The defense and government contracting (GovCon) industries are some of the most competitive sectors in the nation. Government contracts are highly valued and can lead to large profits. But, they’re difficult to acquire and require contractors to build substantial trust over the long term to secure the most valuable and prestigious contracts. 

As a result of this competitive landscape and unique sales cycle, many defense and GovCon firms are using multi-touch marketing campaigns to reach new clients, win contracts, and increase revenue. 

Since these sales cycles often last several months, and sometimes even years, and involve complex decision-making with multiple stakeholders, sustaining engagement through multi-touch marketing is key. That’s because multi-touch marketing campaigns allow vendors to build trust and establish credibility, even across multiple stakeholders with their interests and goals.  

In this article, we’ll walk you through the best way to market in this unique sector, from establishing brand awareness to finalizing the contract. We’ll also give you practical tips to make your multi-touch campaigns more effective—and ultimately help you land more clients. 

Marketing to defense and GovCon buyers is different from traditional business-to-business (B2B) sales. The sales process can take an incredibly long time, from just a couple of months to several years.  

You also have to develop messaging that appeals to different stakeholders with varying degrees of technical skills. These include internal technical experts, procurement officials, and compliance experts.  

That’s why it’s so important that you understand exactly which types of stakeholders you’re trying to reach in your marketing campaigns. You need to dive deep into buyer personas, understanding their biggest challenges, financial interests, and goals for the project. You’ll need to address each of these issues for each stakeholder when you market for government contracts. 

You won’t have a place in the room if your buyers don’t know that you exist. That’s why the first step in the multi-touch marketing process is building brand awareness. To do this, you’ll need to reach them where they consume news and information and show them you’re relevant to their needs—and equipped to solve their biggest challenges. 

The first step is content marketing. It’s important to develop a robust company website that demonstrates your credibility. Focus on the following pieces of content for government buyers: 

• Blog Posts 
• White Papers 
• eBooks 
• Thought Leadership Articles 
• Guest Posts or Sponsored Content 

Make sure your content is relevant to your target buyer personas. It’s also important to develop a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy that helps you rise up Google’s rankings and make it to the first page of results.  

Aim for long-tail keywords first to score early wins, then transition to shorter (and more competitive) keywords over the long term to completely dominate your space. 

It’s also important to post regular updates and solicit followers on common professional websites, like LinkedIn. This is where many white-collar professionals live. It’s important to realize that you’ll be able to reach far more users on social media than you will with website content. If you post regular content, you’ll be able to stay top of mind for buyers and generate major brand awareness with weekly content. 

Now that you’ve established basic brand awareness, it’s time to build trust and interest among prospects. This is a long-term process, and there’s simply no quick fix. But you can gradually build trust among decision-makers and increase the number of government contracts by posting success stories and other key information on your website and then leveraging that content on social media.  

Perhaps the most effective type of content is the client case study. These success stories demonstrate how your firm has helped other government agencies overcome major challenges and achieve results that the prospective customer can relate to.  

In addition, GovCon firms should place a heavy emphasis on original thought leadership. This includes op-eds, research reports, surveys, and other types of original research that can’t be found anywhere else. 

Finally, you can partner with other successful brands and recognized experts to publish co-branded content. This type of content includes the logos and information from your company and your partner, and allows you to capitalize on their brand recognition to build even more credibility. Sponsored Content is a great way to leverage this. 

Next, it’s time to build enduring relationships and generate desire among prospects by building on the brand awareness and trust you’ve already established.  

GovCon firms may also want to focus on in-depth interactive content, like webinars, podcasts, and product demos, to show leads how your firm works and exactly how they can help clients succeed. Host live Q&A sessions at the end of each of these to proactively address prospect objections and increase success rates.

At this point in the sales funnel, you’ve established clear brand awareness, trust in your capabilities, and generated engagement with prospects.

To increase lead closing rates, make sure to include clear calls to action (CTAs) within your credibility and awareness content. Make sure each CTA is specific and relevant to the target audience. The most common types of CTAs are those that encourage prospects to schedule a demo, request a proposal, or set up a free consultation.

In addition, you can use account-based marketing (ABM) to focus on clients with the highest return on investment. By limiting your ABM campaigns to a handful of high-value clients, you can personalize your messaging, offers, and CTAs even more. This leads to a higher success rate and, ultimately, more profitable and experience-aligned contracts.

Succeeding in the defense and GovCon industries is a long-term game that requires consistent effort and multiple touchpoints with potential clients.  

Multi-touch campaigns help you build brand awareness and trust, all before you ever engage with marketing leads and start pitching them.  

According to a presentation from the October 2024 GAIN Conference, a prospect could be shopping your website and social channels for 12-18 months before they take action, and become a lead.  In that same data, Forrester states that 74% of buyers conduct more than half their research online before making a purchase.  Mckinsey reinforces that by stating 2/3 of the buying process is done digitally. 

By demonstrating your value and strategic capabilities through the AIDA marketing funnel, you can succeed in this ultra-competitive market and navigate the complex sales cycle with confidence. 

Start building your multi-touch strategy with AMG Defense Tech now. Contact us to see how our team of GovCon experts can help you build an effective multi-touch campaign that produces real results and lands more government contracts.