Pub meetup for PR on UK domain market...

[James]

I am organising a pub meetup for domainers with great stories to tell about their investments in the .UK name space. i.e. people who have made savvy investments which have shown impressive returns.

There are several different types of domainers about - those who hold huge portfolios and sell two or three domains a month; those who only buy and sell superpremium generic domains; or those who trade in whole portfolio sales. I think limiting the meetup to 10 people max would work best, and optimum would probably be around 6 or 7.

A BBC journalist will be present. I am suggesting a meetup lasting a couple of hours in a pub somewhere in London. I don't have a date yet, but I wanted to gauge who would be interested in participating. Obviously I have to be a little bit choosy - as the article must be newsworthy. Stories involving big sales will get the kind of attention we want

The angle for the piece will be: Domains as an alternative investment. I think this is an apt piece considering the currently gloomy economic climate, and should make interesting reading.

This is my (small) way of bringing a little more focus to an area still largely ignored by the mainstream media. If any of you have media contacts we can exploit for future PR please get in touch.

 

[julian]

Good idea.

 

[philiporchard]

A really good idea...

 

[packeted]

Sounds good to me!

 

[foz]

Stories involving big sales will get the kind of attention we want

Do we really want the attention? More publicity equates to more competition IMO.

 

[afx]

I agree with Foz, IMO all these stories do is make names that could be bought a for a few £K never change hands, as every man in the street thinks average D grade generics are worth 100K. This did not happen pre- recycle / crusies hysteria.

 

[ratboy]

Do we really want the attention? More publicity equates to more competition IMO.

Not a problem if you already own these high value domains. But I agree if you are trying to buy, they will get more expensive if people looking for alternative investments are involved.

 

[stender]

Agree with foz and wouldnt trust a journalist as far as I could throw him.
He'll think a much jucier story would be cybersquatting - Dropcatching lowlifes exposed! NOTW centre pages.

 

[retired_member12]

^It all depends on who the journalist is.

Someone from the Beeb may be more trustworthy than a freelancer, but you should get to know who he/she is before saying anything, so you can check them out.
A handful of freelancers know the value of sitting on confidential matters, but most have only 3 objectives:
1- A free pub lunch and a pint.
2- A scoop of a life time (with Chinese whisper treatment or not).
3- A big enough 'column' cheque at the end of the week to pay for the shopping.

I'm not saying James's journalist is either one or the other, but it's better to know who they are first before you let the genie out of the bottle, yeh!

 

[bensd]

IMO what we also need to promote are smaller companies (not lloydstsb, sky etc) that are spending £5k+ on generic domains.

There are still many companies who are reluctant to get there head around domains being worth that much.

-Ben

 

[James]

Personally I would rather see prices continue to rise as quickly as they possibly can.

The size of the opportunity = the rate at which it grows.

What is the sense in getting involved in a market which climbs in value slower than a deposit in a high interest bank account? I'm not looking to cash out when I'm 70 years old!

The journalist in question is a friend.

 

[ScottJ]

Sounds like a positive thing especially when handled correctly, best of luck with it James.

 

[bensd]

Personally I would rather see prices continue to rise as quickly as they possibly can.

The size of the opportunity = the rate at which it grows.

What is the sense in getting involved in a market which climbs in value slower than a deposit in a high interest bank account? I'm not looking to cash out when I'm 70 years old!

I completely agree with you.

My point was that a lot of companies wont have £100k in the bank to spend a domain, however they may have £5-10k if they thought it was worth it.

I don't know about you, but if i bought a domain for £1k and sold it two years later for £10k then i would be pretty happy!!

Im sure the interviews/article will be good though, we certainly don't get enough positive light about investing in domains.

-Ben

 

[yesterday]

''''''''''''''''''''''
yesterday

 

[paulleahy]

Another downside how are you going get 100,000 generic domains for only £400 each sorry £300

 

[yesterday]

I think the first investor will have the easiest ride. DB and Pendragon between them have 90,000 The next investor will have to up their game considerably.

yesterday

 

[Edwin]

Hopefully the focus can be on the value of generic names rather than the "get rich quick" stories that seem to pervade the media, especially recently with all the stories of flipping domains for a quick profit.

The problem is that probably 1% of domainers are making more than hobby-level money out of the industry, and 1% of those are making the really big money, but if the journalists focus on that 1%-of-1% as being "typical" (which is a slant taken by a lot of stories) then it paints the industry in the wrong light.

In general, though, anything that continues to push prices up is a GOOD thing!

 

[yesterday]

how did this go?

yesterday

 

[Pred]

Great idea James! Good luck with event
Let us know how it all goes

 

[James]

haven't set a date yet... I'll get round to it this month though... will of course let you know how it goes.