You are right, but it is no secret. Not all march styles are the same. American, German, English, Italian marches all have their nuances. My favorites are the American marches. When you say "lifted", that is correct but can be confusing to young people. A wise old band director once explained articulations in a way that helped my kids. Legato is 100% of the length of the marked note (a legato quarter will run into the next quarter), marcato, which is the style of most marches, is 75% of the length of the written note, thus the term "lifted" (I always said, "let me hear a tiny bit of silence between each note"), and staccato is %50 of the note length. Another must is doing the accents, all of them. I've been told that Karl King's band did accents almost to the point of being "nasty". I don't recommend that, but do let your audience (and judges) "know" that the accents and dynamics were played - just make sure it is a good sound. There are lots of other things to know about march style, but it would take a book. Just listen to all the march styles you can and note the little details. Hope this helps a little.