II.2.4          Marketing Plan for .biz (RFP Section D13.2.4) (PersonalBusiness)

JVTeam’s strategic marketing plan is to leverage combine the considerable power of the existing registrar community with a strong media campaign to promote the .perbiz TLD..

JVTeam recognizes that any marketing plan for .per biz must acknowledge and address one central fact: the registrars and their distribution networks will be the cornerstones of success.  In addition, our success as a registry of for .per biz rests in the effective branding of the space to create market demand for this uniquegrowing, personalcommercial, and portable domain. Although we anticipate an initial market “craze” by the mere announcement of new TLDs.biz, and fully intend to capitalize on it, we will actively engage in various marketing activities to promote the space.  Our goal is for .per biz to become branded worldwide as the preferred personal business TLD.  As the availability of mainstream .com names becomes even more limited, and as consumers continue to resist acceptance of .net and .org as unsuitable for personal business use, the marketplace has a need for, and we believe will embrace, a new TLD that simply connotes personal business identification for anyone and everyone. . To achieve this goal, we will pursue two concurrent marketing strategies: (1) we will work together with registrars and their distribution networks to promote .per biz on their own sites, in marketing programs, advertisements, and public relations activities, and (2) we will deliver a sustained marketing campaign to promote global branding of .per biz as the personal business identity space for individualse-commerce.

II.2.4.1       Strategy One

Use of rRegistrars and oOther mMarketing cChannels

JVTeam anticipates the new ICANN-approved personal business domain space will be highly attractive to registrars and their distribution networks because it dovetails with their goals to serve their clients better, increase sales, and increase profits.  Unlike other spaces, including .com, that have a wide variety of uses (businesspersonal, commerce, non-profit), the .per biz space will be specific for personal business identity that is portable between access providers and can be successfully branded as such. We believe registrars will be motivated to connect to the .per biz registry because:

·         An ICANN-endorsed TLD will have universal recognition and credibility

·         The .per biz TLD will be presented on a new, stable, and responsive application platform

·         There will be enormous global publicity upon the announcement of new TLDs.biz

·         The vast majority of ICANN-accredited registrars will be interested in providing the full suite of ICANN-endorsed TLDs

·         The .per biz TLD represents an entirely new market and revenue opportunity to registrars that will be extremely attractive considering the shrinking availability of .com names.

JVTeam’s stated goal is to achieve 100% participation from accredited registrars in representing .per biz by the date that the new domains are first sold.  We intend to do this by assisting registrars, their customers, and partners in the promotion process. The domain name channel partners are the decision-makers and influencers in the domain name buying process and have the necessary business incentives to assist in the public awareness and promotion campaign. We anticipate 80% of registrars will proactively approach JVTeam to connect with the registry.  The remaining 20% will be directly approached by our account managers who will encourage them to assist in the promotion and communication of .perbiz.  This contact will include education about the application platform, an open exchange of software and training, a discussion of the overwhelming benefits of migrating to the .per biz domain name space, and the value propositions concerning the new personal business identity space. JVTeam will provide registrars and resellers with:

·         Co-marketing programs

·         Sales materials

·         Sample graphics for use on resellers’ web sites

·         A .per biz fact booklet

·         Sample proposed e-mails to send to their customers .

To assist the registrars, JVTeam will provide a marketing campaign that drives brand awareness and demand at the user and channel levels.  These channels will include access providers, resellers, portal sites, hosting companies, and a variety of off-line businesses who that have not traditionally participated in domain name distribution.  Consistent with its overriding policy of neutrality, JVTeam will provide these benefits to all registrars on an even-handed basis.

II.2.4.2       Strategy Two

Driving Branding and Sales Among Consumers and Channels

No matter how complex a media mission is as part of an overall marketing effort, basic media considerations for the launch, roll out, and maintenance of any marketing program, global or otherwise, are really answers to basic questions related to needs and resources:

·         What do we want to accomplish?  This is the marketing and media mission.

·         With which target audience(s) are we trying to accomplish it?  This is our current and prospective audience.

·         Where are the targets?  Where do they live and work?  This addresses geographic focus.

·         What are the right media to reach those audiences? This determines media selection based on reach and frequency.

·         What is our time frame?  This is our timing, based on the need to see results.

·         How much money do we have to accomplish the mission?  This is our budget, usually based on a percentage of projected sales in a specific period of time.

In terms of .perbiz, this is how we answer those questions:

·         The media mission is to deliver advertising to target audiences with consistent, impact reach and frequency across the term of the advertising effort.

