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Here's the The Lowdown
from DN Journal,
updated daily
to
fill you in on the latest buzz going around the domain name industry.
The Lowdown is
compiled by DN Journal Editor & Publisher Ron
Jackson. |
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Heritage
Auctions National Advertising Campaign Puts
Domains Alongside Art, Jewelry, Coins &
Other Valuable Assets
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Three
months ago
I
told you about one of the
world's three biggest auction houses - Heritage
Auctions (HA) - opening a new
domain division headed by veteran
domain investor Aron Meystedt and
how important this development was for the
domain industry. For the first time
an auction house in the same league as Sotheby's
and Christie's is treating high end
domain names as valuable assets
displayed alongside traditional investment
collectibles like art, jewelry and
coins. With
HA's first
domain and intellectual property auction
coming up November 21, readers of
the New York Times got a
first hand look at what I meant this past
Sunday. HA took out a large ad to promote
their fall auctions featuring various
categories of art, timepieces and jewelry,
Tiffany & Lalique art glass, fine wine
and more, including, yes, domain names
(listed right below the fold in the copy
of the ad at right sent to us by Marc
Ostrofsky (bidding the domain
name auction is now
open). As
you can see, domains are keeping some extremely
good company these days, thanks to
Heritage Auctions. Seeing domains listed
alongside these other asset classes can
only elevate them dramatically in
the public's eyes. |
Heritage
Auctions ad in the New York Times
Sunday, Oct. 24, 2013
Photo courtesy of Marc Ostrofsky |
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Ostrofsky (probably
the most excited I've seen him since he
sold Business.com in a $7.5
million deal) said, "If
this auction works well, Christy's and
Southeby's will jump in too and that
one change in our world gets 10,000%
more players looking at our assets and
that drives prices UP."
Ostrofsky
added that domain investors need to seize
this opportunity by letting everyone
in their business circles, especially
mainstream business, know about HA
offering domain names now. If we help get
that message out to the rest of the
business world it could produce some huge
long term dividends.
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Aron
Meystedt, Founder & Director,
Domain Name & Intellectual
Property Division
Heritage Auctions (HA.com) |
Meanwhile
Heritage Auctions is doing their
part. To find out more about their marketing
strategy I checked in with Aron
Meystedt, the Founder and
Director of HA's new Intellectual
Property Division. "Our
marketing and PR teams are working
very hard to put premium domain
assets in front of the right
people," Aron told me.
"We have another New York
Times advertisement coming out
in one week, which will highlight
the domain name auction exclusively.
We’re also talking with several
major media outlets about our story:
For the first time ever, a
major auction house is holding an
auction for domain names and
intellectual property."
"Our
PR team is reaching out to
approximately 500 top media
outlets with our story – we
are confident our story is newsworthy,
especially when we mention some of
the names in our auction:
MutualFunds.com, Animation.com,
NL.com, QR.com, Bicycle.com,
DVDs.com, Sociology.com,
CurrencyExchange.com and
others," Meystedt said.
"We are performing a great deal
of direct marketing as well,
via phone and direct mail.
We’ve spent a lot of time
compiling lists of |
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prospective
buyers for the category defining
domain names like LuxuryBags.com,
DoctorateDegree.com,
BusinessPhones.com and several of
the names mentioned above (plus
others, of course). We are
sending out FedEx mailers to
the decision makers at these
firms, including our brochure, a
personalized letter, our
capabilities catalog and a few other
pieces. We don’t mind spending the
time and money to make meaningful
one-on-one connections. We will
follow up this effort with phone
calls to all recipients,"
Meystedt added.
"We’ve also printed and
mailed over 10,000 brochures to
prospective buyers based on net
worth or product category. We are
also implementing other techniques
to reach the affluent investors and
the high net worth individuals.
All of our outreach includes education.
This education covers why
domain names are great for business
use and investment purposes.
We help potential buyers understand
the business advantages of
owning a category defining domain
name as well as the advantages
of owning a domain name for investment.
The domain investment community has
wanted to reach high net worth
individuals with this exact message
for a long time, and
I am very grateful for the
opportunity to be an ambassador for
our industry!," Meystedt
concluded. |
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(Posted October
29, 2013)
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For
all current Lowdown posts - Go
Here
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We need your help to keep giving
domainers The
Lowdown, so please email [email protected]
with any interesting information you might have. If possible,
include the source of your information so we can check it out (for
example a URL if you read it in a forum or on a site
elsewhere).
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