How Marketing for the Government Works

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Well, hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Defense Tech Podcast. I am none other than Civilian Sydney. We're here back with a new season that I'm really excited about. Today's episode is a very special one. I had the pleasure of sitting down in person with my co worker, Jillian Honeycutt, AKA Civilian Gillian, who is the lead of program marketing here at NST for the Space Enterprise Consortium program. She has a lot of really interesting insights to share on this episode. I think it's a really special one because it's all about marketing. I know a lot of time on this podcast, we're talking about technology and what's going on in the defense tech space, which this is one of those episodes as well. But we really get kind of a new perspective on what it's like to market for the government, what the challenges are, what the exciting things are, and how we get to really benefit our government customers and provide a lot of value for them here at nstxl. And, you know, we shared a lot of laughs. We had a lot of interesting conversations about what makes effective marketing, especially in the government space, when you're limited, about what you can talk about. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this episode with Civilian Jillian. Please be sure to, like, share, subscribe and reach out with the form below if you're interested in being a guest on the podcast in the future. Thanks so much for being a listener and enjoy. Gillian, hi. Welcome to the podcast. [00:01:34] Speaker B: Thank you. [00:01:35] Speaker A: So happy to have you on. A fellow civilian. [00:01:37] Speaker B: Thank you. [00:01:38] Speaker A: Civilian Jillian, as we say around here. So could you tell the audience who you are, first of all, and then how you got started at nstxl? [00:01:47] Speaker B: Yes. So my name is Jillian Honeycutt. I am a program marketing lead at NSTXcel. I've been with the company for about two years. And what I typically do, or what I like to say that I do, is I. I'm very much an advocate between the government and our consortium members. I work between both of those to ensure that ultimately the government gets the best solution in their hands, but ultimately as well, that industry is prepared to do that. So everything I do, all the decisions that I make are with that. So I spent a lot of time doing that. And my role has the title marketing in it. That is definitely an aspect, but it's a very interesting role and I'm excited to talk about it today. [00:02:33] Speaker A: Exactly. Yeah, we're going to get into all that. But first of all, I want to talk about some of your past jobs, your transition into defense. So you used to Sell cheese. One of my favorite fences about you. You also used to work for Invisalign. [00:02:47] Speaker B: I did. [00:02:48] Speaker A: How did you end up here in the defense industry? Working for the government. [00:02:53] Speaker B: That's an interesting. Yeah, it's a transition from cheese to space and to government and dod. It's definitely. Yeah. It's not a natural transition. It's not one that you think you'd end up in. I think the reason that I ended up here is I always wanted to do something that mattered. So even I'm going to have a hard time explaining why cheese matters, but, you know, let's see if I can do it. Let's see. But for Ed Invisalign, for example, if there's a mission attached to that. [00:03:21] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:03:22] Speaker B: Giving people confidence, smiling obviously, is a big aspect of life. It's something that people need to feel confident doing. And so I always found, like, a lot of motivation or reward in being able to do that. So when I worked on Invisalign, that was something important to me. And I think when I was looking for my next role, I wanted to feel that again. And so that's how I ended up here. And it definitely blows it out of the water. No offense to Invisalign, but this is very impactful and very meaningful, what we do every day. [00:03:59] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. I totally agree. So, like, what was it like transitioning from those civilian jobs into this job? Maybe beyond, like, purpose wise, like actually what your job looks like in your day to day. [00:04:15] Speaker B: It was kind of like drinking from a fire hose. That's a common expression. It seems a little basic, but that's what it was like. And I feel like even two years in, there's so much to learn because there's two aspects to what I do and what we do. Part of it is that there's this governmental, DoD, defense aspect. And then there's also. I specifically work with and within this spec. So Space Enterprise Consortium. So there's also a space element. So it's. I mean, I probably. I'm sure there are several folks in the industry who are still wrapping their minds around some of it. I definitely am. [00:04:51] Speaker A: We all are. [00:04:51] Speaker B: So it's a. Yeah, so it's a transition. I'm learning constantly, not only from my government customers, but from our consortium members and industry. They're always constantly teaching me. So I think you just have to be open and learning and take it day by day. Even. I mean, like I said, even two years in, I feel like I'm sure I understand quite a bit more than I did before, but there's still so much to learn. [00:05:12] Speaker A: Yeah. And to that point, spec in Space Force itself is fairly new. Very new. Only since, what was it? [00:05:19] Speaker B: 2020. Yeah. [00:05:23] Speaker A: One of those, one of those numbers. We'll fact