Premium and Reserved Domains: Enhancing Your Strategy and ROI

Transcription

1 Premium and Reserved Domains: Enhancing Your Strategy and ROI Brian King Director of Internet Policy & Industry Affairs Sherry Hildebrand Global Relationship Manager

2 AGENDA Background: New gtld program, and how and why registries have premium and reserved domains Facts and stats MarkMonitor s position and process Leading practices Effective negotiation strategies Success stories How MarkMonitor can assist Q & A

3 Background New gtld program How and why registries have premium and reserved domains

4 Background: New gtld Program 4 Applicant Guidebook provided for registry-reserved domains Registry Agreement: Article 2, Section 2.6 at any time establish or modify ability to reserve (i.e. withhold from registration Registry Agreement: Specification 5, Section 3.3 may withhold from registration or allocate to Registry Operator may be released at Registry Operator s discretion Registries analyzed premium strings years ago, building business case to apply Premium domains were always anticipated Real estate philosophy (build it and they will come, and pay!)

5 Background: How and Why Registries Have Premium and Reserved Domains 5 Domains that must be reserved Country and territory names (ISO list) Country names in six official UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish) Red Cross/Red Crescent and International Olympic Committee IGOs, includes some desirable strings: au, ec, ep, eu, un, las(.vegas) and 191 other 3-character strings are reserved Recoup significant application cost and delegation delays $185,000 application fee; plus technical, operational, and financial reviews Reveal Day was June 12, 2012, first TLDs delegated October 23, 2013 Most TLDs delegated in 2014 (406), 2015 (391), and 2016 (340, many.brands)

6 Facts and Stats

7 Facts and Stats IOC, Red Cross, and IGO reserved names 1,300+ strings, across each new gtld 7 Average number of premiums 2,000 10,000 premium domains is common Depends on registry strategy, with geography and target market Outliers in the 100,000 range Cost Range from $30 to seven-figure ballpark Added to baseline domain cost Negotiable Average TLD volume 20,000 active domains

8 Common Challenges

9 Common Challenges 9 Brand names often reserved Registries are improving, especially with coined trademarks Premium lists change often, and with minimal notice Expired domains added to premium/reserved lists Domain removal from premium/reserved lists One-time premium fees vs. recurring fees Billing and accounting challenges Inconsistent treatment with registry blocking mechanisms Please ask we re here to help

10 MarkMonitor s Position and Processes How we work with premium and reserved domains How we advocate for our customers

11 How We Work with Premium Domains: A Look Under the Hood 11 Pre-launch advocacy Set expectations with registries Ongoing effort to compile premium/reserved lists Regular EPP requests, supplemented manually Manual and technical process safeguards Process and price transparency Global Relationship Management Team Leverages registry relationships to advance our clients interests Available to guide and help customers secure premium/reserved domains Advocates for policy that benefits our clients

12 How We Advocate for Our Customers 12 Advocate to minimize registry premium lists Advocacy efforts already successful, lists are shrinking Advocate for low-cost premium tiers, if registries must have premiums Domains should renew at same or lower cost Advocate against including TM strings in registry premium lists Highly successful with coined marks, often removed upon request Highly successful with arbitrary marks, and improving Advocate for maximum freedom for.brand TLDs No government control over country names or two-character domains left of the dot Sufficiently protect Red Cross/Crescent, IGO, NGO, with minimal.brand encumbrance

13 Leading Practices Effective negotiation strategies Success stories

14 Leading Practices: Effective Negotiation Strategies 14 Emphasize use Registries want use (not redirects), and many especially want corporate use Promote the domain using social media, digital, and/or print Partner with the registry Registries are years ahead of you with vision for the TLD Registries know what use cases are most valuable to them Explore co-marketing, both sides get skin in the game Be open minded; bring your business person, or at least their perspective MarkMonitor can coach you on the best approach per registry, TLD, and domain Catch flies with honey Especially with ambiguous and generic domains Registries are confident in their value prop, especially five years in

15 Leading Practices: Success Stories 15 Successfully removed a domain from both premium and reserved lists Safeguard success stories Cost increase from registry Domain removal from premium list Pre-launch review and advocacy Negotiations

16 How MarkMonitor Can Assist GRM Team and registry relationships

17 How MarkMonitor Can Assist 17 Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared. Tell us what you re looking for, and we can tell you what to expect MarkMonitor can coach you on the best approach per registry, TLD, and domain Making the connection For serious opportunities, MarkMonitor can schedule and/or join a call Potential pitfalls in the fine points Premium vs. standard domain renewal Transfer/registration process DNS configuration

18 Questions?

19 19 Thank You! For information on MarkMonitor solutions, services and complimentary educational events: Contact via Visit our website: Contact via phone: US: 1 (800) Europe: +44 (0)

20 Brian King, Director of Internet Policy and Industry Affairs markmonitor.com Sherry Hildebrand, Global Relationship Manager markmonitor.com