5 Effective Marketing Strategies for Government Contractors
Government contractors face many challenges in their business. While contracting with the federal government can be a challenging task on its own, it is preceded by the problem of marketing themselves to government agencies. Small businesses need to use marketing strategies to open themselves to U.S. federal contracting opportunities.
This article will discuss the effective marketing strategies for government contractors that businesses must implement when marketing their products or services to the government (federal, state, and local government levels).
Top 5 Marketing Strategies for Government Contractors
While marketing strategies for government contractors used to be simpler, the introduction of digital marketing has changed the industry. Now, new and effective marketing strategies are being introduced that can help small businesses connect with government agencies and stay ahead of their competition.
1. SEO Marketing
One of the best marketing strategies for government contractors is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is a marketing strategy to ensure a high ranking of your website on Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). Since more than 93% of people use online searches to find business, search engines have also become an important marketing strategy for U.S. government contractors.
Using SEO strategies, government contractors can ensure that the result shown for any particular service or product searched online is for their web page. This allows better reachability for government contractors.
However, there are many things to consider when applying SEO marketing strategies.
Research
One of the main things involved in SEO marketing is keyword research. Keywords refer to the words or phrases used by government agencies to search for a business. These keywords are either long-tailed or short-tailed, and businesses must incorporate both kinds to get the most hits.
Moreover, you must also research your target audience. You must find out what services and products your customers are most interested in and what they are likely to search for. Remember that you are optimizing your business content for government agencies and must use appropriate keywords.
Optimize Website and Content
Once you have completed your research, you can optimize your content to ensure you get higher rankings on result pages. However, optimization must be done carefully and involves many tasks.
You must optimize your website with different niche-specific keywords. Moreover, you should also optimize the title and meta description of our website content. The title and description are your website’s first impressions that attract visitors.
2. Content Marketing Strategy
Content marketing is one of the most common effective marketing strategies for government contractors and B2G businesses.
Content marketing refers t creating niche-specific content that can help attract visitors to your site. Content marketing is often done in collaboration with SEO marketing strategies. This is because the content itself must be optimized to increase visibility.
The content you create must be specific to the services you provide. Moreover, the content must be based on what your target audience requires. The most read content is based on “How to Guides” and troubleshooting problems. Some of the types of content you can use include:
· Blog posts
· Listicles
· How-to guides
· Videos and infographics
· Ebooks
There are many benefits to content marketing. Not only does it increase visibility for government contractors, but it also helps government agencies understand your business and services. Moreover, content is a great way to show off your skills and expertise, improving trust in your business.
Content can either be informative or promotional. However, for maximum efficacy, you can combine both types. At the end of the content, you must add a call to action (CTA) that links back to your website.
However, the content you create must be educational and teach the reader about any problem they are having or how to use a service. Moreover, you must frequently publish new and value-added content.
3. Web Design
94% of first impressions are related to your website. That means that before an agency even looks into your services and rates, they have made up half their mind. Therefore, website marketing is an essential factor and one of the most crucial marketing strategies for government contractors.
There are several things to keep in mind during your website marketing approach. First, you must consider your website layout and design, including your website aesthetics. Include different colors that suit your business and add different pages such as an about us, contact, service, and product page. These pages can serve as landing pages for your content marketing strategies.
You can also add pictures and infographics to ensure readability and attract viewer attention. Moreover, you must also focus on user-friendly layouts. This includes making your website mobile-friendly. More than half of the people visiting your website use a mobile device. Therefore, you must make it easier for them to navigate through your website.
4. Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the most marketing strategies for government contractors. Email marketing is a form of digital marketing that involves sending information to your customers and email lists. This is an effective way to engage your federal buying audience directly and cost-effectively.
Email marketing is perfect for retaining customers. Once you get a better idea of what the government agency requires, you can target your marketing to their needs. This allows you to reach out to the agency to pursue future contracts.
5. Pay Per Click Marketing
Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing strategies are enormously helpful for B2G contractors. PPC involves running advertisements to encourage government industries to avail of your services.
These advertisements can run on google search engine result pages, ensuring that your website is at the top whenever a relevant topic is searched. However, these words will have the “Ad” written next to them, so the agencies can know this is paid content.
However, research shows that 65% of intent searches come from ad clicks. Therefore PPC is relevant to your marketing strategy. Your ads are optimized for your niche and usually involve keyword bidding to help rank your website.
PPC marketing is one of the best marketing strategies for government contractors to increase their visibility and click rate.
Bottom Line
Federal contracting opportunities seldom come knocking on your door. Therefore, B2G companies need to do whatever they can. One of the best contracting methods with the federal government is using different marketing strategies for government contractors.
You can also get help from government contractor services that can help you develop new marketing strategies for your B2G company.
Contact the Federal Contracting Center today to learn how we can assist with SAM registration & renewals, DSBS registration & optimization, and government contract consulting.