Branding the Beltway

Beyond Buzzwords: Turning the PESO Model Into a GovCon Growth Strategy with Tria Federal's Brian Wagner

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:
Acts as a force multiplier for capture and brand growth while applying to organizations of any size or maturity.
Aligns marketing and business development around measurable goals rather than operating in silos.
Guides creation of relevant messaging based on customer insights.
Amplifies technical expertise to enhance reputation and build credibility.
Creates a compelling brand narrative to strengthen the company story and attract top talent.
Helps to track early success metrics like audience growth, engagement, and pre-RFP brand recall to demonstrate influence before revenue is realized.
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To connect with Brian, follow him on LinkedIn here.Learn more about Tria Federal by visiting their webpage here.

Content as Currency: Trust and Pipeline in GovCon Marketing with Microsoft's Edyn Segura

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:
Content builds trust: Consistency and thought leadership are critical for long buying cycles.
Engage SMEs smartly: Provide feedback, recognition, and programs that make participation meaningful.
Repurpose to scale: One long-form asset can create multiple outputs for different channels.
Event content matters beyond the booth: Pre-event, on-site, and post-event activities sustain engagement.
Balance gated vs. open content: Use metrics to decide when gating supports pipeline vs. visibility.
Leverage AI strategically: It accelerates tasks but doesn’t replace strategy or human judgment.
Frame content as revenue enablement: Show measurable impact on pipeline, deals, and buyer movement.
Tailor to company size and stage: Focus content efforts on where they will have the greatest influence in the customer journey.
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.Learn more about Microsoft by visiting their webpage here.
Get in touch with host Stacey here, or visit Piper Strategies here.

Living Assets: Why Your Website Needs More Than a Facelift with Alex Love

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.Learn more about RIVA Solutions by visiting their webpage here.
Get in touch with host Stacey here, or visit Piper Strategies here.

Beyond the Launch: Product Marketing in the Federal Sector with Okta's LaRel Rogers

In this episode of Branding the Beltway, host Stacey Piper sits down with Okta’s LaRel Rogers, Staff Product Marketing Manager, Federal, to unpack what makes marketing technology products to government buyers unique. From navigating strict compliance requirements to shortening the gap between product launch and federal availability, LaRel shares how storytelling, data-driven planning, and cross-functional collaboration fuel success.
They dive into strategies for tracking pipeline health, aligning content to the sales funnel, and leveraging AI and events for market insights. Whether you’re in a small business developing your first product marketing campaign or scaling a larger federal program, this conversation offers practical frameworks for driving credibility and growth in the GovCon space.
To connect with LaRel, follow her on LinkedIn here.Learn more about Okta by visiting their webpage here.
Get in touch with host Stacey here, or visit Piper Strategies here.

Target Smarter: Account-Based Marketing in the Public Sector with Allan Rubin

In this episode of Branding the Beltway, host Stacey Piper sits down with Allan Rubin, Vice President of Segment Marketing at Granicus, to unpack Account-Based Marketing (ABM) in the government contracting space. From the macro strategy that aligns marketing, sales, and business development, to the micro-level execution that targets high-value accounts, their discussion explores how ABM can help government contractors focus resources, segment messaging, boost engagement, and win “must-have” contracts—even in an era of shrinking budgets and shifting priorities.
 
Discover how to structure ABM into one-to-one, one-to-few, and one-to-many tiers with practical advice on identifying and prioritizing accounts that can make or break a contractor’s year. Learn the process of building buyer personas and tailoring campaigns to specific agency pain points, and why starting small, piloting, and then scaling is a pragmatic way to implement ABM without huge budgets or discarding existing marketing efforts.
 
To connect with Allan, follow him on LinkedIn here.Learn more about Granicus by visiting their webpage here.
Get in touch with host Stacey here, or visit Piper Strategies here.

Marketing as a Strategic Growth Driver in GovCon with Liz Anthony

What happens when marketing stops being a support function and starts driving strategic growth? In this episode of Branding the Beltway, Stacey Piper sits down with Liz Anthony, Managing Director, Federal Market & Competition Strategy at Maximus for a dynamic conversation about transforming marketing inside government contracting organizations.
 
Together, they unpack how aligning marketing with sales, business development, technology and growth strategy enables greater agility and measurable impact. Liz shares her perspective on why marketers need a real seat at the table—and how embedding them into delivery teams creates stronger insights and faster responses to shifting agency needs.
 
They explore how traditional annual marketing plans are no longer enough in today’s fast-paced environment. Liz advocates for agile planning tied to both long-term business goals and near-term opportunity pipelines, with regular monthly reviews that allow teams to pivot quickly. She also emphasizes the importance of building trust across departments, equipping marketing teams with diverse skill sets, and fostering a “test-and-learn” culture that not only improves outcomes but also helps retain top talent.
 
Throughout the conversation, Liz offers practical examples of how to move from messaging about capabilities to messaging about outcomes—and how tools like video content, marketplace communication, and social listening can drive customer engagement and brand relevance. She also highlights the metrics that matter most when marketing is treated as a true business investment, from brand awareness and deal influence to customer engagement and pipeline contribution.
 
This episode is a must-listen for CXOs who want marketing to play a more strategic role and for marketing leaders looking to elevate their team’s influence in the GovCon space.
To connect with Liz, follow her on LinkedIn here.Learn more about Maximus by visiting their webpage here.
Get in touch with host Stacey here, or visit Piper Strategies here.
If you liked listening to this episode, click here to view more in this series. To view all of our podcast series, visit our podcast page.

The Authentic Edge: Standing Out in a Saturated Market with BTI360's Michael Collins

In this Branding the Beltway episode, Stacey Piper talks with Michael Collins, Senior Director, Marketing and Communications at BTI360. They discuss the critical need for authenticity in marketing, particularly for Business-to-Government (B2G) companies. Michael, highlights that low-production, candid content often outperforms highly polished, professionally produced material in terms of engagement, a counterintuitive lesson he learned from both commercial and B2G experiences. He shares how BTI360, despite a challenging year with COVID, earned a "Best Places to Work" award by sharing highly connected content prioritizing employee well-being - a message that resonated deeply because of its authenticity to boost engagement and earn trust within their target audience segment.
To connect with Michael, follow him on LinkedIn here.Learn more about BTI360 by visiting their website here.
Get in touch with host Stacey here, or visit Piper Strategies here.

Go-to-Market Gold: The Power of Sales-Marketing Alignment with Hunter Gros

In the debut episode of Branding the Beltway, host Stacey Piper sits down with Hunter Gros, Director of Marketing and Client Services at vTech Solution, to unpack what true sales and marketing alignment looks like, especially in the high-stakes, long-cycle world of federal contracting.
With a background in both sales and marketing, Hunter brings a dual perspective to this CXO-level conversation. He emphasizes why research is the cornerstone of any go-to-market strategy and how marketing should function as both a brand builder and strategic enabler for business development and capture teams.
From newsletters and LinkedIn strategy to field research and conference presence, Hunter offers tangible KPIs and tactical takeaways for marketers and C-suite leaders alike. The discussion highlights how human connections, thought leadership, and smart content delivery can make your brand memorable and measurable, even in a space where everyone "does IT and cybersecurity."
To connect with Hunter, follow him on LinkedIn here.Learn more about vTech Solution by visiting their website here.
Get in touch with host Stacey here, or visit Piper Strategies here.
If you liked listening to this episode, click here to view more in this series. To view all of our podcast series, visit our podcast page.