Marketing Communications Plan for NIMA

Gary W. Fuller

21 February 2000

 

This white paper, Marketing Communications Plan for NIMA, is one of four deliverables required under NIMA contract to Space Imaging (NMA-301-99-D-0017, Delivery Order 6). Its initial release date is 21 February 2000. Deliverable 1, Potential Business Models for NIMA, has also been updated as of 27 January 2000. The second Deliverable, Recommended NIMA Product and Service Strategy, was delivered on 27 January 2000. The third Deliverable, A Concept for NIMA-Online.com, was delivered on 31 January 2000. Each deliverable will be updated as necessary after its initial release to add more material and/or to reflect any comments received from NIMA. Presentations that address the scope of each white paper can be scheduled 7-14 days after release of the final version of given white paper, if desired. This particular white paper may be subject to update upon receipt of NIMA's existing marketing communications materials.

 

  1. Introduction. This document presents a preliminary integrated marketing communications plan for the National Imagery and Mapping Agency. It is based in part on the content of previous white papers that have addressed NIMA's future business model, products and services strategy, and the concept for an online data and information service--NIMA-Online.com. Some of the ideas and concepts included herein were first provided as comments to the (draft) Director's Initiative Group Communications Plan.

    The term integrated marketing communications is used in this document to mean that all communications from NIMA to its customers, users, employees, and overseers must be consistent.

    In marketing, customer perception is reality, people involved in communications management must be sure to create the correct expectations for the customer and then try to exceed them.

     

  2. IMC Vision and Mission
    1. Vision Statement. NIMA's current vision statement is NIMA: Guaranteeing the Information Edge. Our information provides the common reference framework for planning, decisions, and actions. Our customers will have ready access to the databases of imagery, imagery intelligence, and geospatial information that we acquire or produce. Our information is used to create tailored, customer-specific solutions. Our information enables our customers to visualize key aspects of national security problems. Our people's expertise is critical to acquiring or creating the information that gives the advantage to our customers.

      One view of the importance of a vision statement is, "To choose a direction, a leader must first have developed a mental image of a possible and desirable future state of the organization. This image, which we call a vision, may be as vague as a dream or as precise as a goal or mission statement. The critical point is that a vision articulates a view of a realistic, credible, attractive future for the organization, a condition that is better in some important ways than what now exists."

      Today's vision statement seems a bit long, and not too oriented toward the desired future state of NIMA. It seems to be a description of today. Several changes are proposed below that focus, shorten and orient it toward the future.

      The proposed NIMA vision statement is:

      NIMA will be the premier online provider of geospatial data, information and knowledge products and services to guarantee the information edge to our customers and users. Our online content will provide the common reference framework for planning, decisions, and actions. It will be used to create tailored, customer-specific solutions. It will enable our customers to visualize key aspects of national security problems. Our people's expertise is critical to acquiring, creating and distributing this content that gives the advantage to our customers.

       

    2. Mission Statement. NIMA' s current mission statement is Provides timely, relevant, and accurate imagery, imagery intelligence, and geospatial information in support of national security objectives. As NIMA embraces its proposed new business model, products and services strategy, and moves aggressively to being an online data and information service, the mission statement should be updated.

      The proposed NIMA mission statement is:

    To provide our global customers and users with access to the world's best and most timely, relevant, and accurate imagery data, imagery-derived intelligence and MASINT, and geospatial information and knowledge--regardless of its source. These data and information services will be provided on media and online, in support of national security objectives, as part of achieving information superiority.

    The modifications, though slight, have been suggested to focus more on the customer base and their globally distributed locations, to incorporate the role of provider (producer-broker-trader), to introduce the online orientation, and to tie the mission to the Joint Vision 2010.

