GoDaddy to educate Indian SMBs on Web benefits
GoDaddy has launched a 'Cup of Coffee' campaign in India with an aim to demonstrate to small businesses and entrepreneurs how easy it is to build a Web site, thereby enabling them to establish an online presence.
The customer will be given a .com address for their Web presence, a Web site for the business, 1GB e-mail ID and Google AdWords credit worth INR 2,500 (US$45) so these small and midsize businesses (SMBs) can appear on Google--all for INR 580 (US$10).
The idea behind the campaign is to demonstrate that a business can "get a Web presence in the time you finish a cup of coffee". At various SMB clusters, a GoDaddy mobile experience zone will be set up, offering a first-hand experience of how companies can register a domain name, build a Web site, get an e-mail address and leverage Google AdWords to promote the site.
"If we look at the statistics, there are nearly 150 million Internet users and fewer than 4 million domain names in India. Additionally, with more than 30 million small and midsize businesses in India, there are only half a million Web sites in the country," said GoDaddy India Vice President and Managing Director Rajiv Sodhi.
"Given this, while India represents a huge opportunity for GoDaddy, there is a clear industry need to undertake initiatives that expand the overall market in India and that is the reason behind this campaign."
GoDaddy, in recent times, has identified India as a priority market for global extension. In June 2012, GoDaddy launched full-scale operations in India, and has its largest international office with a customer care center in India. A team of local agents, who speak local languages, provide customer service to Indian customers. Since its entry last year, GoDaddy India has grown its customer base by 100 percent.
This integrated campaign is not the first such initiative in India. Google has been working on a "India Get Your Business Online" initiative since last year, which helps small businesses establish online presence for free.
"From a cultural perspective, India is largely a do-it-for-me market, which means the expectation is that someone else will build and manage an online business for the customer. GoDaddy India is designed to help India's small businesses build a successful online aspect of their business, whether they are a one-person operation or a bigger, established company. This is what we do," Sodhi added.