Today’s government marketers find themselves in an increasingly complex and competitive environment. With a dizzying number of markets (Federal, State, Local, Healthcare, Education), channels (end user, SI’s, partners, alliances, press), tactics, and technologies– creating and excelling in that desired state can seem daunting. For years I have touted “Process Driven Marketing”. Develop a process for your marketing campaigns that is repeatable – the term “Rinse, Wash and Repeat” works well in this scenario. One way to ensure you are doing this is to start with creating a list of what needs to be done for successful execution of your marketing campaign. This list will become your go-to to ensure you’re creating a Process Driven Marketing organization.

To help you with this “rethinking” of how to define your government marketing campaigns and to become a “Process Driven Marketer” I am providing you with a jump start below.

Process Driven Marketing Steps:

Creative Brief: Start with a Creative Brief so that all the steps you follow remain the same for every marketing campaign you execute.

• 25-word description of your marketing campaign
• What are Key Messages?
  • Primary Message – what is the one key message you want to convey?
  • Customer Problem Addressed – describe issues government end users are facing that your product/solution will help with.
  • Customer Problem Solved – describe the way your product/solution addresses these issues.
  • Copy Wrap Up – provide closing copy that makes prospects want to know more about your product/solution. An example could be “Flexible, Efficient Reduce Risks”.
• What is Campaign Call-to-Action (CTA)?
  • I am a fan of atleast 2 CTA’s. (Examples are White Paper, InfoGraphic, Event, Blog, eNewsletter).
• What are your Solution Proof Points?
  • Include proof points that back up your claims for your product/solution. (Examples are customer quotes, partner quotes, news articles, press releases).
• Who is your Target Audience?
  • List areas of government agencies or educational institutions your campaign is focused on.
• What are the Supporting Benefits?
  • What evidence can you offer and why should your target audience believe your claims? (Examples are statistics your company has that backs up your claims such as “60% average reduction in time spent researching and validating data…”.
• What are your Success Metrics?
  • Meet with your sales team and identify marketing campaign success metrics. (Examples are # of leads, # of registrants and # of attendees, # of net new logos).
• What is the Timeline of your Campaign?
  • It is important to define the start date and end date of your marketing campaign to set expectations and create campaign milestones.
• What are your Key Stakeholders Communications?
  • Always ensure you are communication all of your marketing activities with your key stakeholders (sales, corporate marketing, channel partners, business development)
• Is your Marketing Campaign utilizing Market Development Funds (MDF)?
  • OEM: Can you take advantage of MDF dollars with your partners to help broaden your Point of Voice?
  • Channel Partners: Broaden your exposure of your OEM’s product/solution offerings by ensuring one more OEM’s are included in your marketing campaign.
• What is your overall budget for this Marketing Campaign?
  • Is it a one time budget or allocated quarterly? Will you be pulling monies from other sources such as corporate marketing, product marketing, partners, alliances.

Government Marketing University strives to ensure government marketers have what they need when they need it to ensure optimum success. You can download a “Creative Brief” Template on www.gmarku.com to make Process Driven Marketing an easier step for you to follow.