check that. [00:05:26] Speaker B: It depends on when STXL got it right. [00:05:28] Speaker A: 2021. Very true. But yeah, learning and growing along with the government team because they're still establishing and figuring out how they're going to support their own mission. [00:05:38] Speaker B: That's a really good point. It's evolving even on that side. So they're still learning too. So that makes me feel a little better. [00:05:44] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So along with that, marketing obviously depends very much on the company you're marketing for, the product or service. How is it different though, marketing for the government than it is for just like a civilian, so to speak, product or service? Because there are limits, there are barriers on. They obviously get to decide how they want to be portrayed to the public and it's taxpayer money. So how is it different for you? [00:06:13] Speaker B: It's different in a couple of ways. My first instinct with that question is when I was marketing at a for profit company like Invisalign and we were, we were begging from a marketing standpoint, we were begging anyone to open our email. So a lot of time was spent crafting the perfect messaging to try and convince anyone just to look at it, let alone click on something, read it, take it in. So within this industry and maybe it's specific to what we're doing, the prototyping element and the proposal element of what we do, we don't have to beg anyone. In fact, I think if members don't receive an email, they don't love that. So I spent a lot of time making sure that members get emails. So it's, of course there's still a level of crafting the messaging to make sure it's clear. Clear and concise. That's probably another element. [00:07:02] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:07:03] Speaker B: Accuracy, the chronological documentation is also very important. You have to sort of have, you have to look ahead at what could be misconstrued or what could be a miscommunication. Because like I mentioned at the very start of this, my goal is to make sure members feel prepared. Industry needs to feel prepared to provide the government with a solution, a proposed solution. They need to make sure that it's viable and good. And I want, I want to make sure everything that I do, even if it's down to just. And email communication gives them that option. Yeah, I think that's the difference. [00:07:39] Speaker A: So to clarify your, your audience, so to speak. Is it just active members or is it prospective members or is it kind of everyone, like in your job specifically, who are you marketing to? [00:07:51] Speaker B: Mainly, I am marketing to current spec members. So they're within our consortium and they are expecting solicitations to come down from the government. So they're expecting a problem statement that they could provide a solution to. I spend majority of my time doing that. There's an element too, where I would reach outside of our consortium. So I might be looking for other companies that can provide a solution and then enticing them to become members so they can provide a solution. So you have to be a member to prime on one of our opportunities. So making sure that they can do that is another aspect. But yeah, definitely all my communications, for the most part are for our members. And then of course, there's the government side, where I also communicate with government. [00:08:34] Speaker A: Yeah. And you're marketing the opportunities you're wanting to show your members. Like, you should get involved in this or you do have the capability, let us help you submit a proposal, all that stuff. [00:08:44] Speaker B: Yeah. And our members are motivated, Very, very motivated. And I should give them more credit, I would say, you know, part of advocating for members and government and making sure that members feel prepared to provide a solution is making sure that they have the information. And I try and give them enough time between, you know, the launch of registration for an event and the actual event itself, but they're so motivated to give their solution to make sure the government sees what they can offer, all their capabilities, that they can turn things around very quickly. And of course, I'm sure that's not, you know, it's not. Not stressful. [00:09:22] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:09:23] Speaker B: Right. But they're very motivated. [00:09:25] Speaker A: Yeah. Every day is filled with passion in one way or the other. Feel like everyone's very excited for the mission. Would you be able to tell us from your perspective, which I know you're not, you know, a technical expert or anything, but kind of from what you're seeing come through, what types of projects are coming through spec right now, like, what are you seeing with Space Force? What are they prioritizing in terms of tech? [00:09:48] Speaker B: It's hard to say because it's. It is. It's different from quarter to quarter, year to year, for sure. I feel like it's evolving more towards the software aspect and even I think that's relevant too. You mean Pete Hagseth released a. