A participant at my recent presentation to the PMI of Willamette Valley asked me, “How can my small business benefit from marketing, if the business is a government contractor in a highly specialized niche?”
At the time, my reply focused on employing market research and business intelligence to simply develop a business model that would be positioned to provide the best solution for the government purchasing agent’s requirements, before they ever even posted an RFP. I went on to speculate that price would be a more important factor than branding, in a government purchasing agent’s decision-making process, when evaluating bids on a government contract.
While perhaps technically correct, my answer overlooked some of the excitement that goes along with marketing done well. And as marketers, the excitement we experience is based on our ability to connect with customers.
A better answer
A better answer would have been, that a recognizable reputation for excellence, coupled with a strong ability to concisely state the value delivered by this contractor, are “branding” efforts that would definitely pay off even in the government services sector: because a strong and instantly believable value proposition (promise to deliver) would make the bidder more likely to win the contract.
Increase close rate
I would guess that for most government contractors, improving the “close rate” on their bids would be a welcome goal. For a contractor in this position, I would therefore conclude, that branding is indeed a highly worthwhile investment.
Increase referrals
Branding makes your company more referable. People are more likely to mention you by name, if they can remember the name! Branding is the study of making you more memorable.
Every learning opportunity is a teaching opportunity; so I thought I would share this one, here.