     

  3. Situational Analysis. NIMA has been operating for nearly three and one-half years. The following sections address individual components of the situation that will contribute to the IMC strategy.
    1. Organization Analysis.
      NIMA was established as a DoD agency on 1 October 1996. NIMA is a combat support agency and an intelligence agency chartered by Congress under DoD Directive 5105.60. NIMA has important customers in the national, defense, and civil communities. The Agency derives its authority from the Secretary of Defense and the Director of Intelligence.

      NIMA consolidated activities from eight different organizations. All functions from the Central Imagery Office, the Defense Mapping Agency, the Defense Dissemination Program Office, the Defense Intelligence Agency's Office of Imagery Analysis, and the Central Intelligence Agency's National Photographic Interpretation Center were combined under NIMA. Exploitation and dissemination functions of the, National Reconnaissance Office, and the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office also incorporated.

      The Director of NIMA has two roles. The Director of NIMA manages the Agency as an information and service provider. The Director also provides leadership of the Imagery and Geospatial Community (IGC), including policy direction, architecture definition, strategy development, program and budget guidance, and performance evaluation. The Director of NIMA relies on NIMA's core businesses, customer service, and infrastructure to support his leadership role.

      NIMA provides imagery, imagery intelligence, and geospatial information and to its customers. In addition to acquiring, producing, and delivering, NIMA coordinates imagery collection, processing, exploitation, and dissemination requirements among the DoD, Intelligence Community, National Security Council, and other federal government agencies and departments. As commercial capabilities for imagery collection and geospatial product generation expand, NIMA will serve as the clearinghouse for the acquisition of these products.

      NIMA supports the Director in his role as leader of the Community. NIMA works with the IGC to define a common set of policies, architecture, and training programs to unify and enhance organizational performance. NIMA and the Community will work together to create a series of strategic, investment, and functional plans to help achieve the imperatives of the President's National Security Strategy and Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff's Joint Vision 2010--full-spectrum dominance through information superiority.
    2. Product/Service History. NIMA's product and service history is as colorful as the organizations that were its predecessors. Fundamentally though, the roots of NIMA's core products go back to the Defense Mapping Agency, the National Photographic Interpretation Center, and the Office of Imagery Analysis--namely maps and intelligence reports and database updates derived from imagery exploitation, respectively. NIMA does not emphasize or promote specific product or service lines or individual products or services per se--but it should.

      There is an information production activity that generates imagery intelligence and geospatial information in digital and hardcopy formats. It also processes and packages source imagery. The information production populates and maintains NIMA databases with digital data and information that are used to produce hardcopy and digital products and online services.

      Imagery intelligence production provides imagery analysis and intelligence reporting services. Geospatial information production provides topographic, hydrographic, aeronautical, and other types of geospatial data and information, including feature foundation data.

      A new, smaller, more focused Imagery and Geospatial Operations Directorate will emphasize acquiring information and creating synergy between imagery intelligence and geospatial information by combining Imagery Tasking, Imagery Analysis and Geospatial Information and Services into a single organization. During a transitional phase, the new Directorate will be organized along regional and functional lines that are as complementary as possible. The regional and functional elements will be co-located with necessary auxiliary functions like information services and customer support to foster synergy.

      The new Directorate will acquire key source material: NTM imagery, commercial imagery, national air-breather imagery, bathymetric data, gravity data, ground photography, government and commercially produced geospatial information, and will acquire or produce value-added information in NIMA's core mission areas to meet customer needs.
      NIMA's products (and services) in most cases, have a long history behind them. Though there have been some updates and improvements over the years, in many cases product coverage and or currency have not kept pace with customers' needs. Because of arduous production processes, product updates cannot be turned around quickly.

      The quality of essentially all NIMA products is very high, but product management per se--in a commercial sense--is lacking. There is little innovation, and perhaps worse--little motivation to introduce new products and services and constantly improve older ones. One of the underlying reasons for this phenomenon is the reluctance to define and develop products on NIMA's initiative. Products are typically developed in response to validated community requirements or in some cases in response to such bodies as the Defense Steering Group.

