Guard your domain

AS MANY small business owners cast a weary eye towards December and their strategy for 2010, they would do well to take stock of their firm's intellectual property and assets.

One of the people I spoke to this week was Cape entrepreneur JP van der Spuy of Mytrade.co.za. He educated me on how much value is stored in domain names for websites, and sent me an article showing that the trading of and value associated with domain names is likely to be in the region of $4bn by 2010.

For interest's sake, I had a look at the 10 most recent sales on the website of Sedo, which labels itself a marketplace for buying and selling domain names and websites. They were valued at between $1 500 and $15 000.

The ethics of domain "parking" or hijacking aside, that means there is value in owning your domains - they are an asset to businesses of all shapes and sizes.

A simple example: how many small software companies have spent hours developing products and brands, only to find they need to come up with a new name, change their branding or incur costs buying back their domains to promote their product or service?

How many online businesses in South Africa would be better served - from a traffic and branding perspective - with a .com or .mobi domain extension? Or, phrased in another way, how many would be disadvantaged if their competitors got their hands on these domains?

How many small businesses have begun looking at protecting their intellectual property? International telecommunications firm Orange has come into South Africa with a rather ham-fisted approach, warning local businesses not to use the word orange in their branding or company names.

Find out what's your selling point

How many of those couple of hundred business owners who received letters from Orange have spent years building up their brands - only to find themselves having to justify their branding and intellectual capital to a foreign firm?

Business owners must use this time of year to look around and identify the most valuable intellectual property within their enterprise. Then they need to work out how to capitalise on it and use it as an advantage when 2010 rolls around.

Is it your technology, brand, systems, or retail footprint? Is it you the business owner? What is it that differentiates your business from the others around you?

I am pretty sure some small business owners reading this column will be shaking their heads, saying they're so busy fighting to survive from day to day that they just don't have time to step back and assess what's what in their business.

Believe me, I hear you. But the hard truth is that if you don't know what your strengths and assets are, you won't be able to protect and grow them.

One of the big themes in the small business space is the development of sustainable small- and medium-sized enterprises. Sustainable small firms are built around having and retaining a competitive advantage.

If you can't work out which assets give your business an edge, it is very difficult to work out how you can be sustainable.

- Fin24.com