Should government contractors organize around agencies, geography, or mission areas when expanding into the State, Local, and Education (SLED) market?

In this episode of Branding the Beltway, host Stacey Piper talks with Jimmy Baker, author of How to Win Business from the Government, about what it really takes to succeed beyond the federal market.

Together they explore the biggest misconceptions about SLED, how the buying journey differs from federal procurement, when federal past performance helps—or hurts—and why understanding funding, regional priorities, and customer personas is critical for growth.

Key Takeaways cover:

Whether you're a CEO evaluating new markets, a BD executive leading growth strategy, or a public sector marketer, this episode offers actionable strategies for expanding your public sector footprint.

To connect with Jimmy, follow him on LinkedIn here.

Get in touch with host Stacey here, or visit Piper Strategies here.

Lead generation in GovTech has become increasingly complex. Government buyers are overwhelmed with messaging, buying cycles are longer, and traditional marketing tactics are no longer enough to consistently create qualified pipeline. 

In this episode of Branding the Beltway, host Stacey Piper sits down with Lesley Rogers, Director of Marketing at FedHIVE to discuss DemandGen in GovTech.  

Lesley discuss why many GovTech organizations generate significant marketing activity but struggle to translate that effort into qualified opportunities. They explore common challenges across the funnel, including disconnected campaigns, inconsistent follow-up, and outdated approaches to measuring marketing success. Lesley shares how companies can rethink demand generation by focusing on the full buyer journey, creating stronger sales and marketing alignment, improving nurture strategies, and balancing automation with personalized engagement. 

The discussion highlights the shift from chasing leads to building relationships—and how GovTech companies can create marketing programs that drive measurable growth by shifting focus from a lead volume and toward strategic engagement, account-based approaches, buyer-centric nurturing, and measurable marketing impact. 

The conversation explores how companies can better align marketing efforts with government buying behaviors to improve lead quality and conversion rates to turn marketing activity into meaningful business outcomes. 

Key Takeaways 

To connect with Lesley, follow her on LinkedIn here.

Get in touch with host Stacey here, or visit Piper Strategies here.

In this episode of Branding the Beltway, host Stacey Piper speaks with Carolyn Ford, Senior Vice President of Global Marketing at OWL Cyber Defense, about how organizations can use podcasts to build thought leadership, strengthen industry relationships, and increase brand visibility in the GovTech and GovCon markets.

The conversation explores why podcasts have become an effective platform for executive visibility and community engagement, particularly in industries shaped by long sales cycles, evolving regulations, and relationship-driven business development. Carolyn shares key considerations for brands considering starting their own podcast, as well as practical guidance for marketing leaders call upon to produce those podcasts.

Key Takeaways

While talking tactics, Carolyn graciously offered to provide her weekly episode operational planning spreadsheet, which listeners may download here.

To connect with Carolyn, follow her on LinkedIn here.

Get in touch with host Stacey here, or visit Piper Strategies here.

M&A doesn’t fail on the spreadsheet—it falters in the seams. In this episode, host Stacey Piper sits down with Paul Frommelt, VP of Marketing & Communications at Integer Technologies, to unpack the often invisible work of brand strategy and integration that ultimately determines whether an acquisition builds momentum or erodes trust. Drawing on multiple acquisition cycles, Paul makes a clear case: brand strategy cannot be an afterthought. From early-stage brand audits to decisive brand architecture choices, this conversation highlights how intentional planning sets the foundation for integration success.

Paul brings a practical, GovCon-focused lens to what happens after the deal is signed—how to prioritize what gets integrated first, where marketing investment is essential, and how to preserve the value of acquired companies without diluting them. The result is a candid look at the role marketing plays in maintaining credibility, aligning cultures without forcing monoculture, and creating the “runway” that enables business development, recruiting, and long-term growth.

Key Takeaways

The conversation explores all corners of merging marketing teams, what content to update first, outsourcing for surge support and the importance of the first 100 days. Remember, strong marketing plays a crucial role in M&A success, particularly in government contracting where brand strength provides a "runway" for business development and recruitment.

To connect with Paul, follow him on LinkedIn here.

Get in touch with host Stacey here, or visit Piper Strategies here.

In this episode, host Stacey Piper sits down with Megan Battaglia, Vice President of Marketing at Thundercat Technology, to discuss what it really takes to scale the marketing function inside a growing GovCon organization.

Drawing on Megan’s journey helping Thundercat evolve its marketing capability, the conversation explores how leaders can evolve marketing from a reactive support role to a proactive growth driver. Stacey and Megan unpack how marketing maturity develops over time, why CXOs should treat marketing as an operating model, and how internal alignment, messaging clarity, and strategic positioning drive real revenue impact in the federal market.

Listeners will hear how marketing maturity directly impacts revenue velocity and competitive positioning, the inflection points when GovCon firms must rethink their marketing strategy, and how CXOs should prioritize messaging, demand generation, and thought leadership at different growth stages.

