database
- 360,000 government contractors.
Amtower & Company also creates marketing databases for individual companies, based on discipline, agency and geographic criteria. Complete information on these and our consulting services is available at www.FederalDirect.net, or by calling 301-924-0058. Call MeritDirect @ 203-541-2322 for rate cards. Amtower & Company has been in the government mailing list business since 1985, and there are no better compiled Federal lists available.
To order, or if you have questions, please call, email or write: Mark Amtower, Amtower & Company, P.O. Box 314, Highland MD 20777-0339 301-924-0058 amtower@erols.com
********
www.GovernmentComputerSecurity.com
Several months ago we quietly launched www.GovernmentComputerSecurity.com, and slowly started populating it with data. In June, I met with and agreed to partner with industry veteran Karen Schwartz, who is our site and email newsletter editor. Ms Schwartz has written for Government Computer News, Washington Technology, Government Executive and others. Three e-newsletters have gone out in August, and feedback from readers and site visitors has been terrific.
The site is designed to be an information portal for anything concerning IT security in the public sector – events (with events listed a full year in advance), news, products, contracts, article links, association links, agency links, and more.
We post event information and press releases (edited) without charge.
On the paid advertising front, we are looking for site sponsors, product and contract advertisers, and newsletter sponsors. We are looking for long-term relationships. Those interested in advertising should contact me at amtower@erols.com.
********
Amtower & Company Business Partner Profiles: CapITal Reps
Contact Information
Telephone 703-715-2677
FAX 703-715-2679
1801 Reston Parkway, Suite 102
Reston, VA 20190
Web site http://www.capitalreps.com
E-mail General Information: capreps@capitalreps.com
Principal: Richard Mackey
I’ve known Richard Mackey since his days at Falcon Microsystems and have followed his career with interest. When he opened CapITal Reps in 1997 offering GSA Schedule services, I was able to recommend his services to several of the companies that called me. I still do. And I know I won’t get bad feedback from those I refer.
Richard offers a cost-effective GSA Schedule negotiation, and many add-on services if the client needs them (and most should take advantage of these until they are up to speed). His end-of-week email, the IT eNewsletter is a great wrap-up of the Federal IT week. His web site offers a ton of useful information.
CapITal Reps, along with Amtower & Company, Market Connections and the Digital Government Institute also sponsors the Government Marketing Forum, a monthly breakfast seminar held at the Tower Club. Each month there is a marketing topic discussed by an expert of panel. The fee is a modest $35.
********
The Amtower B2G Market Report is published and copyrighted by Amtower & Company. It combines our former newsletters into a single, bi-weekly newsletter for companies targeting the government marketplace. Contact us at Amtower & Company, PO Box 339, Ashton, MD 20861-0339 (301-924-0058). This material is copyrighted and may not be duplicated, reprinted or otherwise replicated without written permission of the publisher. EMAIL subscriptions are free by request: sign up at www.FederalDirect.net.
