Marketing to the public sector is already a unique task in comparison to marketing in the private sector. There are different regulations, priorities and challenges to be considered. But what about the differences between federal-level marketing and state and local level marketing? Surely there can’t be a one-size-fits-all approach to government marketing given the vast dissimilarities in task execution and agendas on the local level.
On a recent episode of Federal News Radio’s Market Chat!, Government Marketing University hosts a discussion with public sector marketers about the differences between marketing to federal government audiences and more localized government audiences. The panel includes Karen Borosky, NetApp’s Senior Field Marketing Manager for State and Local Government and Education. Karen touches on several crucial matters with regards to state and local government marketing including the growing relationship between government bodies and private vendors, differentiators between state/local government and federal government marketing strategy, and key thought leadership areas in the space.
Karen notes that state and local governments “really are leaning more and more on technology experts to help them figure out how to be more efficient and impactful, particularly as citizens are looking for more services and better services.” She even points out that local and state governments are noticeably more receptive to utilizing outside technologies and local vendors.
A major consideration for public sector marketers is that state and local governments are highly diversified and distributed, so leveraging insights from your sales and engineering teams will help you stay focused on the accounts that matter most. Karen employs the old adage of “don’t boil the ocean” when discussing how overwhelming it can be when trying to market to several disparate offices and committees.
Cloud computing, cybersecurity and broadband/connectivity are thought leadership areas that Karen is seeing the most traction in lately for government marketers. Cloud computing is of course a priority for governments, both local and federal. So much so that some states like Ohio and Maryland are even creating their own private clouds for more streamlined government work. To no one’s surprise, cybersecurity closely follows as a priority with the constantly increasing threats of ransomware and the perceived vulnerability of cloud storage. That said, state and local government understand that broadband and connectivity impacts citizens on a daily basis and by embracing concepts like the Internet of Things, they can create a safer, more intuitive community for their constituents.
You can hear the entire discussion around optimizing marketing for state and local governments below or here on Federal News Radio.