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth released an actual memo about software acquisitions and OTAs. So I think that that speaks to where government is headed as well. [00:10:17] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:10:18] Speaker B: One of our open opportunities right now is aiml. I know that's kind of a generic technology term, but that's, you know, speaking I think into that realm, we're also seeing a lot of, I mean we live in the prototype range, so we're seeing a lot of testing and training as well, starting to pick up speed, but ultimately we could do anything. So I mean anything could be a prototype and so the limit does not exist like that. [00:10:48] Speaker A: So you plan and you help plan and host projects. So project events, sorry, both in person and virtual, for spec members and for Space Systems Command. And like you were saying earlier, part of your job is connecting the two, kind of living in the middle and making sure they're communicating. So what's the value in these events? Like are people excited to go? Do they walk away with a lot of value? Like why is it so important to host especially the in person ones? [00:11:16] Speaker B: Yeah, well, there's different type of types of events. So if we think about an Industry day or the virtual version of an Industry day, which NSTXL refers to as a project talks or ptx, and with those events that the purpose of that is for, for government to be able to brief industry on what they're looking for, what their RPP requests for prototype proposals or RFP has in it, what they're looking for, all the technicalities and just really explain to industry what they want. And I think that that's super important. It takes time to put a proposal together and my worst fear, I think maybe it's for Industry day, sorry, industry as well. But imagine if you don't have all the information, but you could provide an element or a solution, or there's something about what you do that's not within your proposal because something within the RPP wasn't clear or there wasn't a chance for government to brief on what they're looking for. I think that would be awful. You could provide the solution, but your proposal wasn't up to par just because of a lack of information. I think that's one of the biggest benefits is providing Industry Day with enough, sorry, industry with enough information to be able to do that. So that's one element. Same with industry days. Industry days are in person for us and so for those we offer teaming. So you get the element of being able to network in person not only with industry, but you'll meet government as well. So there's more of that like face to face connection, which is always really important. We like to give as much engagement as possible. That's the benefit of what we do as a consortium manager, ensuring that membership is worth it. So that's a part. That's a part of it as well. And that kind of leads me into our other types of events, which are more of like a teaming event. We refer to them as a innovator networks or inx. And with those events it's a full teaming collision. So it lets industry. Industry talk to industry. Why do I keep saying industry, babe? Industry talk to industry. And they can share their capabilities. And I've seen. Am I allowed to name, like name draw potentially. You can cut it out. [00:13:34] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:34] Speaker B: Okay. Like for example, I was at an industry Day recently. That time it was on purpose, Industry Day recently and Sierra Space was there, one of our members and they had a list on them of what they were looking for in a teaming partner. So they kind of had an idea before the industry, before the industry day, before the government briefed there they had an idea of what they were looking for in a teaming partner and they had that list. And so when we did a teaming event on site there they were kind of checking off and ask. It's like an interview. [00:14:06] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:14:07] Speaker B: They were very purposeful and I feel like that's so effective. You can go about it in any way, I feel like. But to say, oh, hi, nice to meet you. What can you do this? Can you do this? And it was professional and it was friendly and they didn't not value someone who couldn't. There's maybe a project in the future where that would be. So there's no harm. But I feel like they probably were successful in finding exactly what they wanted by being intentional about that. [00:14:31] Speaker A: Yeah, I love that. And to clarify, teaming is when two or more companies kind of mesh their capabilities. They work on a project together. [00:14:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:14:42] Speaker A: So that creates a stronger proposal and solution for the government because you can't propose on your own. Right. But it might be more valuable or more competitive. Find some people like, oh, we don't quite have this capability or aren't as good, but I see you're really strong in it. Let's team up and create a better proposal. Yes. [00:14:59] Speaker B: And I'm still learning what that means. And each. So each opportunity that comes through spec is different, of course, different requirements, different technology. And so sometimes from the, like, just from the initial get, you would think, oh, teaming probably isn't even really going to be an aspect of this. There's no way that, I mean, you either have a space vehicle on orbit or you don't. So it seems like that. However, I've learned from our members and I've learned from government too that you can make your, like you mentioned, you can make your proposal competitive by bringing just that little element that just tells government, okay, this is a little bit different. They have, they're prepared to provide this solution. Okay. I was concerned about them being able to meet this criteria, but with this teaming partner that strengthens what they're going to provide to us, I feel more confident. So I think that that's for sure exactly the, the point of teaming. And like you mentioned with the spec vehicle, a non traditional company, there's