Marketing minds everywhere are always trying to come up with the new “edge.” Simple tactics can make huge gains in returns from marketing efforts. One tactic that has been used by many huge companies but is never focused on much is the brandable phrase domain.
What is a brandable phrase domain?
A brandable phrase domain uses a phrase intended to be catchy to draw interest or intrigue to a promotion or advertisement to entice people to visit it. Similar to how a slogan accompanies the business name to add more branding and something else people can remember the company by, a brandable phrase domain can do the same for both online and offline promotions and ads.
Brandable phrase domain use is fairly common with large companies. These kinds of domains show up on many television commercials, search engine advertising, display advertising, print ads and in mailings (whether they’re advertisements or not). They even commonly show up on advertisements during one of the biggest annual advertising stages – the Super Bowl.
The best way to understand brandable phrase domains is to look at examples:
Kinds of brandable phrase domains with examples
1. Popular Phrase
ThinkAboutIt.com (used by Hyundai)
KeepThemGuessing.com (used by Procter & Gamble)
WonderDrug.com (used by Bayer)
NowWhat.com (used by State Farm)
2. Play on popular phrase
TruthInEngineering.com (used by Audi, truth in advertising)
ThinkOutsideTheBun.com (used by Taco Bell, think outside the box)
ReadyAimFuture.com (used by Discovery channel, ready aim fire)
SaveTheMoney.org (used by Groupon, save the whales and other similar causes)
3. Question
GotMilk.com
WillYouJoinUs.com (used by Chevron)
4. Conversational
OnlyTheyKnow.com (used by ABC)
MoreToSee.com (used by Sharp)
5. Actionable
ShareYourSecret.com (Procter & Gamble)
LearnToFly.com (Cessna)
6. Proverbial/Advice
NeverFollow.com (Audi)
DontAlmostGive.org (Ad Council)
7. I/Me/My/You/Your
MyLifeMyCard.com (American Express)
HowDoYouHangOut.com (Coke)
Other Examples
ALittleBetterGasStation.com (BP)
WatchAndWhoa.com (Hershey’s)
TheCheesiest.com (Kraft)
How can brandable phrase domains help you?
1. Create intrigue
One of my favorite uses of brandable phrase domains was NowWhat.com, used in a massive advertising campaign. Their commercials involved something terrible suddenly happening to someone that wrecked their car, home or other property. The end of the commercial simply had “Now What?” then transitioned it into NowWhat.com. There was never a mention of insurance or State Farm in the ads.
As a case study of this advertising campaign indicates, it got State Farm away from the “stuffy insurance company” and got young people to check the company out when they may not have otherwise. If they used their name/brand on the advertising campaign, it would have lost all the intrigue.
2. Drive a strong point home
Taco Bell has and continues to use ThinkOutsideTheBun.com and “Think Outside the Bun” as a slogan for quite some time now – which would indicate it’s been effective. Its point? Hamburgers and sandwiches are usual and boring – have something different. Lexus uses ActivelySafe.com, which drives the point home that it has systems that are actually proactive in helping you drive safe, not simply keeping you safe in the case of an accident.
3. Call viewers/visitors to action
The beauty of using a brandable phrase domain for a call to action is that it’s often subliminal. ShaveEverywhere.com for instance is a Norelco site, basically guiding people to groom themselves everywhere and showing them the products that will get the job done. Sometimes a brandable phrase might tell you to do something you had thought about before, at just the right time for you to seriously reconsider, such as Cessna’s LearnToFly.com.
4. Create a more permanent instance of an effective advertisement
Once someone sees a funny, cute, or shocking commercial, even if they like it, they’re not likely to then go straight to YouTube and watch it again. Similarly, people may not expect company sites themselves to be interesting. Stick a brandable phrase domain at the end of that commercial however and the viewer might be compelled to get more of what they just experienced.
Simply put, brandable phrase domains can add some extra oomph to your marketing efforts. The next time your company is about to launch a major promotion, think outside the box and take a look at what a catchy brandable phrase domain can help you accomplish.
Brandable phrase domains is one of our core areas of expertise, so if you want to empower your marketing efforts with them but aren’t sure how, contact us and we can help.