Hello from the Other Side: Secrets to DBE Marketing Success
Posted by MarCom2324 on May. 10, 2023 / Subscribe 0
A.D. Marble began as a small, woman-woman owned Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE). After graduating from DBE status and then spending 17 years as an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), A.D. Marble again became a DBE in January 2022 when our President became sole owner. While most firms eventually graduate from the DBE program, we knew with the forecast for priming opportunities, reverting to a DBE status would expand our teaming opportunities. The past year following our change back to a DBE has been transformative, intense and exciting. Below are some best practices for DBE firms, and reminders to larger firms of the challenges DBEs face:
- Market your status. For A.D. Marble, this involved a mix of email blasts, social media posts, updated logos/promotional items/merchandise, and one-on-one discussions with clients when we officially became a DBE. We instantly saw interest from firms who we hadn’t worked with in years or ever. This was exciting but we also made an effort to nurture existing client relationships that had been consistently strong. This is where stellar business development and relationship building skills came in to play.
- Create individualized marketing plans. We created individualized marketing plans for different geographic markets. For example, the state of Maryland has very high DBE requirements so we knew we needed a well thought out and strategic approach to reach clients and teaming partners to take advantage of the available opportunities.
- Enhance organization and time management. With an immediate increase in teaming requests and in workload due to participation on more proposal teams, getting overwhelmed was easy to do. For proposal managers to avoid this, it requires highly focused organization and time management to meet deadlines set by prime contractors, attention to detail (like personalizing letters of commitments for each teaming partner – avoiding the temptation to cut and paste and the possibility of missing something), and keeping other team members on schedule with their proposal responsibilities.
- Track everything. DBEs are required to keep their finances under specific thresholds. Ensuring you don’t exceed those requires pristine tracking of current workload and backlog and a strong go/no-go process. There might be times when a project that fits your strategic plan will result in a no-go decision to avoid the risk of exceeding financial limits.
Rebecca Custer, CPSM
Business Development Manager, A.D. Marble
Rebecca is the Business Development Manager for A.D. Marble. She is responsible for overseeing business development company-wide as well as leading marketing and proposal efforts. After spending years in the non-profit and political fields, she started her career in AEC eight years ago with A.D. Marble as the Marketing Coordinator. Her collaboration with A.D. Marble’s talented graphic designer, the company has won two SMPS Philly Marketing Communications Awards, as well as one National award. She has served on the SMPS board for over 6 years, both as a committee person, former Education Director and is currently the Program Director. Outside of the professional realm, Rebecca is a member of the Bucks County Women’s History Month Award committee.
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