Technical proficiency is only a differentiator if applied to the right problem and in my mind the biggest problem the overwhelming majority of you face is clear. Acquiring customers. Over time, because of the changing nature of the customer base, it will only get more difficult. We all used to live in a world of massive growth rates in new Internet users. Those days are gone. Word-of-mouth, still by far the most efficient and effective form of marketing, and the one you are all best at, is no longer sufficient. I don't have an easy answer to this problem, but my gut tells me it is the right question. And that is the tough part.
Elliot, I think you have a portion of this backwards.
The first-time market is, of course, significantly diminishing. And therefore, the majors *have* done their jobs.
So what remains? Superior customer service. Agreed.
But superior customer service cannot be mass-advertised. GoDaddy doesn't succeed because they provide superior customer service, or even because they imply that they do. They succeed because they provide services that they describe as easy enough, and powerful enough, and they advertise like crazy.
But the smaller ones among us will never be able to do that. If they got rid of their developer staff, that will never get them to afford a Super Bowl ad, or a full-pager in the New York Times, or even a daily CNet banner. Word-of-mouth will *always* be the most effective tool for third-tier providers, and word-of-mouth gets built on superior customer service. What is superior service? Not just answering the emails quicker, but providing products that are differentiated by their capabilities or ease of use.
Even though we don't charge for our services, and our target community is more limited (activist individuals and non-profit organizations), our experience is the same: people come to us because their peers left a mass brand for us and were happy, or know someone else who has.
An example of this:
I was referred to your site by XXXXX YYYYYYY, the former director of (Sexual Freedom Non-Profit). I host several free, non-profit e-zines for the purposes of educating the public about sexual freedom. (addresses below) We are all pan-sexual magazines.
After two weeks of blatant rude, horrible, sometimes nonexistent customer service at my current hosting company "AABBCC.com" , I have to wonder, XXXXX as well, ..what exactly the root of this treatment is regarding my sites. XXXXX and I both feel that rather to buy a new hosting program, (although the current was paid for in advance for a year! ) , would be best to donate and utilize your organization.
