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Campaigns let you send bulk outreach emails to contracting officers, potential teaming partners, or other contacts. Campaigns can be sent to government officials and to private individuals. The most common use is re-compete outreach. You find a contract approaching its expiration date, and you contact the people responsible for it before the new solicitation is written. The module has two parts: You always build the template first. A campaign has nothing to send without one. How to get there: Sidebar → Workspace → Click Campaigns

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1. Campaign templates

A template defines the structure and content of your outreach email. Once created, a template can be reused across multiple campaigns. The Templates tab lists everything you have built. It has a search box, a switch between list and grid view, a Filter button, and a page size selector at the bottom.

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Creating a template

  1. On the Campaigns page, select the Templates tab.
  2. Click Create New Template.
  3. Fill in the fields:
  1. Click Create Template.
Name your templates after what they target rather than when you wrote them. 541511_SUBSCRIPTION tells you the NAICS code and the offer at a glance. Template 3 tells you nothing when you are picking one from a list months later.

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Customizable tokens

Templates support four tokens. A token is a placeholder you type into your email, and Kontratar swaps it for real information when the campaign sends. So if you write this in your email body:
A recipient receives this:
Tokens work in attachments too, not just the email body. If you attach a capability statement or a cover letter containing the same tokens, each recipient gets a document addressed to them personally rather than a generic one. This is the difference between a mail merge and a mass email.
A token that does not resolve is sent exactly as you typed it. If something goes wrong with the data, your recipient opens an email that begins Dear {{RECIPIENT_NAME}}. Always preview the email with a real recipient loaded before you launch the campaign.

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Managing templates

Use the search box to find a template by name. The Filter button narrows the list further, and the view switch changes between a list and a grid of cards. The page size selector at the bottom controls how many templates you see at once.

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2. Sending a campaign

Once you have an active template, you can build a campaign around it.
  1. Select the Campaigns tab.
  2. Click Create New Campaign.
  3. Fill in the fields:
  1. Click Create Campaign.
You do not type in the recipient list. Recipient emails are derived automatically from the awards associated with the template you selected. The form tells you this: it shows Select a template to load approver emails for this campaign until you pick one.So if your recipient list is empty or shorter than you expected, the cause is the template’s award association rather than anything on the campaign form. Go back and check which awards the template is linked to.
The Campaigns tab lists everything you have sent or scheduled, showing the template used, the end date, the identifier type, and the identifier.

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3. The 21-day government email rule

Kontratar enforces a 21-day cooling period on government email addresses. If you try to send to a .gov or .mil address that already received an email from you within the past 21 days, you will get a warning.This protects you rather than restricting you. Repeated contact with government addresses can get your sending domain flagged as spam, and that affects every email your organization sends, not just campaigns. A colleague chasing a contract award notice would find their message in a junk folder because of a campaign you sent last week.Treat the warning as a reason to wait rather than an obstacle to work around.

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4. Campaign examples

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Expiring software contract outreach

You sell software licensing and support, and you want to reach agencies whose current contracts are ending.
  1. Use Awards to search for software-related contracts.
  2. Filter for contracts with performance periods ending within the next 12 months.
  3. Export the contracting officer contacts.
  4. Create a template that highlights your software capabilities, using {{CONTRACT_NAME}} and {{EXPIRY_DATE}} so each email names the specific contract that is ending.
  5. Create a campaign against that template.
Because the tokens fill themselves in, one template covers every contract on your list. The contracting officer reads an email about their contract, not a circular about software in general.

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Targeted industry capability outreach

You hold a specialist certification, and you want to reach both the government and the companies likely to bid.
  1. Use Forecasts to find upcoming procurements that mention your specialization.
  2. Use Awards to identify the incumbent contractors on related work.
  3. Create a template that emphasizes your certifications and partnership status.
  4. Send it to government contacts and to potential teaming partners.
The second group matters as much as the first. A prime contractor assembling a bid team needs the capability you hold, and they are making that decision months before the solicitation appears.
  • Awards. Where you find contracts approaching expiration and the contacts associated with them.
  • Forecasts. Where you find requirements still in the planning phase, before a solicitation exists.
  • Pipeline Management. How to track the pursuits your outreach is supporting.
Parent topic: Kontratar v2.0 Documentation