Even before you develop your award-winning apps and killer viral campaigns, consideration of your hosting requirements will smooth the path to success.
Never before have marketing professionals had such an array of tools and techniques at their disposal. Online agencies in particular – as they seek to develop addictive applications and killer viral campaigns – can tap into a seemingly limitless pool of opportunity on the worldwide web, as more and more people globally spend a large proportion of their days, and even their nights, on the internet.
It is important, then, not to overlook your business’ and your campaign’s hosting requirements. Preparation is key. If you were hosting a party, it’s unlikely you’d host it in your garden shed. You’d more likely choose the best room in the house – else you would risk not being able to accommodate all your guests, and you certainly wouldn’t impress them.
But, other than an appropriate space, what else do you need to consider if you are going to ensure your hosting partner can work with you to deliver what you are aiming for? And what are the benefits of doing so?
We’ve already mentioned the need for space. Ideally you will be able to estimate roughly how many people will come to your party – or how many visitors your campaign website is likely to receive. Such information will certainly help your hosting provider ensure you are working on the right platform, with the most appropriate operating system, sufficient bandwidth, memory and spec, so that your campaign is automatically ‘dressed to impress’.
Yet unfortunately it’s not always possible to anticipate success with any accuracy. A sudden influx of visitors could risk chaos – temporary or otherwise. To avoid being totally overwhelmed, you need a host which can ensure resilient network connectivity, which can react and respond fast, even if you can’t know three months in advance how things will pan out when you go live. Quality support staff and expert load balancing will ensure you don’t lose the goodwill of your customer, and that visitors receive a consistent user experience, with traffic split between servers when necessary.
And to make sure it will be alright on the night, ensure your host has enough experience in order to be able to anticipate unforeseen events. Your host can’t be a newcomer to the scene. Flexibility is key – strong supplier relationships as well as just-in-time provision, in-depth knowledge of the devices and the hardware you might require, and of course the necessary data centre space – along with sound financials to ensure the servers you need are always available when you need them.
Your party needs to be well-stocked, too – you don’t want to risk the lights going out, halfway through proceedings, and you don’t want to run out of food. And no matter how well prepared you may think you are, you need to know robust disaster recovery is ready and waiting in the wings.
Take the menu, for example. You need a host which can cater for unexpected requests – the vegetarian option, the dairy-free, the wheat-free … and mid-campaign you might need to switch from one hosting platform - or one menu option - to another. When you’ve invested millions in a campaign, building momentum, you don’t want to burst the bubble, or kill the atmosphere, and your brand equity along with it. A reliable hosting partner can help to ensure your brand values are protected at all times.
Last, but not least, does your hosting partner provide a skilled team, proactively monitoring, and warding off potential problems 24/7? Does your agency have the funds to ensure such doormen, waiting staff and caterers are on hand, any time day or night? A skilled hosting partner will, and that’s key, because, with any luck, your party might go on all night.
Michael Hassan
Product manager, NetBenefit
www.netbenefit.com/blog