      Another product problem is that some products need to be phased out entirely because their production and distribution is more traditional than anything else.

      Marketing is conducted on a limited basis, and should be substantially extended to ensure that prospective customers know the features and benefits of NIMA's products and services and understand the potential applications for them.

      Intermediaries, i.e., other government agencies and/or commercial companies are not used to improve availability and/or access to NIMA's products. There may be an unusual partnering opportunity here.

      Hardcopy map products are distributed through the Defense Logistics Agency. Though this outsourcing at the time was politically correct, it might have had the effect of decreasing NIMA's responsiveness to its military customers.

      NIMA's products are not branded--they are published with their product name over the NIMA logo. This lack of branding makes it more difficult to understand the features and benefits of individual products and services because they are not grouped by quality, application, or potential customer groups. NIMA's products tend to be part of a long list of offerings that have a tendency to blur together from a customer perspective. Product management and product marketing are excellent mechanisms for NIMA products and services to have "a life of their own," rather than just be part of a production queue.
    3. Competitive Analysis. Since NIMA is not a commercial entity and thus is not in business to make a profit, competition is not viewed as a serious consideration. However, the reality is that commercial companies are, in effect, competing with NIMA by providing products and services that are directly usable by NIMA and NIMA customers. Rather than being viewed as a threat, this should be viewed as an opportunity. Through carefully selected partnerships, NIMA has the opportunity to better satisfy its customers (with commercial products) so that it can focus its production resources on high value, unique offerings. The use of substitute products, i.e., those commercial products that are similar--but not identical--to NIMA products should be considered.

      Competition provides commercial alternatives to customers. Customers are no longer restricted to highly classified government reconnaissance, intelligence, and surveillance systems. Commercial providers are beginning to offer additional sources of imagery and geospatial information services. Users are beginning to browse, access, receive, process, and fuse information from government, commercial, and academia. However, a single clearinghouse acquisition, and brokering service has not yet emerged to help customers sort through the options to pick the best to meet their needs.

      Commercial Remote Sensing is one example of a source of commercial products that can be viewed as competition, yet is really complementary to NIMA's arrangements with the NRO. Not only are commercial imagery products unclassified, but these on-orbit resources can be applied to collecting areas of the world on a regular basis that National assets never seem to have adequate resources to address. There is substantial opportunity for partnerships between NIMA and commercial imagery providers that can result in a win-win situation. NIMA's customers get satisfied with imagery and databases of their areas of interest, and the commercial providers acquire more coverage to place in their archive for resale to multiple customers worldwide.
    4. Geographic/Market Analysis. NIMA's customer base is increasing and diversifying. More users within the traditional customer base of national and defense organizations are relying on NIMA's information. In the DoD, imagery and geospatial information is more critical for training, planning, operations, and weapons systems development. National agencies also are making more frequent and sophisticated use of NIMA's information to help with such intelligence problems as counter-narcotics and non-proliferation as well as with civil issues as disaster relief and agricultural analysis.

      Customer needs for information and tools are changing. Accurate information and speed from collection to decision have become the measure of success. Although hardcopy is still an important medium, customers are rapidly moving into the digital arena. Customers need to access digital imagery and geospatial information--using fast, affordable, interoperable tools to locally integrate the information for planning, operations, and mission assessment.

      Technology is changing ways of doing business. Commercial technology allows users to rapidly integrate powerful communications and computer applications into mission capabilities. Government is moving away from slow, specification-based, risk-avoidance acquisition processes to fast, capabilities-based, risk-management approaches. Classified and unclassified World Wide Web applications are being successfully integrated with systems. Responsive digital access, production, and replication are replacing slower, centralized hardcopy production and delivery.

