Differentiate or Die!

How your company can get on the radar of key government influencers

and primes

It’s easy to be average

But average will get you nothing in the government market

Specialize

then excel!

A little background- I was

• The second child…

• One of a hundred in 2008…

• #3 in 2009…

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 4

I am

• Among the best known people in the GovCon community

• The only consultant in the GovCon market to win the Top 100 marketers

• Always working on improving my online presence

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 5

Let’s start off with a premise-

That you are here because you’d like to win more federal business-

Agreed?

So, how are you going to stand out?

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 7

What are you currently doing to

Raise your visibility in a way that resonates within your

community?

Relationships rule in the GovCon community

But how & where are you developing them

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 9

Networking Activities

• Association participation

• Attend agency briefings

• Find and/or create venues to share

• Attend seminars

• Leverage LinkedIn

• Develop relationships with key players

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 10

Quick Quiz: do any of these messages resonate?

• Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business

• Ensuring Your Success Through Our Experience

• Our business philosophy is to provide a quality product at a fair and reasonable price through the teaming/partnering concept.

• Intelligently adapting technology

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 11

Your message is a first impression

And it needs to sing your song loud and clear

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 12

Which of these messages

Will you respond to?

Hi, my name is Mark

I’m a marketing guy who does what everyone else does

Hi- I’m Mark Amtower

I help companies stand out & win business in the world’s largest

market

If you own intellectual real estate – say so!

Define it- Claim it- Defend it

Can you

Define your intellectual real estate in terms that resonate in your niche?

Eric Schmidt’s message

Is short and to the point

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 19

Is Database Visions

The only company that offers Oracle services?

Intellectual real estate

Can be claimed in ANY market niche

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 22

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 23

Neil Gordon: Decorating with Fabric

• Drapery expert

• “green” drapery

• Blogger

• Hosts 2/x month “lunch & learns”

• Has become pervasive in NYC area

• Recognized by the ‘trade” & federal facility managers as “the drapery expert”

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 24

Developing your expertise

• Read the trade publications- comment on the articles

• Professional education/certificates

• Find and/or create venues to share: blogs, webinars, podcasts, seminars

• Attend seminars

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 25

There are two things to do…

Differentiate your company, then differentiate your staff

Differentiating your company

• 1- define your area of strength.

• 2- envision where you are in your niche- what is your market position?

• 3- what makes your company different?

• 4 – will this resonate in your market?

• 5 – can you support your claim to this niche?

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 27

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 28

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 29

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 30

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 31

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 32

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 33

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 34

Differentiating your staff

• 1- In-house training program

• 2- Professional certifications & CEUs

• 3- Ongoing industry education

• 4 – Demonstrated employee retention

• 5 – Consistent social media activity/training

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 35

Content and Context

• 1- develop content that supports your niche claim

• 2- content as webinars, white papers, podcasts, blogs, video, e-books, etc

• 3- share the content in the right context (venue)

• 4- share in LI groups, Twitter, YouTube, online press releases….

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 36

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 37

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 38

Content may be king

But delivery is the ace!

Carahsoft Technology

• 7 years old • Software reseller • Intense ongoing staff training • Fastest growing company in the government

market • End of year 7- $1 billion in sales • All organic growth • An archive of over 1,000 webinars

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 40

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 41

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 42

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 43

You don’t have to do it all….

But what you select to do, do very well!

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 44

Home stretch

What separates the winners from the whiners

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 45

7 Habits of companies that don’t win • The battle cry is “I’m going to get to it!”

• “We want a level playing field”

• Web site is full of platitudes & adjectives- no beef; LI profile less informative than web site

• Employees offer no consistent message

• All conversations prefaced with small business status

• They’re waiting for the phone to ring

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 46

7th Habit

Whining about

OCCWs

7 habits of companies that DO win

• They know what they do well & say so

• Web sites with more than simply capabilities & business status

• Active on social media & trade groups

• Generating pertinent content

• Disseminating pertinent content

• Employees proactive & on message

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 48

7th Habit

Learning from losses &

improving win ratio

Let’s end with a premise-

That you are here because you’d like to win more

federal business- So, what are you doing next?

Differentiate

And thrive!

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 51

Thank you!

Mark Amtower

mark@federaldirect.net

Look me up on LinkedIn

Copyrigjht 2012, Mark Amtower 52