GoDaddy targets tier 2 and 3 'Bijness' owners in new campaign

The campaign will be available in seven Indian languages - Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu.

As technology adoption in India continues to grow, having an identity on the internet and building an online presence can help small and medium businesses (SMBs) to differentiate themselves from the competition and develop a unique brand identity. With an aim to reach more customers nationally and internationally, in an easy and affordable manner, a lot of business owners are starting to make their online debuts.

To tap this burgeoning Indian market, internet domain registrar, GoDaddy, launched its 'Business Hosting' platform for India last year although they began India operations in 2012. Since then, GoDaddy has made significant inroads in the country, reaching the one million customer mark earlier this year.

Nikhil Arora

"According to a Google-KPMG study, 68 per cent of the 51 million Indian SMBs are offline and digitally engaged SMBs grow twice as fast compared to offline SMBs. This presents a huge opportunity for us and we are committed to delivering the power of our differentiated products, combined with customer care, to help people get started and on their journey," says Nikhil Arora, managing director and vice president, GoDaddy India.

Recently, the cloud platform, dedicated to small and independent ventures, launched an integrated marketing campaign focused on educating entrepreneurs in India about the value of creating an online presence for their business. Conceptualised by Lowe Lintas, the quirky campaign features MS Dhoni as a supreme mentor and guide to small business owners, entrepreneurs and individuals.

"As an integral part of this marketing campaign, we are targeting emerging businesses across India, especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, as our target audience group," informs Arora.

Bijness Bhai: GoDaddy's latest campaign

Another TVC released as part of the 'Bijness Bhai' campaign

Titled 'Bijness Bhai', the latest marketing campaign, comprising two TVCs, was launched in seven Indian languages - Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu - to help spread the message to people across the country. The ad films have been released on GoDaddy's official online and social channels, as well as on TV. The brand plans to fully launch the campaign by the end of January 2019, rolling it out across radio, print and outdoor channels.

Eyeing Business Opportunities

While the country continues to overcome challenges in high-speed internet connectivity, power supply and bandwidth issues, interest on the cloud platform is being driven by the increasing need for business innovation and agility, the ability to scale fast in a competitive market and the government's thrust towards Digital India. In fact, a recent survey by Microsoft India and the Thought Arbitrage Research Institute (TARI) shows that SMBs can improve cash flows by up to 308 per cent, owing to the flexibility provided by cloud solutions and that 96 per cent of SMBs find a positive impact on their operating expenses within two years of cloud use.

While the division of market size between large and small enterprises is not definite, Indian companies, regardless of size, are starting to understand the benefits of working on a cloud platform and are more willing to adopt the cloud. Over the past two years, the public cloud services market in India has seen phenomenal growth - reaching $1.8 billion in 2017, up from $1.3 billion in 2016, according to recent Gartner reports. By 2020, this figure is expected to reach $4.1 billion.

For GoDaddy, India remains a key growth market and has been a cornerstone of the brand's global expansion strategy. "It is exciting to be in India now to witness the tremendous internet boom and help educate and enable small businesses to realise the benefits of being online. Over the last six years, GoDaddy has witnessed a significant uptake in all product categories which has helped us reach over one million customers in India. We are proud of our strong leadership position here, achieving the #1 market share for .IN, according to the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI)," reveals Arora.

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He adds, "There are companies in India who offer pieces of what GoDaddy delivers; but what makes GoDaddy unique is that it offers a full suite of integrated online products that help small business owners start, run and grow their business online. You can think of GoDaddy as a 'one stop shop' for creating and managing an online presence for an SMB owner. Our localised offerings include a variety of products, marketing campaigns and customer support in multiple Indian languages. The scale of GoDaddy's business worldwide, allows us to provide cost-effective solutions."

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The brand also conducts on-ground training and community development initiatives; earlier this month, GoDaddy announced training of over 700 web professionals from across four cities in India - including Pune, Jaipur, Kochi, and Ahmedabad. The brand hosts customer forums such as Customer Councils and Fireside Chats on a regular basis. GoDaddy Customer Day, on Day-2 of the CloudFest India conference, is also held to get customer feedback on products, support and marketing.

Industry Speak

Building a website is not something that is widely accepted or popular, amongst SMBs. Hence, we asked the experts if the campaign succeeded in conveying the message to its TG.

Hemant Misra

Pramod Sharma

According to Hemant Misra, co-founder and managing director MagicCircle and former CEO of Publicis Capital, brands like GoDaddy need to create a much stronger pull, as India is a country of self-employed people where the internet can make a huge impact on their livelihood. Hence, websites like Go Daddy have a huge role to play.

However, he maintains, "Simply, educating people doesn't work. They (business owners) need to be impacted and inspired. Imbibing a new habit is not a simple task; it requires multi-level interaction and relevant insights to create impact. While taking Dhoni and building humour is eye-catching, I believe the brand needs to capture imagination not simply catch eyeballs."

The brand launched its first marketing campaign in March 2014, featuring Mithun Chakraborty, where the actor performs a little dance move at the end of each ad film, hoping it will become a signature of sorts. However, it had little recall value.

"I saw Mithun Da dancing, some years ago, in GoDaddy ads. This has no relevance. The brand needs to take 'Business Bhai' places and give it wings just like the 'Airtel Girl'," states Pramod Sharma, executive creative director and Mumbai head at Rediffusion Group.

A look at the previous campaigns launched by GoDaddy India:

GoDaddy's first India-centric campaign, featuring Mithun Chakraborty, released in 2014

Another ad film, featuring Mithun Chakraborty, released in 2014

Tattoo Shop: 'BadeChalo.GoDaddy' campaign launched in 2016

'The Visiting Card' released in 2017