      NIMA's customer base is worldwide and varied. Most customers and users needs for NIMA-provided imagery, imagery intelligence and geospatial information vary from baseline coverage and background information to highly current, highly accurate intelligence and map data. Many of the products and services NIMA offers today and will offer in the future can be horizontal--applicable across multiple markets. However, highly tailored and customized data and information also need to be offered for specific markets--commands, civilian agencies and departments, etc. Just as these comments are true for media-based products, they are also true for online digital services. There need to be references, foundations, and baseline coverage, as well as highly dynamic data, information, and knowledge that can be used as part of creating a Common Operating Picture.

      The need for static as well as dynamic information was made painfully obvious when the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade was accidentally bombed. The Director Central Intelligence (DCI) said of this event:

      We have diverted resources and attention away from basic intelligence and database maintenance to support current operations for too long. Database production and maintenance has been routinely accorded a low priority and often overlooked in production planning and scheduling. Database production is often the first activity curtailed when resources are tight. Database production is widely viewed as low visibility, unrewarding, and unappreciated. Leadership attention and emphasis on database production is infrequent, episodic, and essentially reactive.

      If NIMA were operating an online data and information service such as NIMA-Online, database content would be a critical component of the offering--whether it is static data, or dynamic data. So, there are two key considerations here. First, NIMA needs to produce and maintain database content, and second, that content needs to be published and presented online in a coherent and managed way.

      Currently, the Big Idea project is working to define maintenance approaches to such a database.

      In order to achieve these goals, NIMA must develop and maintain data that integrates the entirety of geospatial and imagery intelligence holdings. The multitude of "things" that we care about will be recorded as objects or events in this data environment. Objects that have three dimensions in the real world should be maintained as three-dimensional objects in the data environment. Objects should have only one authoritative instance (best depiction) that is available to users across the enterprise - thus minimizing the duplicative collection and maintenance for each.

       

      Once populated, the master database should be edited when there are changes in the real world or improvements in collection methods that provide a better approximation of the real world. Changes are made to information due to the discovery of additional detail within objects, the occurrence of events, and the correction of previous information due to newer or better sources. Change also encompasses the addition of new objects and the deletion of objects that no longer exist. Finally, the sequence and timing of changes to information is historical data about the changes that occur to the information over time. It is needed to perform trend analyses and recreate the information environment at points in the past. So, change does not mean remove, but instead "time sequence."

       

      In an information/knowledge environment, changes that are made to the information must be communicated with customers according to their needs. The current method of communicating change to our customers is by product versioning. Information is provided as a static instance (product) and is updated via a new edition (another later static instance) of the product. In the information environment, the information maintenance will not be dictated by product specifications (as it is today in many cases) but rather by the volatility, perishability and priority of the objects being maintained.

      Once the Big Idea becomes an integral part of NIMA-Online, it needs to be marketed throughout the Agency, IGC, and user community in context with integrated communications messages.

       

    5. Current Users Evaluation. [This section will have to be completed after a comprehensive survey of the Imagery and Geospatial Community users to determine the utility of each and every product and service that NIMA currently offers. The results should not only influence the destiny of these current products and services, but will also establish priorities for the online services that NIMA-Online should offer as well as how they are "marketed" throughout the community and the marketing messages necessary to best communicate to a variety of audiences.]
  4. Overall IMC Objectives. Before proposing a set of objectives, it is worth looking at the specific criteria that should be applied to the process of setting the objectives.

    a) The objectives must be measurable and quantifiable. In other words, the objectives must be written in such a way as to allow for measurement at the end of the campaign.

    b. The objectives must specify who the target audience is, when the set goals should be accomplished (a time line), and what specifically should be accomplished.

    c) The objectives must be realistic. If the goal cannot be achieved, it is useless to include in the objectives. Unrealistic objectives have a negative effect on the personnel assigned to carry out the project.

    d) The objectives must be clear. All individuals involved in the campaign must be striving for the same goals.

    e) The objectives must be integrated. All components of the marketing and integrated marketing communications areas must have goals that are common to the overall marketing objectives.

