by Christopher M. Knight ISP-Lists.com Managing Editor [April 24, 2001]

Today, being an ISP-CEO is certainly an exercise of "living in interesting times," as evidenced by the mix of positive and negative attitudes exhibited by attendees at ISPCON this month.

Normally, I'd dive right in and serve you the meat of our ISP-CEO discussions, but it’s important to note that different people view the world with different filters, which ultimately form the individual’s different perspective. ISP-CEOs came to the conference with preset ideas about how they view the state of the ISP industries.

The folks at this conference strongly voiced their opinions attempting to justify their take on the ISP industry, noticeably more so than any other ISPCON that I've ever attended. To some, the ISP industry is falling apart, on the brink of ruin and decay. But to others, ISPs are just getting started—unparalleled success is just around the corner.

What’s my take on the ISP industry? My perspective is that the ISP industry has at least another eight to ten years before it evolves into something greater, something bigger than we know today.

According a report recently published by to ISP-Planet, The ISP Market: Challenges and Strategies for the Future, 64 percent of the ISPs surveyed said that "being profitable" was their highest priority for their ISP business.

It's very clear that this remains true for ISP-CEOs, today. It is equally interesting to note that new technologies that once lured ISP-CEOs into bold new business ventures is no longer our primary focus. ISP-CEOs have put their business brains to work, recognizing that their ISPs success or failure is determined more by sales and marketing, then by having all the latest techno-toys and Web gadgets.

Each ISP-CEO gathering has brought together new faces from our diverse crowd, and this spring’s event was no different. Gone from this session were many familiar ISP-CEO faces that either went bankrupt, sold out, or were acquired. It appears that each successive ISPCON seems to attract larger crowds to our ISP-CEO fold, but only about 40 percent are what I would call "regulars." This means that entrepreneurs’ interest in building an ISP has not waned and new blood is continuing to seep into the ISP industry.

ISP sales and marketing issues
On the subject of acquiring new subscribers, a year ago the ISP-CEO group said that they were paying seven-to-eight times their monthly recurring dialup revenue to acquire each new customer. But today, ISP-CEOs say they spend roughly five-to-seven times monthly recurring revenue.

One ISP-CEO said her business is spending 20 percent of its recurring revenue each month and has done so since she started the business. Sadly, not everyone in the audience agreed that this was and is a good marketing plan, opting for more reactionary schemes and cyclic or seasonal sales programs.

ISP-CEOs do agree about the effectiveness of some sales and marketing mediums:

Broadcast: CEOs agree that the best results of building brand awareness for their ISP came from television-based advertising programs. Many CEOs mentioned that they were testing radio advertising and one ISP chief provided us with an excellent marketing tip—negotiate with your local radio station to do a live Internet show delivering Web-wisdom to their listening audience. Of course, it’s important that your ISP sponsor the show, too.

Direct Mail: ISP-CEOs agree that postcard advertising works, but many recommend against doing a blind dump of postcard promotions. To be effective, postcard advertising must be relevant to your ISPs demographics to better target potential subscribers in your service area.

Print: A few ISP-CEOs said newspaper advertising didn't work well for their business, but others said that trading out connectivity for advertisements with their local newspaper worked well for them to build awareness of their services and pick up new users.

Billboards: One ISP-CEO believes billboard advertising is essential. The ISP-CEO spent about $252 a month per billboard and did a 75-board buy, which worked out to by 15 advertisements per month across a tri-county service area. The ISP-CEO said it was highly effective advertising campaign for his business.

Banner Ads: A few ISP CEOs said they had tested Web banner advertising, but found it was only effective at brining in new Webhosting sales, not new dialup accounts.

Phone Directories: Yellow Page advertising remains popular among ISP CEOs. One mentioned that his ISP pays out $520 a month for their local telephone directory listing, while another ISP CEO said that she pay approximately $6,800 a month for Yellow Page advertising. Of course, this was for a listing in every local phone directory published in California, which works out to about $100 per county. She said that the advertising strategy really created a lot of pull in the state for her ISP business.

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