An Open Letter to the Advertising and Marketing Community
You probably haven't heard, but a fairly quiet event occurred on July 17th - the new domain extension .ME hit the internet. Previously reserved for Montenegro, .ME has the power to change the way you advertise on-line. Yet it seems that almost no one in marketing knows about it!
Dot ME presents companies with a new channel for marketing their products and services. Opportunity lies in easy-to-remember, action-oriented, personalized domain phrases ending with "me", anything from "insure.me" or "stylish.me" to even something like "BringSalesTo.me".
Beyond slogans and action-oriented phrases, the power of .ME comes with reaching all people on a personal level. Anything a person can do is magnified and personalized when coupled with ME. Many domain names like athlete.me, healthy.me, beautiful.me and family.me are probably more powerful than their dot.com counterparts.
It's a well-known fact that all the great dot COM names have been taken, but dot ME is so new that many personal slogans are yet to be made available. 2,500 pre-reserved dot me names will be auctioned off starting in September with another 100,000+ premium domains being obtainable directly through their registrants. Innovative companies will have unique marketing opportunities to exploit these domains in personal campaigns that strongly promote both the brand and the domain.
Think about it. ME is a perfect marketing package. Any domain ending in ".ME" will maximize the sales message at a personal level with an empowering effect on advertising. Imagine how powerful and competitive a message like "champion.me" could be for a sports company, or "successful.me" for an educator.
The message is clear. A dot me domain is a unique marketing vehicle that is awaiting exploitation. The challenge will be to distinguish dot ME from dot COM. No one wants to confuse the public, so it's up to your industry to develop a new marketing paradigm to take dot ME domains beyond dot COM.
Mark Kolb
www.dotmewebsites.com