    In general the overall goal of NIMA's communications for the next year should be to ensure that every major group and constituency know what NIMA, as an integrated agency, is today and what products and services they are providing, and, what NIMA will be tomorrow, i.e., in the near-future--not ten years out--in terms of online data and information services that will contribute to U.S. information superiority. During the process of marketing, NIMA should also be listening carefully to what each group says, as grist for the new product and service mill. That being said, an objective is proposed for each major audience with a rationale as to why it is important.
  1. Budget. [This section would normally be included within the Integrated Marketing Communications Plan, however its content will have to be provided by NIMA, once a plan is accepted.]
  2. IMC Strategy. The Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy for NIMA needs to address how NIMA should best communicate its present value to customers, users, and citizens as well as a future product and services plan that will show how it will contribute to information superiority in the near term. The strategy therefore is to "repackage" the current NIMA so that it (as an integrated agency) and its current products and services are well understood by all of its constituencies, and to reinvent the near-future NIMA to emphasize the features and benefits of its offerings that will solve customers' problems. In both cases, the communications materials will address what is to be provided that can positively impact customers--not how it will be provided in an implementation sense.

    The strategy must be implemented in a top-down fashion so that no communications, no projects, no meetings, and no people diverge from the set of agreed-to messages about the new NIMA. Perhaps this should even be the name of the campaign--the New NIMA.

    The strategy must address the main problems identified below while implementing the plan to transform NIMA from a loosely coupled set of large production activities to a coherent, aggressive information provider with an incredible web presence.
    1. Main Problem. NIMA's main problems are that:


      a) it doesn't have a reputation and "image" as NIMA--an integrated agency--but rather as the amalgamation of agencies that were merged to establish it;

      b) too much of its internal and external communications deal with infrastructure, architecture, and USIGS (and other esoterica), and very little deals with its current and planned product and service offerings;

      c) it has not proactively changed itself to keep pace with current and emerging technology and customers' needs and wants;

      d) when it addresses the future, it addresses the distant-future of 2010 or 2020--not the next year or two, these "visionary" documents don't often seem to affect programs, plans, products and services;

      e) it has not innovated enough in terms of online data and information services; and

      f) it lacks a coherent set of marketing messages..

    2. Creative Strategy Needed. NIMA needs a creative strategy that is simple but elegant, that focuses on the right messages to describe a set of existing (but repackaged) projects as well as the new ones that will transform it into an information provider and a set of online services. The Director's Initiatives Group is addressing aspects of this challenge. The key to success however is not organization but commitment to doing the job--the transformation--and doing it in the near-term.

    Amazon.com opened its virtual doors in July 1995 with a mission to use the Internet to transform book buying into the fastest, easiest, and most enjoyable shopping experience possible. While our customer base and product offerings have grown considerably since our early days, we still maintain our founding commitment to customer satisfaction and the delivery of an educational and inspiring shopping experience.

    Today, Amazon.com is the place to find and discover anything you want to buy online. We're very proud that 13 million people in more than 160 countries have made us the leading online shopping site. We have Earth's Biggest Selection--of products, including free electronic greeting cards, online auctions, and millions of books, CDs, videos, DVDs, toys and games, and electronics.

    Can it be less than 5 years ago? Yes it can. In fact Amazon has been influencing the world's companies and customers from the beginning because they implemented their vision--they didn't write about it. They also did not discuss the size of their infrastructure and the architecture of its networks, servers, and catalogs--they just did it.

    It is possible for NIMA to do the same thing--to be (in fact)--the premier online provider of geospatial data, information and knowledge products and services to guarantee the information edge to our customers and users.

    It cannot be overemphasized that the creative strategy for this Integrated Marketing Communications Plan can only be successful if the communications tactics and associated collateral pieces are talking about real, implemented projects that are part of a written plan to transform NIMA into an online information service. The NIMA Business Plan and NIMA Strategic Plan under Admiral Dantone spoke of similar endeavors but made very little progress toward their implementation for a number of reasons, not the least of which was commitment, but there was also never a mapping of current projects, products, services, and budgets to the future state.

