Challenge – In December of 2019, global digital services and solutions company Presidio Inc. was acquired by European investment firm BC Partners. Foreign owned companies doing business with the federal government are required to mitigate the risk of foreign ownership and control through an official process that prevents unauthorized access to classified information. This official process is called Foreign Ownership Control and Influence (FOCI) mitigation.
Presidio Federal, a wholly owned subsidiary of Presidio was created and staffed to serve federal government customers with technology services and solutions tailored to government needs and budget cycles. However, branding, marketing strategy, messaging, materials, systems, and budgets needed to be established in the short term. In the longer term, the company needed a flexible marketing staffing plan that considered the company’s growth and priorities after 12 – 18 months of operation.
Solution – Hire a marketing organization that provides dedicated, strategic, short and long-term marketing resources that will work with Presidio Federal’s senior staff to develop and implement the Crawl/Walk/Run marketing strategy. This strategy needed to consider both the government customers and the OEM partners who are key players in the company’s success.
Overview – In March of 2021, Presidio Federal hired 3WayDigital lead by Trish Barber, an experienced government CMO, to establish the marketing strategy, plan, and budget, and to subsequently hire the in-house team that would execute on the vision. In the short term, Presidio Federal leveraged 3WaysDigital’s team of writers, designers, videographers, web developers, and social media experts to get things up and running while in-house staffing needs could be determined. 3WaysDigital provided the leadership and eventually oversaw the hiring of a two-person in-house marketing team as well as several other service organizations that support Presidio Federal’s marketing efforts.
Deliverables/Responsibilities – In March of 2021, Trish Barber assumed the role of SVP of Marketing and leveraged the 3WD team of resources to:
- Create and manage the Presidio Federal web presence https://presidiofederal.com/ and content marketing strategy
- Development of content for all social media channels (including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube
- Develop and implement the fiscal year 2022 and 2023 marketing budgets
- Development of marketing communications materials including case studies, capabilities PPTs, downloadable slicks, videos, a quarterly eNewsletter, landing pages for lead collection, signage and materials for use in trade shows as well as company branded apparel for employees
- Creation of marketing slides for board of directors meetings and all-hands employee meetings
- Supported the proposal development team with digital materials
- Management of PR Announcements
- Responding to all press inquiries
- Evaluating and selecting marketing opportunities with relevant federal media partners
- OEM Partner Marketing program development
- Management of events and executive appearances
- Participation in security trainings required for all contractors and employees working for organizations with security clearances
Results
- The Presidio Federal web presence was launched three months after 3WD started with the company and has gone through a rebranding since the original launch to match the most recent company cybersecurity strategy
- Two marketing budgets were successfully implemented with OEMs supplementing hundreds of thousands of additional dollars for co-branded marketing programs and events
- Presidio Federals lead list has increased to tens of thousands of marketing qualified leads in 24 months
- Presidio Federal is a search result in all relevant keywords related to government technology service and solutions
- Solid marketing partnerships have been established to support Presidio Federal in the ongoing delivery of its marketing programs including OEM’s, distributors, federal media organizations, web hosting companies, video and audio content creators, and freelance resources
- Sponsorship of large, relevant industry events such as the Cyberscape Insider Threats Event or Evening of Honors Gala
- Successfully managed press announcements such as the company’s partnership with Peraton, or the executive appointments of Seth Nylund as SVP of Sales, or Thad Anderson
- Successfully implemented a quarterly eNewsletter
- Ongoing content marketing programs have been established featuring the technical expertise of the Presidio Federal Solution Architects
- Social media growth on our primary social media channel, LinkedIn, has increased by 1600% in 24 months