Megan also shares practical advice for “department-of-one” marketers implementing account-based marketing, when to keep strategy in-house versus leveraging outside partners for amplification, and how marketing can influence the pre-RFP phase to help shape agency demand.

Listen to the full episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Podbean.

To connect with Megan, follow her on LinkedIn here.

Get in touch with host Stacey here, or visit Piper Strategies here.

In the B2G market, growth rarely happens alone. It happens through the right partnerships—activated with intention. In this episode, host Stacey Piper, Founder of Piper Strategies, speaks with Lauren Oh, Senior Manager Partner Marketing at Zscaler to explore the nuances of partner marketing in the GovCon sector. Lauren breaks down how government technology and software companies can build a high-impact partner marketing program that drives pipeline, deepens relationships, and supports long-term positioning in a complex federal ecosystem. Designed for GovCon CXOs and government marketers, this conversation goes beyond theory. We explore what growth-minded partner marketing actually looks like in practice—from aligning with BD and capture to creating campaigns that benefit both organizations and the customer.

What you’ll learn:

If partnerships are part of your growth strategy, this episode is a must-listen. Tune in on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Podbean and start building a partner program that moves the needle.

To connect with Lauren, follow her on LinkedIn here.

Get in touch with host Stacey here, or visit Piper Strategies here.

The latest episode of Branding the Beltway, produced by OrangeSlices AI, features Stacey Piper (Piper Strategies) in conversation with Karen Scott, Director of Federal Marketing at Denodo. The discussion centers on how in-house marketers can operate as strategic leaders by thinking bigger, aligning tightly with executive priorities, and driving measurable business outcomes. Karen shares practical lessons from her career leading federal marketing inside a corporate ecosystem, including how to collaborate across departments, optimize outsourcing, and translate marketing activity into pipeline impact. Throughout the episode, she emphasizes the importance of acting like a business leader first, remaining adjustability and using data to justify decisions.

Key Takeaways:

Download, listen, or stream on your favorite podcast platform, and subscribe to Branding the Beltway to get automatic alerts when new episodes drop.

To connect with Karen, follow her on LinkedIn here.

Get in touch with host Stacey here, or visit Piper Strategies here.

In the latest episode of Branding the Beltway, host Stacey Piper speaks with Brian Wagner, Vice President of Marketing & Communications at Tria Federal. They explore how the PESO model—Paid, Earned, Shared, Owned—can transform GovCon marketing into a strategic growth engine, offering actionable insights on aligning communications, amplifying employee voices, and connecting marketing to real business outcomes. Brian frames Gini Dietrich's PESO model not as a rigid methodology but as a practical framework to organize communications, coordinate teams, and measure results across the long federal sales cycle. Stacey and Brian discuss how building marketing strategies and content using the PESO framework can help GovCons tailor messaging to audiences and integrate with account-based marketing and capture strategies, while leveraging employee visibility and storytelling to build credibility and brand value. They also share practical steps for implementation, staring with Owned and Shared media, expanding to Paid and Earned, and embedding PESO into daily operations to drive measurable impact.

Key Takeaways:

Download, listen, or stream on your favorite podcast platform now, and subscribe to get automatic alerts when a new episode airs.

To connect with Brian, follow him on LinkedIn here.

In government contracting, content is more than marketing collateral—it’s the currency of trust. On the latest Branding the Beltway episode, host Stacey Piper spoke with Edyn Segura, Microsoft’s Federal Events & Experiences Marketing Director,  about how federal contractors can leverage content strategically to build credibility, influence buyers, and accelerate pipeline, all while navigating long buying cycles and limited resources.

Key Takeaways for GovCon Marketers and CXOs:

In short, content strategy in the federal space isn’t just smart marketing—it’s a necessity.

To connect with Edyn, follow her on LinkedIn here.

Get in touch with host Stacey here, or visit Piper Strategies here.

Branding the Beltway, hosted by Stacey Piper, dives deep into the evolving role of websites in the world of government contracting with Alex Love, VP of Marketing and Strategic Communications at RIVA Solutions. Together, they unpack why a website is far more than a digital brochure—it’s a strategic growth engine and a 24/7 gateway for self-service, customer engagement, and brand credibility.

From lessons learned in rebrands and redesigns to case studies that showcase marketing effectiveness, Alex highlights the real-world impact of investing in your digital presence. She shares how buyer expectations have shifted in the past five years, revealing that websites serve multiple audiences: recruits, evaluating customers, and strategic partners.

Stacey presses on the questions government contractors wrestle with daily: How do government buyers use websites to validate a vendor? How often should content be refreshed? And what does it take to align marketing and sales with the long, complex government sales cycle?

The episode also covers practical challenges—from outsourcing website redesigns gone wrong to building an internal “tiger team” to refine messaging and content. Alex emphasizes the importance of governance, content planning, and shifting from activity-based marketing metrics to value-driven storytelling.

If you’re a government contractor, marketer, or leader trying to bridge the gap between branding and business growth, this episode offers strategies you can implement today.

To connect with Alex, follow her on LinkedIn here.

Get in touch with host Stacey here, or visit Piper Strategies here.