    In addition to the written plan, there needs to be immediate and continuous implementation of production and publishing of online content.

    Perhaps the easiest way to characterize the creative strategy is in the catch phrase: NIMA-Online--implementing tomorrow's vision...today.

    There are several key mindsets that will have to be eliminated to be a highly responsive online information service. First, the concept that "there is no requirement for that" has to go. The product marketing managers will have to look at and understand the existing validated requirements--and then do what's right. Frequently, they will have to develop their own version of product and service specifications, or be on the look-out for new commercial products and services that NIMA should distribute to its customers. Second, the concepts of good enough, fast enough, timely enough, etc. will all have to go. To be a "premier information provider" good enough isn't good enough! NIMA will have to do everything in its power (and more) to ensure that its content is the best--the most timely, the most relevant and the most accurate. Not that these are hallmarks that are difficult to embrace, its just that the organization, the process, and the infrastructure frequently make them difficult to routinely achieve.

    Because the creative strategy has to encompass both the current and near-term NIMA, this will be a challenging undertaking. The various constituencies will need to start receiving the new messages consistently and constantly.

  3. Tactics.
    The IMC tactics are the executable aspects of the campaign. They are usually developed by IMC function managers based on the Marketing Plan and IMC Plan. Each tactical execution must be based on the overall IMC strategy. A failure to do this will result in a campaign that is not integrated and that sends mixed messages to the consumer. Thus advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, direct marketing, public relations and publicity, and cyber-marketing will each develop individual plans that include objectives, strategies and tactical executions to allow the successful launch of the IMC campaign.

    Recognizing that NIMA is a government agency and not a commercial company, each of the tactical areas will have to be "adapted" to deal with the government-to-government market. But this can be done. It may take some additional efforts, but all of the tactics listed below can be used successfully to communicate NIMA's messages.
    1. Advertising. Advertising is the development of and execution of any reminder, informational, or persuasive message communicated to a target market or audience through a non-personal medium.

      Advertising has real application to communicating with the general public--the American citizen. NIMA can use this vehicle to get to very large audiences to create "awareness" and to communicate its new image as it implements its transformation.

      The just-completed Shuttle Radar Mapping mission would have been an excellent opportunity to show off NIMA to the public. Even though news articles have, in some cases, mentioned NIMA, they have not carried links to the NIMA website. A series of advertisements would be appropriate to explain each major product line that affects the average citizen. The objective should be to have NIMA become a "household word." Today, very few people have ever heard of this relatively large agency.

      If NIMA decides to "update" its vision and mission statements, this would be excellent advertising copy for a series of low-key ads that say, "who NIMA is."

      Some potential headlines for advertisements include the following:
        • The Big Blue Marble is OUR Territory. [The National Imagery and Mapping Agency is Re-mapping the World.]
        • We Have a World of Geospatial Information to Share.
        • Before We Build We're Pouring the Foundation. [NIMA places feature foundation data online]
        • etc...
    2. Personal Selling. Personal selling is utilized to generate the benefits of one-to-one communications. Personal selling involves the dialogue between the company and the consumer; that is it is person-to-person (by telephone or face-to-face) communication between a buyer and a seller.

      Again, the initial reaction may be that, "We [NIMA] don't do selling--we're a government agency." But in reality, selling is a process that doesn't have to involve the exchange of money.

      There are many opportunities to employ personal selling in the overall campaign--perhaps, at every level other than the general public. The selling can be at the transformation plan level or the individual product or service level, but it should be done and it should be done with the aid of collateral materials. When integrated communications are the objective, nothing should be left to chance.

      Customer service personnel have many opportunities to do one-on-one personal selling to the various customers and users with which they come in contact every day.

