Jun
13
2011
Torpedoes
Author: Sulemaan AhmedTell me if this sounds familiar. There is a major campaign and the marketing team of a company gets together. If they have an agency they brief them.
The team brainstorms on ideas, creative, copy, content and concepts. Everything comes together swimmingly. And as we're in an increasingly digital world we coordinate our offline marketing efforts as part of the campaign also. Print. Televsion. Radio. Billboards. You name it. All integrated into one ecosystem.
Someone on the team then gets hit by a thunderbolt during the process. You know those moments when a brilliant idea or tagline hits you when you are in the shower – and you get a brilliant name for the campaign. It's simple, to the point and memorable. Everyone agrees the proposed tagline is brilliant. And getting consensus is difficult if not bordering on impossible with so many internal stakeholders. Creative work starts and all systems are go! Full speed ahead. Damn the torpedoes!
And then a few weeks later as you steam ahead into the wild blue yonder someone has the temerity to ask the question "Has the website domain name for the campaign been registered?" Full stop. Evasive manoeuvres! Torpedo coming straight at you.
It's very common where marketers seem to put the registration of the domain name (I.e. website address) at the very bottom of their checklist – if it's there at all. And the consequences can be disastrous.
I once worked at a company where another department was working on a major marketing campaign. Our digital team wasn't involved as the other department 'had things totally under control'. A conservative estimate was that they had spent tens of thousands of dollars in creative, development work and media buy.
They then went to register the domain name – let's call it 'lightbox.com' - two weeks before the campaign launched. Guess what? The domain name was taken. Someone else had already registered it. They tried to get the legal department involved but no dice. Their case was tenuous at best and time was a commodity in short supply. Which isn't ideal when dealing with legal issues. Not to mention the CMO basically said "Figure it out. Or someone's head will roll."
The team then tried to purchase lightbox.com because all of the promotions and advertising led back to that website address. A website address they were not in possession of. Fortunately, the team managed to purchase it 12 hours before the national campaign went live. (They also paid through their nose and the ROI objectives of the entire campaign became a little more harder for no good reason.)
My question is why? In an age where digital, social and mobile are such a critical and integrated component of marketing – why do marketers seem to leave the domain names to the very end? These days that is akin to launching a campaign without creative. You just can't do it. And whether you are on the client side or agency side – it's completely irresponsible to overlook as a marketer. And don’t cop out and say that kind of thing is the responsibility of the IT department. It’s yours.
My rule of thumb has always been, as soon as you get alignment on a name, rush to the nearest computer and register the domain name immediately. Candidly, I border on paranoia where I refuse to tell people the name because you don't want word to get out until it's registered.
"That's great advice" you say – but what happens if I don't leave things to the last minute and the domain name is already taken Sulemaan? That could very well happen. In fact it's happened to me before and these days most .com website addresses are already taken. So here are some suggestions based on my experience:
1.Try to see if the website address is expiring anytime soon. Perhaps you can silently wait and then renew it for a minimal amount. Using a domain dropcatching service like NameJet or SnapNames vastly increases your chances here.
2.Pick an alternative domain name. Or instead of using a .com address, you can go with a .ca or .co address.
3.Use an intermediary to purchase the domain on your behalf. Why get someone else to do it? Isn't that more expensive? It might add some costs but if you directly contact the owner of a domain name you want and they figure out you work for 'Big Company X' or 'Huge Agency Y' - guess what happens to the starting asking price? Think helium balloons. So for years I've used Bill Sweetman from YummyNames. He's purchased domain names I’ve coveted from $24 all the way up to six figures. He's reliable. He's honest. He knows domains better than anyone I've met.
In this increasingly digital marketing world – whether you are planning a marketing campaign, launch or promotion - don't make registering your domain name(s) the last thing you do. Make it the first. That way you avoid unnecessary torpedoes.
Sulemaan Ahmed
