5 Tips for Marketing Your MWBE Certification

1. Identify Your Target Audience; identifying your target audience is not just about finding government agencies or corporations that are buying products and services that you are selling, it’s about where you will have greatest impact in the shortest amount of time. Be realistic about your capabilities and focus your attention on where you will have the maximum chance for success. I tend to favor micro purchases and small purchases as a way to build momentum for smaller, less experienced firms.
2. Find Advocates: many government agencies and large corporations have specific departments that are responsible for outreach to MWBE firms. Find out who those folks are and keep them abreast of your efforts. In addition to internal MWBE Advocates and Supplier Diversity teams I have also found that MWBE Small Business Centers, Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTAC) and Women’s Business Development Centers to be a valuable resource for referrals, training and advocacy.
3. Consistent Communication; statistics show that decisions to purchase are often made between the 8th and 12th contact that a buyer has with a seller. These statistics become extremely important when buyers can use micro purchases or discretionary spending as a way to meet their agency MWBE spending goals. To that end, it’s important to develop a consistent method of staying in touch with buyers at least once a month.
4. Teaming/Sub-Contracting and Strategic Alliances: understanding that government buyers and large corporations prefer to do business with experienced contractors, it’s important that MWBE firms have a methodology for developing relationships with prime contractors. The goal in establishing a teaming/sub-contracting relationship must be for the establishment of a mutually beneficial relationship for both prime/sub-contractor. Consider marketing to prime contractors defining ways that your firm can help them increase market share while concurrently meeting MWBE sub-contracting goals.
5. Focused Approach: while many of us have a lot to offer, it’s important that branding remain consistent. Start out with one product/service at a time and expand as you fully complete and execute on one venture or project. It’s confusing to buyers when one month you market one thing, and the next month it is something else. If you choose to offer more than one product/service make sure it’s consistent with your branding. For example it might make sense for a janitorial firm to offer cleaning products whereas it could be confusing for that same firm to start selling office supplies.
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