September 21, 2005 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- For the Web hosting industry, the last quarter of the year is traditionally the slowest. And this slow period presents hosts with the task of finding new and innovative ways to market their services.
"Hosting is a seasonal business," says Peter Zeisman, advertising and marketing director for Web host FatCow (fatcow.com), "and as you head into quarter four it becomes certainly more of a challenge to attract hosting customers."
To this end, the New Mexico-based company launched a promotion (minigiveaway.com) late last week, promising that in early December it would raffle off a grand prize of a MINI Cooper car, worth approximately $16,500. The company will also give way an Apple Mac Mini, iPod Mini and 25 of its "MiniMoo" domain hosting accounts.
New customers that sign up for FatCow accounts between September 15 and December 5 are eligible for the draw, as are existing customers who refer new accounts or domain hosting customers who upgrade their current services.
Ziesman says FatCow made sure its promotion did not solely focus on new customers as many hosting marketing strategies do. "We wanted to make sure every customer, whether they are a MiniMoo domain parking customer or whether they are an existing FatCow customer … if they upgrade or they refer, everyone is going to get a chance to win."
While the promotion is obviously designed to boost sales, it is also a way for FatCow to show customers its appreciation and commemorate the company's seventh anniversary, says Ziesman.
The promotion is partly geared toward the way FatCow approaches Web hosting, Ziesman says. The company chose to go with the "mini" theme because "it's sort of fun and its competent at the same time, and it really fit in with our FatCow beliefs and brand … there was a nice fit there."
Even the manner in which the prize is awarded was designed the same way, Ziesman says. FatCow will give the winner a cash credit with MINI, enabling them to take a base model car and configure it any way they want. This is "really keeping with our philosophy from a product and service basis," he says.
The inspiration, he says, came from a visit to the MINI Web site.
"I started looking on the Web site and said hey you can actually configure your car exactly the way you want it, select colors, you can go to a Webcam and watch your car being built," says Ziesman. "I thought that's really sort of in keeping with our philosophy, so why don't we just credit the account and let them create their own car."
The results of the promotion, says Ziesman, have been solid considering the promotion is only a few days old. There has already been a noticeable increase in site traffic and he expects more in the coming weeks as customers see the advertisements it has taken out with leading print and online technology industry publications.
Finally, Ziesman is optimistic the promotion may help FatCow find new customers in untapped markets such as the automotive channel.