an element and requirement of it. So if a prime on a proposal is a traditional company, there's, they're required to have a non traditional BS subcontractor. And so that's why teaming can be really important for certain efforts because maybe perhaps that effort is not necessarily catered to a traditional because we work obviously, I mean our membership base is 85% at least today it changes, but today it is 85% non traditional companies. I think we have 650 members right now. That fluctuates, you know, day to day. With that said, if there is a traditional company that is priming on that opportunity, they're going to need a non traditional. And so helping to make that easy for them is another aspect of, of what we do. [00:16:51] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So with those events, what's the value for the customer or our partners, meaning Space Systems Command, I don't know if we mentioned that's the specific Space Force office that we work with. So what's, what's their value? Because you mentioned that they go and they get to present more on what they're looking for and then they can hear from the companies as well. Why is that so important to them? [00:17:13] Speaker B: I think, I think for them teaming is super important for a couple of reasons. And when I meet with the program teams early on and we're determining what types of efforts make sense, where they'll often say we want an innovative solution, we want something different. And so non traditional companies oftentimes can bring that. And I think that that is why that teaming aspect or what did you. [00:17:40] Speaker A: Ask me the event aspect, like being together in person, hearing from each other. [00:17:45] Speaker B: Oh for government and why they like it. Okay, so the non traditional companies can provide them that innovation. So being able to have an event and interact or provide a better solution by teaming I think is one of the reasons. I think another reason too is it opens it up a little bit more. The more events that we have, the more exposure they get, the more opportunities for teaming, the better proposals they get. So I think they truly do want it. Program teams, obviously come to us. Maybe they've never used an OTA before, and they never had a consortium manager assist in any of their efforts before. And so it's definitely, certainly more effective, I feel like, to have us be able to provide those events for them takes it off their plate. It's not a burden to them. So I think it's pretty beneficial. [00:18:38] Speaker A: It's educational for them, I imagine, too, to hear everyone present and see what's out there, because they might not know. Government is always on the forefront of, like, you know, innovate, like the best technology out there. That's the tech companies. So now they get to hear, like, what's possible. [00:18:53] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:18:53] Speaker A: What's something that you personally would like to see more of in the industry? As we move forward, we mentioned earlier kind of excitement around OTAs. The administration leadership is getting really excited about. Could be that or any sort of other aspect. Like, what would you like, what do you think would be valuable to both the customer and the industry to see more of? [00:19:17] Speaker B: I feel like there's a lot. So I'm trying to rally my brain to try and pick the best thing. I think from my perspective, there are a couple of things I think. And this is gonna sound cheesy, but maybe I'm drinking. Yeah. Maybe I'm just used to sell cheese. Yeah. Oh, good callback. Yeah, it's gonna be very gouda. I think that the use of OTAs is probably what I'd like to see more of. We're. We're really. OTAs are very fast, I think, as far as acquisition strategy goes. And so if you have. If government is looking to move quickly, we can do that. And I. I can move very quickly as well. As far as, like, from a marketing perspective, if we're putting on events or we're getting solicitations out, I can launch a website communication pretty quickly. So I think it's. It's. No, there's not any. As many roadblocks as you'd see as an alternative method. [00:20:18] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. [00:20:18] Speaker B: So I'd love to see more of that, and hopefully we will. I think obviously, with that memo coming out, as well as some executive orders that are popping up might enable that just naturally. Yeah, I think that'll be really fun. And then for industry to industry in general, I think that some of the tools that we offer and the services that we provide them with their membership, I think Utilizing that. Yeah, I agree to its full capacity. I would love to see our members take advantage of our community portal. We have. It's kind of like a Facebook where members can go on and one on one direct message each other. They can DM each other and get contact information, see what capabilities they offer. They have their own profile on there as well and so they can share. I would love to see our members share things that they're doing that they're proud of. They want industry to see. I've had some of our non traditional members approach us and say we would love for you to talk about us and our awards that we've received from some of the efforts because even just a little mention in an internal event will bring us exposure so we can be utilized more and what we provide can get out there. And so I think our community portal is a really good way for folks to do that and so I would love to see. I'm not, and I'm personally not a social media user so I understand that there's a little bit of a