Competing In Todays Broadband Market New Market Opportunities

Competing In Today's Broadband Market New Market Opportunities for WISPs by Jeremy Anthony Kinsey a bella mia company

Background Jeremy Kinsey or“Jer” to his friends. CEO and Co-Founder of Bella Mia, Inc. Been an ISP for 8 years Been a WISP for 5 years Part-15 WISP of the Year WISPCON III Part-15 Member Regular Speaker at WISPCON, WCA, P-15. Located in South East Wisconsin

Overview • • • Who is the competition? Comparative Analysis Education Reach from within Advertising Direct Mail Branding Other Sources of Revenue? Overview

Who is the Competition? • Cable Ops - Time Warner/RR, Charter • Telco/DSL - SBC, Verizon, AT&T, • Satellite - Direct Way, Inter. Stat • CLEC/DSL - Covad • Other WISPs - Everyone’s doing it now!

Competition - Overview • Identify all the providers in your service area • Organize providers by technology, ie. , cable, dsl, wireless, etc. • Define target customer of each provider based on their reach • Identify future providers? Other WISP’s new technologies

Comparative Analysis Identify the following for each competitor: • Service plans/pricing • Value added services • Customer service/support • Target market/customer • Other services

Case Study: Comparing Competition vs • Step by Step gathering of information • Analysis of information and pricing • Form a Side by Side Comparison

Comparative Analysis ACME Business Starts at $89 - ours Starts at $99 ACME Charges extra for IP’s - We charge $0 ACME Charges extra for DNS - We charge $0 ACME Charges extra for Hosting - We charge $0 ACME uses DHCP - We give you STATIC IPs

Cost Comparison Basic Business Package with 16 IP’s 256 k or better 50 MB Web Hosting 50 Email addresses Unlimited Forwards Domain Registration and DNS MX/Backup Mail Services

Side By Side Costs Basic Business Package with 16 IP’s - 50 MB Web Hosting - 50 Email addresses - Unlimited Forwards - Domain Registration and DNS - MX/Backup Mail Services 512 k x 128 k $89. 95 Static IP Block of 5 $75. 00 Static IP Block of 13 $100. 00 Hosting-Unix Select $24. 95 Domain Registration $25. 00 DNS hosting $10. 00 Set Up Fee $295. 00 Rent Equipment Total Recurring $299. 90/mo. Total Non-Recurring $320. 00 384 k/40 GB $99. 95 Static IP Block of 16 $0 Additional IPs $10/IP Web Hosting FREE 50 MB Domain Registration FREE DNS hosting FREE Set Up Fee $399. 00 Own Equipment Total Recurring $99. 95/mo. Total Non-Recurring $399. 00

Winning on Price IP addresses! /20 of IP’s or 4000 IPs cost you. 62 per year! That’s. 0017 cents per day! That is 82 cents per month for 16 IP’s. Web Hosting! Again, pennies a day. Besides, it is going to cost less to have your customer host in your NOC than on their Link! Email addresses! Costs virtually nothing Unlimited Forwards! Ditto

Winning on Price - (Cont. ) Domain Registration and DNS Become an Domain reseller, buy domains at wholesale and pass these savings to your customer. MX/Backup Mail Services Again, costs little to nothing for you to provide, and gives the customer MORE! Backup Dialup Accounts If you were already an ISP and offer dialup, throw in a back up dialup account for redundancy. The goal here is to show the customer where the value is!

Comparative Analysis Overview Learn about your competitor Know what they charge Know what they offer Know where they offer it Develop a side by side comparison and define strengths and weaknesses. Create a plan of action based on this information.

Education is the Key! • Educate your customers and potential customers • Teach them about your service • Teach them about the Technology!

If you build it, they will come! If you build it, you have to tell them about it If you build it, you have to tell them to come If you build it, you have to tell them why they should come to you If you build it, you have to tell them why your service is worth coming to If you build it, you have to Teach them!

It’s about “Un. Learning” stupid • You are going to have to “Unlearn” or “Un. Teach” your customers and potential customers • They have been taught that your service is insecure • They have been taught that your service is unreliable • They have been taught that your service is bad

Who’s Teaching Them This?

What They Know Your competitor knows about you! § They know what you charge § They know what you offer § They know where you offer it § Most of all, they know who your customers are!

So what are they saying?

Reach from Within! • Are you just a WISP, or were you an ISP? • Up sell your other services • Sell add-ons, value added services with your wireless • Sell “Share your cable kits” • Sell backup dialup lines to cable/dsl customers

Reach from Within! (Cont. ) • CASH Referrals to existing Customers! • $50 Backup Dialup • Wireless as a “Secondary Provider”! • Come on back! - keep in contact with past customers! • Local, Long Distance, Vo. IP other add ons!

Reach from Within - Tune. Up • Other Ideas Introducing the PC Tune Up! Fix existing customers PC’s Get rid of Spyware Clean up drives Upgrade Systems Clean components and more!

Reach from Within - Tune. Up • An Idea Is Born Email and sent flyers to existing Customers Got dozens of responses Reduced support calls Made unhappy customers happy! Generating new revenue stream!!!

Reach from Within - Tune. Up • Let’s take this a step further Advertise PC Tune Up to general public! Got tons and tons of responses Made unhappy competitors customers our customers! Generating more of a new revenue stream!!! More response than we can handle!

Reach from Within - Tune. Up • Support Dept goes Bonkers!

