On a related note, who do you find it best to contact at these companies to make an offer. At a small company it's relatively easy to find someone, but at the bigger ones, it's not like you could email the CEO of Anheiser Busch (in this case) very easily and get a response.
I have some domains that I think would have a good shot at being sold to some end-users, but never knew the best way to contact them. Is there some department you've found to be the most appropriate to inquiries like this? Would appreciate your insight and suggestions.
In the case of a name like this, you would start by finding *every* small, midsize and large beer manufacturer in all English speaking countries. Remember: Mars or Hershey didn't buy Candy.com. Melville Candy did. It's entirely possible that the behemoths won't 'get it' (or, maybe a few of them "get it" but navigating the corporate bureaucracy makes it difficult for decisions to be made...) while some trendy, smaller outfit will get it. The costs associated with acquiring good domain names are still a pittance compared to what an operating business spends on advertising and marketing, so don't write off the smaller concerns. They have marketing budgets too, and while not as comparatively large as their bigger competitors, still large enough to make a helluva domain sale (this is why premium, industry relevant generic domains are still way 'cheap')
From there, you would determine who handles their marketing and advertising. I would imagine the larger ones have some in-house capacity for this, as well as contracting for it on an as-needed basis. Smaller concerns probably contract exclusively. Further, you would find out any/all external advertising agencies and marketing firms that handle/have handled beer marketing and ads, even if they aren't at the moment.
You would compile lists of CEO's, CTO's and COO's too- at the beer companies, the marketing agencies, any beer/beverage related trade unions or organizations, trade organizations for beer distributors, importers, wholesalers... Just as important as targeting the decision-makers is targeting the people who
influence the decision-makers. This is tech; tech is usually delegated, save for decisions like this.
In short, you would compile one big-ass list of names, addresses, emails and phone numbers.
Then, you would generate buzz.
Phase 1 would start the process with a simple, chic lander on the domain- something to the effect of "For the first time ever, ColdBeer.com is being made available for sale... There can be only one owner of this amazing marketing platform; will it be your company?"
From there, I'm a fan of direct mailing little three color postcards with relevant information.
After that, a phone calls, then letters, either reiterating what we talked about on the phone, or re-introducing the name, since the earlier phone calls never got through.
You'll probably start to get some return contacts. Here, test the waters to see if you don't get any white-whale type offers. There's a good chance that at least a few of them will 'get it' and want to close the deal without risking losing the name by making a whopper of an offer right up front, but don't plan on this. Plan on it going to auction. If you do get such an offer, though, be prepared to hop on a plane, fast.
Phase 2 would be similar to phase 1, but with finite sales information included. Auction dates, times, starting prices, etc. Again, more phone calls and voice mails - not the point of being a nuisance, but to the point that the sale of this name is cemented in their minds.
Here, you get your auction plan in the works, with a starting bid/reserve
in mind.
The only time you use email is as a method of post-contact communication. You do not initiate contact with email, as emails are garbage in situations like this. Always have been, always will be.
I could probably write 10 pages on this, but I'll stop here. Good luck. It's the sort of name that might bring XX,XXX, but with bigbigbig upside potential if the right people get excited over it and want it badly enough. If I owned a beer company, I would not be outbid on this name.