hesitation there. But it could bring so much exposure and so much knowledge of what you're, what what members are doing to other members and so they, they'd be able to see each other maybe if there's an opportunity that's relating to them in the future. It's not necessarily one that the government's pursuing now, but in the future someone might think of you when they see something that you've posted on our portfolio. [00:21:58] Speaker A: And if you don't get the word out there, people aren't going to know. Now that you have that capability, you're ready to partner, you're ready to do some DoD work. Yeah, totally agree. All right, let's wrap it up with a quick last question. I want to know, just for fun, what's your favorite part about working a for spec and then for the Space Systems Command office, like partnering with them in space. For us being in the space industry, like what do you love about all of it? [00:22:22] Speaker B: This is going to also sound very cheesy, I think. I just, I admire our military and being able to work with them every day. I'm just constantly impressed with them and there's a little bit of a culture there too. And the way that they work has taught me a lot. So in my day to day I'm starting to take on just their, the way that they communicate, the types of. I'm putting together briefs consistently. I think the military loves a brief. [00:22:48] Speaker A: They will agree. [00:22:49] Speaker B: So in my customer obviously Space Systems Command Receives briefs very well. So I'm learning and picking it from them. And they obviously everyone is, they're amazing people. And the people that I work with every day truly care about what they do. They care about our nation and they care about everything that's going on. And so that's, I think that's really motivating. And like I said at the beginning, being able to contribute something, even if it's something small, to industry or to government is. It's very rewarding for me and I think it makes it worth it. I mean when you, everyone has to have a job and I think when your job means something, it kind of changes, changes everything, you know. So I think that's, that's definitely something that I love doing and I love seeing in my day to day. And then what was the two parts to your question? Was the second part what you love. [00:23:41] Speaker A: About working with Space Systems Command, which you already kind of covered, but maybe in the space industry with the, with the NSTXL team or just working with government in general? [00:23:52] Speaker B: Yeah, I think. Well, I think that about sums it up, honestly. I think that's, that's my favorite part. And, and I, I keep doing it every day. [00:24:00] Speaker A: I bet it's fun to see some projects come through and it's like, oh, we're doing that in space. [00:24:03] Speaker B: Oh yeah. Okay. Thank you for asking that because. Yes. Not even. It's not always just space either. I mean the technology itself and the fact that I can, I'm still learning everything, but I'm like, ooh, yeah, constellations. Like, so it just feels really cool. And when you talk to your. And I truly am a civilian, so when you talk to your friends or your family and they, they look at me with, with slack jaws. You know, obviously we can't talk about everything, but the cool stuff that we can talk about is, is really fun. There's the technology and I mean, for example, one of the pro. The efforts that we put out was RGPS Resilient gps. And I thought that was so cool. I mean, if an adversary was to impact one of our satellites in space and, and we didn't have something set up to kind of COVID Yeah. [00:24:58] Speaker A: Counter it. [00:24:59] Speaker B: Yeah. And so installing smaller constellations within those to be able to keep us safe and keep communications open. Just everything that you. And of course I, like I said still learning, but I thought that was really, really cool to see and to just to be a part of that. And it was very fast moving, so I think I didn't fully understand it. Until we did the press release. So it takes time, but I learn. [00:25:24] Speaker A: As I write them. [00:25:24] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:25:25] Speaker A: I'm not gonna lie. I had to Google, what is gps? [00:25:28] Speaker B: No way. [00:25:29] Speaker A: You never, at least I personally had really thought about how does it work? Yeah. [00:25:34] Speaker B: Is that what it stands for? I think it is. Yeah. [00:25:36] Speaker A: Nailed it. [00:25:37] Speaker B: Nailed it. [00:25:37] Speaker A: Just a couple of civilian girls. [00:25:40] Speaker B: Civilian girlies. [00:25:43] Speaker A: Yeah. That sums it up really. Well, that's an exciting job for sure. But thank you so much for sharing about all your passions, your insight. So interesting just to hear about, you know, from a marketing perspective, what we're seeing. Like, what's so different about, you know, some other jobs we may have had and being a part of something bigger than ourselves, like, it's just every day is fascinating. [00:26:03] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, thank you for having me on. I think our members and government are so special that it feels odd to be on here. But I hope that everyone hears just a little something and a little tip. Either way, it was really fun to be able to talk to you and. And see where, you know, what we can talk about. [00:26:19] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, thank you again. [00:26:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:26:21] Speaker A: And see you next time. Civilian Jillian. [00:26:24] Speaker B: Civilian Jillian. Signing.