My day job allows me to meet people in all sorts of industries. When possible, I try to identify opportunities to introduce my customers to the nGTLDs.
Thing is, since 2014, I have yet to meet someone in the general public who has a clue on the new G's. From business owners to regular folk. Even people who have owned traditional extensions since the 90s have never heard of them. And every single time that I have opened a discussion geared to new G's and matching their existing brand with an EMD, there has been nothing but positive feedback and a "wow- I had no idea, that is awesome" attitude, along with almost an immediate desire to get regging.
On Wednesday during one of my tours I noticed my customer had his brand stamped onto all of his equipment. He's a DJ, his brand is DJ Verse One. Pretty cool name, actually. Anyhow, here's a skinny transcript of how it went:
HotKey: "I noticed your business name, DJ Verse One. Pretty cool. Do you happen to have a website to go with it?"
Regular Joe: "Yes I do! It is www•djverseone•com. I have owned it since 1999."
HotKey: "Nice! Hey, did you know that there is an actual dot-one extension. You can literally match your entire name without using the "com".
Regular Joe (jaw has dropped): "Your kidding?!"
HotKey: "Nope. In fact, there's hundreds of new dots that have been released. Almost everyone can have domains exactly matching their business name."
Regular Joe: "Do you think GoDaddy has this?"
HotKey: "I'm willing to bet they do, and I'm willing to bet your name is available for registration."
At this point, my customer is beside himself with excitement. I am not kidding. He yells out to his kid to fire up the laptop and go to GoDaddy and search for djverse•one. Amazingly, his kid understood right away; didn't even question the extension and knew exactly what to type. So there the name pops up on their laptop, available.
Regular Joe (shouting to kid): "Put it in the cart, put it in the cart, quick before someone takes it!"
Now the wife walks into the room and wants in on the action. But she's the cautious one. Looking at me dubiously, asks "What's your role in all this?" I proceeded to explain that I invest in names that I believe have a great future, and love connecting people to something that suits them. I also explained I would never dream of purposely infringing on anyones current brand or business. What I do, I said, is take plain ol' dictionary words and combine them with the dot to create a complete name solution.
That put her at ease, and then they wanted to know if I had a website. So I gave them my genuine.domains site, and their kid had an absolute blast persuing through my names. Looks up at me and says "I get it! I get why you called it Genuine Domains!" That seriously put a smile on my face. He continued on my site for the rest of my visit, even discovers his favorite name, Mrs.Fashion. I think this kid's gonna be hooked, he's got a good eye.
It's up to us to plant the seed. The reward will come later..
Thing is, since 2014, I have yet to meet someone in the general public who has a clue on the new G's. From business owners to regular folk. Even people who have owned traditional extensions since the 90s have never heard of them. And every single time that I have opened a discussion geared to new G's and matching their existing brand with an EMD, there has been nothing but positive feedback and a "wow- I had no idea, that is awesome" attitude, along with almost an immediate desire to get regging.
On Wednesday during one of my tours I noticed my customer had his brand stamped onto all of his equipment. He's a DJ, his brand is DJ Verse One. Pretty cool name, actually. Anyhow, here's a skinny transcript of how it went:
HotKey: "I noticed your business name, DJ Verse One. Pretty cool. Do you happen to have a website to go with it?"
Regular Joe: "Yes I do! It is www•djverseone•com. I have owned it since 1999."
HotKey: "Nice! Hey, did you know that there is an actual dot-one extension. You can literally match your entire name without using the "com".
Regular Joe (jaw has dropped): "Your kidding?!"
HotKey: "Nope. In fact, there's hundreds of new dots that have been released. Almost everyone can have domains exactly matching their business name."
Regular Joe: "Do you think GoDaddy has this?"
HotKey: "I'm willing to bet they do, and I'm willing to bet your name is available for registration."
At this point, my customer is beside himself with excitement. I am not kidding. He yells out to his kid to fire up the laptop and go to GoDaddy and search for djverse•one. Amazingly, his kid understood right away; didn't even question the extension and knew exactly what to type. So there the name pops up on their laptop, available.
Regular Joe (shouting to kid): "Put it in the cart, put it in the cart, quick before someone takes it!"
Now the wife walks into the room and wants in on the action. But she's the cautious one. Looking at me dubiously, asks "What's your role in all this?" I proceeded to explain that I invest in names that I believe have a great future, and love connecting people to something that suits them. I also explained I would never dream of purposely infringing on anyones current brand or business. What I do, I said, is take plain ol' dictionary words and combine them with the dot to create a complete name solution.
That put her at ease, and then they wanted to know if I had a website. So I gave them my genuine.domains site, and their kid had an absolute blast persuing through my names. Looks up at me and says "I get it! I get why you called it Genuine Domains!" That seriously put a smile on my face. He continued on my site for the rest of my visit, even discovers his favorite name, Mrs.Fashion. I think this kid's gonna be hooked, he's got a good eye.
It's up to us to plant the seed. The reward will come later..