·         Target audience for the branding of .per biz is (1) all on-line usersbusinesses, especially new, small businesses, (2), or potential on-line usersbusinesses, who have an interest in the domain for its intended use:  a uniquepersonal, portable, easy-to-locate ande-commerce unique identity, and (23)  on-line companies or communities that act as resellers of domain names particularly when working with businesses or individuals looking for a domain name that has a specific business connotation whengetting started on the Internet building web sites , buying Internet access, or establishing email accounts.

·         Based on budgets available for a sustained, global effort and on timing considerations, combinations of three key media offering significant opportunities for consistent, impact message delivery across our broad target area for this effort are: print, email on-line advertising, trade shows, and public relations.

·         As the sales and marketing effort moves forward and matures, other viable media options (as relevant and meaningful within specific nations or other target geographies) will be considered, such as global and national television and radio networks and other media such as outdoor, transit, in-flight and business magazines which are relevant by target locations and in the context of sales projections and affordability.

·         Our timeframe is now!  While we have laid out an initial media program, we understand that in consideration of both our sales goals and needs-- and of the advertising and brand cluttered global media arena-- we must launch a highly visible, high impact media program that drives our messages right through to the core target audience’s consciousness.

·         Branding is only achieved with consistent, consistently-delivered advertising.  To be effective-- to be noticed, understood, and acted upon-- advertising must hit the right target with frequency.

.per biz Media Plan

The following enumerates the three four media strategies identified for marketing and branding .perbiz: print, emailon-line marketing, trade shows, and public relations.

Print Media

We anticipate launching the branding of .biz within the global business community by advertising in the world’s preeminent financial newspaper, the Wall Street Journal (National Edition Wall Street Journal, Wall Street Journal Europe, and Asian Wall Street Journal).   The total, daily circulation of this paper on a global basis is 2,039,232.  Our plan is to run ads every Friday across each of the first weeks of the campaign in an effort to launch .biz with as much power as possible.

We will also advertise in key magazines, such as Wired, that focus on small businesses and/or businesses that are on-line such as Wired.   We also want to take a strong position by advertising in key netizen-interested monthly magazines like Wired.  Wired’s monthly worldwide circulation is 475,000 people. These numbers do not include multiple readers of each purchased copy (which we estimate to be three per copy) for a total of 1,425,000 readers per month.  Such ads will promote the business-specific nature of the .biz TLD and will run at launch and regularly on an on-going basis. We will supplement Wired (based on frequency and high numbers of cross-readership) with insertions in Business 2.0.  Business 2.0 delivers 300,000 monthly subscribers worldwide, and is an excellent supplement to what can be achieved through Wired and the targeted editions of the Wall Street Journal.

While this is the plan we propose at this time, we will continue to evaluate the different media that can deliver tremendous target market impact on a specific, country-by-country basis.  For example, the Japanese market is central to the Internet boom in developing Asia.  Media there, such as the four major newspapers the Yomiuri Shimbun (Daily Yomiuri), the Asahi Shimbun (Daily Asahi), the Mainichi Shimbun (Daily Mainichi) and the Nikkei Shimbun (Daily Nikkei) all are national papers that deliver tremendous readership impact in a nation where more than 80% of the population reads at least one newspaper a day.  Weekly magazines, such as Shukan Asahi, Shukan Shincho and Shukan Bunshu all offer a diversity of other print media through which impact marketing messages can be delivered as well. 

The same is true for media in other countries.  In Great Britain, for example, significant impact can be had with multiple ad insertions in the Daily Mail or the Evening Times.  Ireland offers the Irish Times and the Irish News.  In other nations, other media offer excellent messaging impact to opportunity markets.  We will continue to analyze and educate ourselves on the range of opportunities to achieve success with the marketing of .biz on a global scale.

The USA Today’s Worldwide edition and similar publications provide global coverage, big impact color imagery, and multiple readership opportunities. USA Today Worldwide delivers major, general readership penetration into major metropolitan areas across the U.S., Europe, developing Asia, and other parts of the world with one buy, and qualifies as one of the world’s most widely read newspapers for quick global, lifestyle, business, and sports “news bites.” USA Today Worldwide delivers to approximately 1.7 million readers Monday through Thursday, and to more than 2.1 million readers each Friday. 

Our plan is to prominently position advertisements on Fridays, the days of heaviest readership each week, in USA Today Worldwide, positioning .per as an online lifestyle, one that allows freedom or expression and enables people to be “the masters of their own domains.”

