Effective Email Campaigns
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Effective Email Campaigns
Now that you have been educated on what a Prime is, how to find them, and what to say to them, we can discuss more efficient ways of doing outreach. For many, one of the most accessible and effective ways to introduce your company to a wide range of Prime Contractors is by creating an effective email campaign.
How Do You Create an Effective Email Campaign?
There are three fundamental steps to creating an effective email campaign. They are as follows:
Know who you want to partner with.
This can be determined several ways, but we normally start with companies that operate with your NAICS Codes and are local to your business
Know what you’re selling.
Are you selling a product or a service? Who needs it, who has bought it before, and how would it fit into their business model?
Know the opportunity you bring.
Here is where we get into your company’s differentiators. We need to know what sets you apart from the competition, and why a potential partner should be interested in you.
Examples: Set-Asides, innovative technology, qualified personnel, and Past Performance.
To send out bulk emails rather than one at a time, we recommend selecting one of the platform websites below.
Popular email campaign providers:
www.MailChimp.com
www.ConstantContact.com
www.Klaviyo.com
www.NetcoreCloud.com
www.SendGrid.com
Important Note: Your capabilities statement should already include the majority of this information and will act as the primary document when you introduce your business.
What Will We Complete for You
Our team will generate a list of up to 1,000 prime contractors that are matched to your industry and geographic area. Then, we’ll launch a targeted email campaign introducing your firm’s capabilities as a viable choice for sub-prime opportunities. To find which Primes would be the best fit for your company to connect with, we’ll search your business’ NAICS Codes, relevant keywords, and geographic area to find the best businesses that have been awarded federal contracts within your industry. That way your company is being placed in front of the people who need your services the most.
Email Marketing
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What Are the Next Steps After the Email Campaign?
Following the Email Marketing Campaign, we’ll conduct an Open Rate Report (ORR) that allows us to view the vital data of who opened and viewed the emails and how often they returned to look at them. This provides us with information to determine which businesses are most interested in your capabilities and then allows us to create a research driven follow-up to connect and build relationships for subcontracting opportunities.
How Do You Read the ORR Analysis?
Start by opening the excel workbook and click on the “Opens” tab from the sheet menu at the bottom.
Columns Explained:
Column A
Email addresses that opened your email
Column B
Date stamp of the last time they opened your email
Column C
Total times the email address opened your email
Column D
Date of Marketing Blast
Excel Sheets Explained:
Masterlist
The list of all the contacts and their information
- The list is color coordinated based on which marketing campaign the contact opened the email in for easy filtering.
Opens
The list of every contact that opened or interacted with the marketing campaign. Along with data for how often they reviewed it
- This will include every contact from each wave of the Marketing Campaign
Interpreting the ORR
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MC No
The list of every contact that did not open or interact with the marketing campaign (MC)
- MCs are organized by number. (i.e. MC 1 No is the first round that was sent out, MC 2 No was the second, and so on and so forth).
Outreach Log
A fillable sheet for you to record your follow-ups with interested Primes
How Do You Determine Interested Candidates?
During the meeting your Select GCR advisor will walk you through the ORR to show you the Primes that engaged the most with your email marketing campaign. Take the top list of respondents and build it into a lead list to follow up with. The order in which you rank the Primes on level of importance to contact will be as follows:
- Primes that directly responded to the email campaign
- Either by email, phone call, or meeting request
- Primes that opened the email campaign more than once
- Primes that opened the email campaign only once
- Top Primes that you are positive would be interested in your products/services
How Do You Research the Interested Prime Candidates?
Once you have a list of interested contacts, it is time to research their capabilities and past awarded contracts for gaps you can fill. Use Select GCR Pro or USA Spending to determine the Prime’s status and capabilities. What are their registered NAICS Codes? Do they have socioeconomic certificates, such as WOSB, SDVOSB, or 8(a), and where are they working primarily?
Start thinking of where your company could fit into theirs. Do you have a certification that they don’t have, and so partnering with you would mean that Prime would have access to even more opportunities? Perhaps their business is constantly transporting materials or personnel to your local area, and you could help reduce costs with your onsite staff and resources. Or maybe you’ve done market research and have identified an ongoing issue with either their product or the way they’re implementing it.
Once you’ve established a general overview of their company, it’s time to start viewing their Past Awards. Identify their active contracts, what agencies they most frequently work with, and any cycles or patterns in their bids. Look for recurring bids that will be renewed soon, determine if they are awarded a wide variety of contracts or if they are hyper specialized, and gauge if there is any overlap between your company’s capabilities and theirs.
Finding & Researching Primes in Select Pro
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Searching for Top Primes
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How Do You Follow-Up with Primes?
Whether you are reintroducing yourself to a Prime or following up on their response to your email marketing campaign, we have all the templates you could ever need. All you must do is use our pre-made templates, fill in your information, then start contacting interested parties.
Useful Email Templates:
Introducing Yourself to a Prime
Email Sequence to Send to Prime Contractors
- Use this template as a follow up after you’ve introduced yourself
Teaming Opportunity
- Use this when you’re going to bid on a contract and want to find another company to act as your Subcontractor.
- This would be used if your business is not qualified to bid on the contract, due to Set-Asides or size standards, or if the technical aspects of the job are outside the scope of your current capabilities.
Creating an Effective Email Message
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Make sure to follow up with phone calls and to go that extra mile with a value proposition and/or a planned elevator pitch.
Value Proposition
Elevator Pitch
What’s the Homework?
Before we begin the next module, work with your team to complete the following items.
Call or Email a Prime
from either the list of contacts we provided you with, or from your own searches in Select GCR Pro or USA Spending.
Contact a Prime
that has an active contract and position your business to become one of their subcontractors.