Direct Mail

Direct Mail - Overview • • Target former customers first Send mail in phases Use colorful bright envelopes Printer letters on nice paper • Use color in your letter • Include special offers or coupons • Send follow ups

Direct Mail - Pointers • • Write your letter in first person Add a Johnson box Treat reader as valued customer Have letter come from the President • Put your offer higher up in the letter • Mention customer by name • SIGN IT!!!

Direct Mail - Definitions • Write your letter in first person AT&T used and uses this effectively for winning back customers. Some popular AT&T “come back” letters have included things like: ‘Dear Name, I love a challenge. As the president of AT&T Consumer Long Distance Services, I face them every day. And that’s why I’m writing you. ’ AT&T won back over 2 million customers this way! You can too!

Direct Mail - Definitions • Add a Johnson Box A Johnson Box is a headline located at the top of a letter typically. It can include the main message/benefit, or stress your offer. Examples: Research has shown that letters with a Johnson Box have out performed letters without them by as much as 40%!

Direct Mail - Definitions • Treat Reader as Valued Customer One of AT&T’s most successful campaigns for “AT&T Winback” placed the following inside a Johnson Box “A very special offer for our most valuable former customers. ” This worked so well for AT&T’s higher end former customers that they tried it again, except this time on their lower value customers, and it worked even better!

Direct Mail - Definitions • Have letter come from President Nothing makes a letter from a “big corporation” more personal and meaningful than if the President of that company actually wrote the letter! “I’m not only a client, I own the company. ” You may not be a big corporation, however you too can have a huge impact on a customer writing directly to them. It really shows you have the time to care!

Direct Mail - Definitions • Put your offer higher up in the letter As a new dad, I see my son looking directly at the most appealing aspect of an object first. The “attention grabber” if you will. “Show me the money!” Don’t put your offer at the end of your letter, stick it out there in front! Put it in the “Johnson Box”. Or at the very least, get your message/offer across in the first three sentences of your letter!

Direct Mail - Definitions • Mention customer by name Nothing is more personal than having the respect to call a person by their name. Mention your customer by name several times when explaining your offers to them. “Darlene, I want you to come back knowing how much we truly missed you!” Make them feel like they are talking to an old friend, and don’t forget to thank them for their time!

Direct Mail - Definitions • SIGN IT! That’s right, sign the letter. . I don’t just mean stick your name on it, and no, not a scan of your signature. “Sign your name!” I personally sign every piece of direct mail that leaves our office bound for a former customer. People will appreciate the personal detail, and time spent on them! It works!

Direct Mail - Example

Advertising

Advertising • Newspapers - Advertisers • Flyers - Brochures - Hand outs • Radio - TV • Get your materials in local stores • Chamber of Commerce • Phone Book

Advertising - Newspapers • Front page - Back page - Inserts • Use your local “advertiser” type paper • Frequency - Consistency • Advertise your other services as well • Run Specials - One Week Only Sales - Last Chance Sales

Advertising - Primer • Consistent and constant presence • Consistent theme • Use color • Have a clear message • Have a professional create your ads!

Advertising - Examples

Holidays - Coloring Contests

Holidays - Give Aways

Holidays - Give Aways Packed with your offers!

Advertising - Flyers • Flyers - Brochures - Coupons - Inserts Use your current ads in the form of brochures, or use them as inserts in news papers. Produce coupon sheets which can be handed out and sent out with every invoice!

Advertising - Radio • Radio - TV - Public Access Radio ads can be effective during high traffic hours, or during popular talk host shows. . TV can be effective on a local level by using local cable channels, if available, and if they will let you. Both Radio and TV can gather a large audience, but are extremely expensive

Advertising - Stores • Place your materials in local stores Place business cards, brochures and other promotional items at computer stores, video rental stores, etc. Partnering with a computer store to push your service and their machines can give you an effective edge!

Advertising - Chamber • Your Local or US Chamber of Commerce The Chamber of Commerce is a great place to get your name out. Joining is easy, and usually requires a nominal yearly fee. You get access to every other Chamber Business, mailing lists and labels, mentions in the Chamber newsletters, and tons of advertising possibilities!

Advertising - Phone Book • The Yellow Pages - Very effective!!! We have found that better than 50% of our customers saw us in the phone book. Make sure to emphasize your services, name, PHONE NUMBER and of course, pricing!!!

Advertising Recap • Have a consistent theme • Have a professional create your ads • Mix advertising of Wireless with your other services • Have fun - Be Playful and Creative! Give your ads some punch! • Don’t Stop!

Branding

Push Your Brand! • Have some of those Pens made up! • Get your Logo on everything! • Stickers - Brand your Wireless Gear! • Car magnets - Put them on your install vehicles • Make sure your name is everywhere

Branding - Examples

Branding - Overview Pens, pencils, other give aways with your logo Vehicle Magnets Stickers for branding products Show displays and give aways Get your logo on everything!

Other Income Sources Ad. Sense Sell/resell Satellite TV Become an e. Bay Affiliate Create a Search Portal

Google Ad. Sense http: //google. com/adsense

Satellite TV Direct TV - Dish TV Affiliate Programs

e. Bay Affiliate Make as much as $45/user

Create a Search Portal Make money with search results

Affiliate Marketing Make money reselling services on a commission basis!

QUESTIONS? Presentation presented and created by Jeremy Anthony Kinsey Thank you for your attention! A PPT copy of the presentation can also be found online at: http: //wispcon. VIII. mia. net/ppt/competition. ppt You can contact me via email with further questions at: jer@mia. net www. wisconsinwireless. net a bella mia company Copyright 2005 bella mia, inc.