We also want to take a strong position by advertising in key netizen-interested monthly magazines like Wired.  Wired’s monthly worldwide circulation is 475,000 people. These numbers do not include multiple readers of each purchased copy (which we estimate to be three per copy) for a total of 1,425,000 readers per month. 

eMmail Advertising 

Email is the most familiar element of Internet communication, and nearly everyone online has subscribed to at least one email list.  This is not “spamming.”  These are all opt-in email lists supported by selling advertising on the list, usually allowing two to three ads per mailing.  Each ad is usually six to seven lines long and in the language of the region.

Proposed email lists include:

·         Adventive lists which includesinclude eight different lists directed towards Internet professionals and more than 35,000 subscribers

·         Link Exchange Digest with more than 135,000 subscribers, mostly Internet professionals and small Dot Com owners

·         Online Advertising with more than 16,000 subscribers, mostly Internet advertising professionals

·         YesMail Network with more than 11 million subscribers in 650+ categories.

Using email lists such as those listed above also offers an immeasurable benefit: viral marketing.  Ad campaigns also generate buzz among the participants in the groups, spreading it outside the boundaries of each particular group, and often spilling into new groups among friends and associates.

Trade Shows

JVTeam will actively participate in trade shows for both the Internet community and small business forums. These will provide the opportunity to promote the business -specific .biz space. Explanations of the registry service and demonstrations will be conducted to encourage new businesses to register. This direct contact will allow JVTeam to explain the features of .biz: unique, portable, easy to find, enhances e-commerce activities through customer relations and business-to-business management, integrated security.

Publicity and Public Relations

A key factor affecting the success of new TLDs awarded to any registry will be branding programs with the support of public and media relations activities. JVTeam plans to contract several PR public relations specialists in various parts of the world to leverage global interest in the opening of a new unique, personalportable, and uniqueportable  business identity.

We believe there will be significant interest in the announcement to offer new TLDs.  The world will be questioning how the selection was made for the specific TLDs, who will be providing the service and how were they selected, and how to reserve their own domain. We intend to continue the market energy created with ICANN’s selection of new TLDs, and share incapitalize on the global interest. JVTeam will hold press conferences and other media events to elaborate on the selection process, highlight the enhanced functionality of the registry service, and talk about the schedule of the .per biz launch.

To maximizing maximize exposure for the new .biz TLD,  JVTeam will consider having an international dial-in press conference on:

·         The international importance of the the new.biz TLD

·         How The manner in which JVTeam will handle the administration and offering of the newthe .biz TLD

·         When it will be available and how the sale of the names will be handled in a fair and equitable manner.

JVTeam plans to implement a specific “roll-out” time and date to create a worldwide buzz about offering the new TLDs and provide everyone an equal opportunity to register. JVTeam will use the time between the announcement of the award and the  introduction of the program to promote the new .biz TLD with the public.

JVTeam is committed to providing:

·         Regular press releases on the growth in sales of the domains for which it serves as the registry

·         A web site reflecting statistical and informational data on the sale of .per biz domain names on a country-by-country basis offered in multiple languages

·         Announcements on the analysis of the changes in market share reflected by the new .biz TLD including registrar growth, registration sales, and related policy changes

·         Announcements on establishing new relationships with registrars that will offer the new .biz TLD to the public

·         With ICANN’s permission, establish links from JVTeam’s web site to ICANN’s site for its current list of accredited registrars

·         Translations of press announcements into multiple languages for distribution on wire services, email, and the web

·         Serve as a clearinghouse for the media and industry analysts to provide domain name information, and set up interviews as desired with JVTeam executives

·         Develop an email response system from the JVTeam web site to answer public inquiries on the sale of domain names

·         Produce a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) sheet on JVTeam’s web site that will be updated periodically to offer fast response to information people ask for most often..

Resources

Background and research information for Registry Operator’s Proposal Sections II.2.3 and II.2.4 were derived from several sources, including:

·         Domain Name System Structure and Delegation” (Jon Postal, author), USC/Information Sciences Institute, Network Working Group; March 1994

·         State of the Internet” Report by the United States Internet Council, as reported by ZDNet News; 9/7/00

·         www.domainstats.com; 9/3/00

·         Internet Software Consortium (www.isc.org/ds/WWW-9501/report.html)

·         Digitrends Ebiz News; 9/5/00

·         Wall Street Journal,; 4/24/00 

·         United States Internet Council

·         OVUM, “Internet Market Forecasts: Global Internet Growth 1998 2005 (from www.gsmdata.com/repovm2.htm).

JVTeam will promote the availability of the .biz TLD and the fairness of the new registry process.  It will also JVTeam will cultivate its relationship with existing registrars and simultaneously target print media, e-mail, trade shows, and public relations opportunities to actively promote the  .per biz domain space as a personalunique, easy-to-locate, portable, and secure domain name option exclusively for individualsbusinesses.