June 16, 2005 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Since Web Hosting Expo in 2001, the hosting business has been more on the periphery of Internet and telecommunications conferences, somewhat removed from the spotlight. HostingCon 2005 (hostingcon.com), held earlier this month in Chicago, was the first conference in four years to make Web hosting its primary focus, and it presented hosts with a unique marketing opportunity.
The exhibit hall at HostingCon featured nearly 50 booths and included some rather elaborate displays, such as Microsoft's miniature theatre and EV1Servers's video bowling simulation. But the booth that drew the largest amount of attention belonged to Chicago-headquartered FastServers.Net (fastservers.net). The company set up a makeshift casino, complete with blackjack and poker tables and FastServers employees sitting in as dealers. The company also hosted an after hours party at a posh nightspot on the last night of the event, opening the bar to all its guests.
A growing dedicated server and colocation provider serving roughly 1,000 customers and operating about 1,800 servers, FastServers had employed the casino theme to some success at local tradeshows. But it had nearly retired the idea when it heard that a Web hosting industry conference was returning.
"We just couldn't resist," says Aaron Phillips, vice president of marketing at FastServers. The large hosting crowd, he says, was perfect for the casino theme. FastServers completely re-designed the booth from scratch, making its branding more prominent.
The company came to HostingCon with a deliberate strategy. The company certainly wanted to generate new business. But, first and foremost, it wanted to enhance its branding and get its name out by making a splash at the conference.
"Walking in the door we had one goal in mind," says Phillips, "and that was branding."
With the large service provider crowd at HostingCon, FastServers was not expecting to make a lot of sales. Instead, it wanted to get to know people in the industry and meet potential customers.
"We weren't going to be running into a whole bunch of people that were ready that day to buy servers, so really what we wanted to do at the show was project that we were available - that we were a good company to talk to. We wanted some one-on-one time with people - with our people, and potential customers."
Phillips felt the best way to achieve these objectives was to set up an activity-based booth that caught everyone's eye and created an environment where visitors would stay around for longer than a few minutes.
"Our choice started with the refusal of standing in a booth for eight hours at a time and passing out brochures, sales pitching, and trying to make eye contact with attendees," says Phillips. "I don't want to do a traditional booth like everyone else."
The results exceeded Phillips's expectations. "You could walk around HostingCon and you could hear people talking about us," he says. "We just heard buzz throughout the whole show."
He says the average visitor to FastServers.Net's booth stayed for 55 minutes, playing the casino games and talking business. A full 10 percent of the visitors spent between four and six hours.
While it was certainly a costly venture - Phillips wouldn't say just how much the company spent on the event - the HostingCon booth and party is starting to pay for itself. The company inked two Web hosts to colocation deals and is very close to finalizing two more while it follows up on about 20 other leads generated at the event.
And the live environment, not always easily accessible in the world of hosting, creates leads that move rapidly through the sales cycle.
"It takes the sales process two steps further with every single person we meet," explains Phillips. "When somebody finds us on Google, calls us, we're on step one. And we'll go through the 10 sales steps to get to know them [and] find out what they need.
"At HostingCon, while there wasn't as many customers [as come through] Google, it sure progressed, with them getting to know us, to step five - them standing an hour with us at a booth, playing cards, finding out we're fun people [and] better yet finding out we technically know what we are doing."
The marketing plan Phillips originally drew up was for the next three HostingCon events and was progressive in its approach. FastServers.Net set out to lay the groundwork this year, not expecting to land any significant business until the third year, so plans are way ahead of schedule. And with the success the company has had so far, Phillips says he expects something even more elaborate next year.
