Can you feel the electricity in the air?
There’s a revolution brewing. It’s the lingering smell of ozone, right before a powerful storm erupts.
It’s about time to bring the end-users to the domain conferences.
It’s about time to change the rules of the game by altering the long-standing paradigm. Domainers sipping margaritas with other domainers at domainer conferences is not what takes this industry to the next level. It actually puts it into a deep sleep.
The domaining industry needs its own aggressive marketing campaign, its very own technocrats that don’t rest forever on their laurels of past engagements. Instead, these individuals would forge new marketing paths by hammering into shape alliances beyond the domaining realm, past the sleepy “circle of trust” that has been regurgitating the same old fairy tales for years now.
It’s time for a change.
Eighty percent of the general public that uses the Internet has no clue about the value, specifics, functions and mechanisms of the domain industry. They are ripe ground for seeding with education. They are waiting, money in their wallets to learn how they can best invest it.
So put down the margaritas and assorted shrimp-on-a-toothpick and seek the right connections that will open up the coveted gates of the general public – directly to the entrance of your own business.
B-I-N-G-O
Exactly that is it, well said 😉
Regards
Well said. When this kind of stuff is said, people think one is trying to create mischief. But if only they could open their eyes to the real world and embrace the potential.
This incentuous behavior is stifling the industry.
But who knows, perhaps we have too many geeks in the domain industry and too few business people who understand what marketing is all about.
This is an issue that I think everyone recognizes, but the hard part is taking action and doing something impactful. How do you propose that this should be done? Domain investors (myself included) always seem to have ideas about how someone else should do something.
To some degree, it’s happening though. When an end user buys a domain name from a domain investor, that domain investor re-invests in other domain names, often owned by other domain investors. There’s new money coming in all the time, but not nearly at a maximum velocity.
BTW, there’s a domain panel at Ad Tech in New York next week: http://www.ad-tech.com/ny/session_detail.asp?refad=1&session=1150
Elliot, stop thinking as a domainer for a second. I am not proposing anything related to the current status quo; in fact, I’m talking about educating non-domainers en masse, approaching them as students of any other market. Domainers selling domains to other domainers or re-investing money from other sales has nothing to do with what I am talking about here.
I go to domain conferences for just as much as a vacation as business. However, a friend of mine who makes $500,000 + a year in this industry and has never gone to a domain conference said something very funny to me:
“Domain conferences are like prostitutes selling to prostitutes”. He told me to save my money and use it to buy domains and read about it on the DNjournal. He does make some good points and you can’t argue with his success.
I will be back at DomainFest in January, but it would be nice to see some end users there. They really need to reach out to that market because I think everybody is tired of seeing the same ugly faces:).
This is a subject that I feel very strongly about, so I’m going to get on my soapbox. You hit the nail right on the head.
What is said is not something new, other domain investors have said in the past that we don’t do enough to promote and advertise generic domains, which is absolutely true.
But also we don’t do enough in promoting and endorsing our own industry. Like you said, most end users have no clue, so when they hear from some unreliable source that domainers are cyber squatters, they believe it.
Just as the milk and pork industries have positive PR campaigns, we should engage in the same activities. If not has a collective effort at least on an individual basis.
We have to make a viable and compelling effort to educate not only the end user but others also. We need to reach out and show everyone how important domains are for their business and the Internet in general. We need to make “domaining” a common household word, in a positive sense. Domainers have to ooze with happy thoughts for their industry and stop the negativity that is encroaching on us.
How we do this in detail should be up for debate, but a good start would be with positive relationships. When we achieve this, only then will those who are taking pot shots at us take domaining seriously.
The domaining community is filled with wonderful people we like to socialize with, but we should spend more time in befriending the end user.
An excellent “get real” post.
definitevely agree and if you give me your permission i would like to publish in part or totally your article into my own web site, section “articles”.
Thanks for sharing this position with us.
Regards
Carlos Martins
You are preaching to the choir.
Anyone who has ever spontaneously purchased an absolutely non-essential, totally unnecessary product, system or service while watching late night television knows the potential of which you speak.
Anyone who has spent big dollars to purchase a genuine Rolex® watch fully understands. Likewise, anyone who has spent much, much LESS for a Rolex® knock-off understands – perhaps even better.
Domainers meet Madison Avenue.
Madison Avenue meet the Domainers.
And as much as it must pain you to read this paragraph, Acro, even assuming your assessment of .Tel is accurate (a position with which I STRONGLY disagree) a great advertising agency in combination with a very clever and exceptionally well funded global marketing campaign would render each and every one of your .Tel objections quite moot.
And unlike my salsa maker and mailbox chime, the right domain name will “Keep on Ticking” (sorry Timex®) for years and years to come. After all, domain names are capable of bringing meaningful, long-term value to the end user. What a concept! Even better, it’s the truth.
Btw, I appear to be coming down with a cold. Anybody have a Kleenex® handy? Never mind, I, ah, just happen to have this unopened, full case of ShamWow® towels sitting around (for months, actually). I hear they are highly absorbent…
SDM, maybe I’m preaching to the choir – the question is, which choir is it? That of St.Domainer or the non-denominational church of Consumer?
Also, I don’t understand the notion to alignment with the .tel mumbo-jumbo. You may disagree, however don’t tell me that TelNic launched some ingenious campaign of some sort. The Ben.tel ad was questionably creative, definitely not related to the end-user who has a real use for becoming a domain investor. Did they close that deal with MySpace or was that the ShamNow of domaining?
Acro,
Just seconds ago I posted a reply to Bruce Marler’s post about end users just because his “headline” caught my eye first on Domaining.com.
Then I read your blog post. Well dude, pump up your biceps, because you just uncorked the genie from the “we’re doing this alone” domain bottle.
It’s simply excellent… excellent, because the universal mood has begun to intersect with the ideas you posted.
I can’t tell you how much this dream has been playing on my mind and that what you’ve drawn on us here is our game plan for success.
Maybe we minor players can convince the major players that they will die like the “long distance” and “local” phone call providers unless we organize in the spirit of what you and many domainers believe is a major NECESSARY move for ALL OF US.
I’m behind you, and I hope other domainers are too.