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Inbound Marketing for Government Contractors

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Posted by John Beveridge on Mar 22, 2012 8:43:00 AM

Inbound marketing for government contractorsThe conventional wisdom regarding inbound marketing in B2G situations used to be that the buyer, sitting behind a secure network, paid scant attention to information found on social media sites or Google searches.  This conventional wisdom would have you believe that the buyer was using the Yellow Pages to call sellers to see if they might be able to meet their procurement needs.

However, this is not the case – there are 3 billion Google searches per day[1] and 46% of them are for information on goods or services[2].   Nearly 2/3 of US internet users regularly use a social network[3].  Contracting officers are keeping current on their fields of expertise using the internet – reading blogs, participating in LinkedIn groups and creating Google alerts on topics within their fields of expertise.  Companies that want to sell to these people should take note – they need to take action to make sure that they get found when procurement officials turn to the web.  That action is to implement an inbound marketing process.

 Inbound marketing is a four-step process:

  1.  Get Found – use blogging, search engine optimization and social media tools to generate more traffic and leads from your website

  2. Generate Leads – use offers such as E-Books or a free software trial to convert a website visitor to a lead.

  3. Drive Sales from Online Leads – use lead nurturing to mirror the buying process and engage buyers as they move towards a purchase.

  4. Analyze and Optimize – measure all aspects of the inbound marketing process to qualify leads for sales readiness and tailor content for a greater impact.

For government contractors looking to diversify into the commercial space, inbound marketing is a must.  Technology buyers are among the most active buyers on the web – they use social media networks like Twitter not only to draw traffic to their websites, but also to connect with like-minded people to talk about YOUR products and services.

 Inbound marketing is particularly useful for B2G situations 18-24 months prior to the contract award.   When the procurement official is researching potential solutions, it is important to get on his or her radar screen before they write the RFP.  In a limited competition procurement, you want to make sure to get on the bidders list.  When they turn to the web to find potential solutions, you want them to find you and to keep coming back to your site as they move forward with the procurement process. 

For many smaller government contractors who haven’t optimized their websites for business development, there is a lot of low hanging fruit.  Some of the best things to do when you’re starting your inbound marketing process are:

  •  Ask your customers and employees to come up with 3-5 word phrases that describe your business.  For example - one might be “small business certified cybersecurity company”.  Optimize your website for those keyword phrases.   Remember, search engines read from right to left and only read the first 6-8 words – use “Small Business Cybersecurity Services | XYZ Technologies” instead of “Welcome to XYZ Technologies” as the title for your home page.

  • Create a blog, publish on a weekly or more frequent basis and promote the blog through social media.  Companies that blog have 55% more site visitors than those that don’t according to the Hubspot 2012 State of Inbound Marketing.

  • If you’re a small local business, register on Google Places, Yahoo! Local and Bing Local.  Search engine algorithms are placing increasing weight on local businesses.  In addition, 20% of Google searches are for local businesses.

I recently saw an example of a great use of inbound marketing – while attending a meeting at the offices of a major defense contractor, I checked in on a geo-based social media site called Foursquare.  When I checked in at the contractor’s meeting room, I was immediately offered an opportunity to “like” the company on Facebook.  If a top 5 defense contractor is using social media, you should start speaking their language.

To summarize, government contractors should seriously consider the opportunities that inbound marketing presents - if you’re not, your competitors are.

 

[1] Search Engine Land, February 2010

[2] SRI, October 2010

[3] EMarketer, February 2011

2013-essential-guide-to-inbound-marketing

Topics: Inbound Marketing, Government Contractors

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