Brandable names

[Blake]

I think good brandable names are very undervalued, so much so that I am thinking of commissioning a site which will exclusively trade in the .co.uk space for such names, does anyone else feel there is a market for such a site ?

 

[accelerator]

Is the site just going to be for your own names?

A quick search and I found two American sites doing this:

http://www.brandbucket.com/

http://tbrandable.com/

I prefer sticking to generics myself. I guess it comes down to how good you are at identifying brandable names and then marketing them.

Rgds

 

[ScottJ]

I also think they are undervalued but not sure the market is easily accessible yet so you'd have your work cut out marketing them, just putting up a site listing names and expecting people to come wouldn't cut it obviously.

 

[davedevelopment]

Maybe pre-rolled corporate branding? Logo, letterheads, business cards, domain etc.

 

[Edwin]

I think grouping them together in one site sends the wrong message.

For generics, there's often no easy substitute since only one domain exactly matches the product or service in question. Having large groups of generics in one place - especially related generics - is likely to help sales.

Brands on the other hand are a dime a dozen, especially if you go down the "Web 2.0 drop a letter" route. So having hundreds or thousands of "coined" names on one site may just shout to the visitor "A brand? Just make up anything you like - Look, we did... thousands of times over".

Whether that psychology will negatively affect sales is something you'd really have to split test to see, but it certainly COULD be a factor.

 

[Blake]

It depends on what you define as brandable. I have a few what I would call generic brandables, names like frontrow .co.uk, justmarried .co.uk, chequeredflag .co.uk etc.. i.e words and phrases that are part of everyday English. Personally I see more long term development potential in these than the generics that I own but most domainers seem to be of the opposite opinion (till I'm buying) so they're for development or end user sales only.

Made up words like the ones at brandbucket are a whole different game and do nothing for me but I can see there's probably a market for them not sure there's a business to be built around them though.

Sean, I would certainly call something like frontrow.co.uk a brandable, also there must be many LLLL names out there which have a resonance and are pronouncable,I just feel that AD is almost exclusively 'generic' orientated and as a marketing guy I know the value of building a brand. Whilst it's wonderful to have several long tail terms or even exact match names for the business you are promoting, at the end of the line ( after all the re-directs ) you need a solid name you can build into a brand.

 

[retired_member13]

....there must be many LLLL names out there which have a resonance and are pronouncable....

Maybe pre-rolled corporate branding? Logo, letterheads, business cards, domain etc.

Francois Carrillo has done something like the above suggestions in the .com world at Catchy.com. As far as I'm aware the site has had one major sale since it was launched.

 

[Blake]

Francois Carrillo has done something like the above suggestions in the .com world at Catchy.com. As far as I'm aware the site has had one major sale since it was launched.

Just looked at the site catchy.com, thinking about it maybe four letter names are not so appealing, lol, none of those strike a chord with me, also one major sale since launch is not a business model. Still, I stand by the principle niggle I have been feeling the past couple of years, too little value is given to obviously good brandable names.

 

[Edwin]

It depends on what you define as brandable. I have a few what I would call generic brandables, names like frontrow .co.uk, justmarried .co.uk, chequeredflag .co.uk etc.. i.e words and phrases that are part of everyday English. Personally I see more long term development potential in these than the generics that I own but most domainers seem to be of the opposite opinion (till I'm buying) so they're for development or end user sales only.

That's a brilliant way to describe them: "generic brandables". I like it! They're names that will still "resonate" with the reader, because they're something they're used to hearing, but which aren't tightly associated with a particular product, service or industry.

Certainly, I can see that building a site around that sort of thing could eventually have legs. I have about 50 or so in my own portfolio, which I've lumped under "concepts and expressions" for want of a better umbrella term.

 

[Pred]

That's a brilliant way to describe them: "generic brandables". I like it!

just like to say i've been using that term for years
and in my sales threads

an example would be in a sales thread i just pulled:

travelsearch.org.uk

sometimes a generic brandable, and a phrase can be better than a pure generic.

for example. i would rather own to develop somethig like myuk.com than unitedkingdom.com
yes really. i owned united-kingdom.com and sold for good money, but pure generics leave me cold sometimes for pure branding and developing
don't get me wrong, country.com's are the pinnacle, but generics that are brandable and have a little edge and are short ideally, can work wonders
as it is so brandable

any domain, that is instantly memorable, easy to spell and paints a little picture in your mind is a winner, a marketing dream

sure, holidays.com is amazing, as is money.com and would have them over anything, but if you haven't got tens of millions , but 6 figs then other options are incredible.
thats why, deckchair.com and jamjar.com did so well. yes pure generics but done with a twist

 

[Bailey]

End-users want the same thing that most of us are selling. Generics for traffic and advertising and a catchy brandable for trademarking. However, trying to fix-price brandables would be a fools game just as much as blanket advertising them imo. Very difficult to talk-up a "one trick pony" - when everybody knows your trying to sell it

 

[Pred]

lol

another example would be , generics are fantastic a lot of the time, bu something like 'breakdownrecovery.com' is a great name but is soooo boring and dull, and doesn't allow for addon services that these sort of companies run

far better to use 'greenflag.com' or something, which they have done

then, if the seo and techies get it, buy up these sort of 'other' associated generics and build minisites and feed the main site and turn up for all search terms
of course these sort of companies have huge advertising budgets and go with print, ppc, tv etc. and go with the brand
but why not mop up all the search terms?

just saying if you have a decent budget, not in these leagues, but are launching something. unless you have an 'uber generic' (another term for you Edwin ) lol
like 'cars.co.uk' that is a ready to go generic brand
then something cheaper like 'mycar'.co.uk or .com is a real goer. the clever marketer, entrepreneur, can start featuring high for all sorts of terms, and really competing, and creating a brand, without ever needing the standalone generic daddy