      If a NIMA employee has any opportunity to be in contact with a customer or user--whether it is his/her job to sell--the employee should be prepared with knowledge of the appropriate techniques, the relevant products and services, and have collateral materials and scripts to help during the interaction. These preparations will keep marketing communications integrated.
    3. Sales Promotion. The object of sales promotion is to create, or induce, purchases. The buyer may be the final consumer, an intermediary, or an organization's own marketing staff. The major advantage of sales promotion is that it can develop a value-added package for marketers.

      This particular tactic may have the least utility to the NIMA campaign if you look at it from the standpoint of it being an "incentive to purchase" like coupons or free trips. But, samples of NIMA products and services can have value when dealing with a new customer or user, a new market, or a new type of source material such as commercial imagery.

      Once NIMA-Online begins to take shape, then it will be very appropriate to create appropriate sales promotional items to use to generate customer awareness, interest, and use.
    4. Public Relations and Publicity. The act of publicity management is called public relations. Publicity utilizes the mass media, much the same as advertising--but it is not paid for. It is up to marketers to create and place various press (or news) releases and interviews to establish a favorable organizational image.

      NIMA does use press/news releases today, but very occasionally. There needs to be much heavier use of this vehicle both for intra-government releases as well as those that are picked up by the media and appear online.

      Use of press/news releases get the word out to everyone simultaneously and rapidly since they make use of wen, e-mail, fax, and other electronic distribution systems.

      The tactics that will have to be employed will involve incremental release of news (as progress is made toward objectives) through the press release mechanism. Here is a candidate series of press/news releases that could be used to announce NIMA-Online:
        • National Imagery and Mapping Agency Announces NIMA-Online.
        • NIMA-Online will Provide Access to Government and Commercial Content
        • NIMA Creates Online Geospatial Partners Program
        • NIMA to Provide Imagery, Intelligence, and Geospatial Information through NIMA-Online
        • First Online Content Appears on NIMA-Online
        • NIMA Director Meets with Imagery and Geospatial Community Leaders to Discuss IGC-Online
        • NIMA-Online Customers Access Services via Satellite
        • etc...
    5. Direct Marketing. Direct marketing is an interactive system of marketing that uses one or more advertising media to effect a measurable response and/or transaction at any location. Direct marketing looks to create an immediate response, as well as a measurable response, from the market.
    6. Cyber-marketing. Any method of marketing and/or advertising that use the computer, computer networks, and the World Wide Web are called cyber-marketing. The basic function or objective of cyber-marketing is to use the power of online networks, computer communications, and digital interactive media to reach target audiences or to enhance marketing or integrated marketing communications. Some of the various types of cyber-marketing include CD-ROM, e-mail, electronic data interchange, business-oriented database services, posting, hosting or presenting information on the Internet, and online marketing research.

      With a website already active, NIMA needs to be much, much more active and aggressive in using it to identify, explain, and describe applications for its current and emerging products and services.

      Every product and every service will need a unique web page that describes the product, show the extent of its coverage, identifies its currency as a function of location, and provides links to either download a geographic area, or access the area needed in an interactive session. When a particular product is useful for particular applications, each one should be described, with links to pages that provide instructions on how to use the product for various missions.

      In addition the main page will need to promote a new product and/or service each week with links to the pages that describe the product as well as a promotional page that might offer unique opportunities to use the data, or even "free" samples. Though this might not apply to government-generated content, it might very well be used with commercial remote sensing data if the appropriate partnerships can be made with industry.
  4. Evaluation Methods. The evaluation methods that can be used are varied, but one that is critical is that of customer satisfaction. Since NIMA is not a for-profit business, the success of its campaign can not be judged by financial metrics such as sales, profits, or return on investment. However, customers can judge how well NIMA products and services contribute to their missions, allow them to generate value-added products, or provide them with confidence in the overall situation.

Appendix 1

What's in a Marketing Communications Plan?

What's in a marketing communications plan? A marketing communications plan generally has seven major components: