Who says rural marketing is an expensive affair and demands patience?

The rural India was taken for granted for many years and nobody realized the immense potential of it. However, the situation has changed completely in the recent years. Today, the rural market is considered one of the most potential business opportunities. The fact gets substantiated by the huge money being allocated by entrepreneurs for the rural segment in their annual marketing budgets.

It is critically important that business owners know the pulse of the market in their respective segment. Proceeding with rural marketing strategy without understanding the basic could be disastrous. A business can’t afford to waste money in the competitive and cost-centric marketplace. Therefore, it is important to hire right rural marketing agencies in india.

Rural marketing is the high potential market

We must understand that the rural market in India is still in the state of evolution. It will take some time to mature. In this context, marketing minds can’t (and they shouldn’t) design uniform strategies for both niches. The impact of marketing initiatives is pretty fast in the urban market because the audience is aware and informed. On the contrary, it takes some time for an idea to get clicked in the rural market. You need to emphasize the idea repeatedly.

Though seasoned rural marketing companies in india such Vritttii Media have proved that smart, cost-effective ideas can be a big hit.

You need systematic approach to succeed in the rural market

• Sometimes, rural consumers unable to understand the relevance and utility of a product or service with respect to their lifestyle. Once they realize it, they appreciate the product.

• Strategies that are productive and effective in the urban market may not be impactful in the rural areas. Door-to-door promotion and reaching to the audience personally; are two effective strategies. Therefore, it takes some time to get the adequate response of the audience. Running cheap rural marketing events in india is a good idea.

• Product distribution should be wisely planned. It is equally important to ensure the supply-chain along with product promotion strategy. Product and services that build effective and intricate supply-chain network reap big benefits.

Though it takes some time for a product or service to get clicked in the rural market, marketing managers shouldn’t lose the patience. They should put efforts with full dedication and persistence. It will pay in the long run. There are many success stories of businesses that did exceptionally well success after initial hiccups.

10 notes keep in mind when doing rural marketing

“You need half an hour to cut the tree, but you need six hours to sharpen the axe”, the adage is relevant in every situation. rural marketing agency is also not an exception to it. When you derive an effective strategy for the market, it is critically important to look at some salient features.

1. Know what the audience is interested into? Preferences of rural consumers are different from urban ones. One size doesn’t fit all; rural marketing agencies in india need to work from the grass root level while designing the campaign.

2. Don’t proceed without valid data points. Gather in-depth knowledge about the market sentiments, consumer psyche, product distribution and pricing. Marketers must pay attention to the way things will be communicated to the consumers.

3. Spend some time in making an understanding of the particular market. If the product or services are being launched for the first time, then this point is further critical.

4. You must understand that it is a different ball game. The rules are different here. Don’t treat is just another market segment. The more you get into it, better will be the result.

5. Look at the rural marketing strategy as the whole. You should work simultaneously on market development strategy, campaign, distribution, or rural marketing events in india. The overall impact will be effective.

6. Look at the market from a long-term perspective. There is immense potential in the rural market, and the effectiveness of your strategy will decide how successful you will be in grabbing the attention of people.

7. If you are one of the best rural marketing companies in india, then don’t forget to include the client in every stage of planning and execution. The final say has to be of your client.

8. Prepare a checklist. It is critical for the success of the strategy. Checklist makes sure that you do not forget anything in the execution process.

9. Don’t get disheartened by the initial lukewarm response. May be you need a little bit tweaking here and there. Rural consumers take some time to appreciate a product or service, but they are highly responsive once they get an idea about it.

10. You needn’t be extravagant while deriving rural marketing strategy. It is possible to come out with flying colors by adapting a conservative approach.

These points help in taking your company new heights of success in the rural market. With a sound groundwork and well-planned execution; you can be the role model for others.

Rural marketing trends 2016

According to the marketing gurus, the time has come when companies need to change their perception and perspective about the rural market. The trends are changing rapidly, and rural consumer becomes more aware now. Apart from the conventional 4 P’s of marketing, today marketing gurus need to incorporate four A’s in the marketing strategy. These A’s are affordability, availability, accessibility, and awareness.

Though affordability is not a constraint with the increase in spending capacity of rural buyers, they are still price cautious. Accessibility was an issue earlier because of the poor infrastructure. The situation has improved in the recent years. Product awareness can be effectively achieved by designing appropriate marketing strategies for rural promotion to grab the attention of rural consumers.

Focused rural marketing strategy “Think Local and Act Local” is the need of the day

Earlier, the rural market was considered merely a subset of the overall marketing strategy. Now, marketing managers have to exercise their minds for developing relevant product marketing strategies that meet the particular needs of the rural consumers. For example, when voltage fluctuation or low voltage prevails in the rural areas; there is no point in marketing sophisticated electrical equipment that can’t withstand voltage fluctuations. Robust and durable products can only drag the attention of the consumers. Similarly, low unit packs or economy packs are a big success in the rural market because they are perceived as cheap and affordable. Hence, they need to be targeted in accordance with the Local needs, tastes, perceptions, preferences and aspirations . Advertising in rural areas needs to be specific, direct and relevant and only such medium should be used which helps marketer achieve this.

Rural retail stores are the markets of tomorrow

Rural consumers have a great exposure to the lifestyle aspects nowadays. They frequently visit nearby town and cities and experience the lavishness of malls, departmental stores, and multiplexes. When similar outlets are available in their locality, they feel excited about it. The proliferation of posh retail stores is the call of the day. In fact, distribution giants such as ITC and Tata have already started exploring the possibilities by setting Chaupal Sagar and Kisan Kendras respectively. Surely, other giants like HLL and P&G will also follow the footsteps. Well-organized rural marketing events in india would help in blowing the trumpet loudly.

Market research must go on

Yes, the trends are rapidly changing. A company can’t afford to stop the market research. Rather, more qualitative and focused study is required to read the pulse of the market proactively. Those who succeed in it will taste the fruits of success. The laggards will lose a lot of ground.

Rural Promotion depend on rural Consumer Mindset

In the past three decades, India has emerged as one of the strongest economies with incredibly fast growth rates, where the rural areas showed a tremendous development. With advanced methods of farming, better water management, and intelligent use of cash crops; agriculture income increased manifold.
Information technology revolutionized brand awareness amongst the rural population. They are well-acquainted with the lifestyle products today. With the close encounter of cable TV and DTH, there is a big impact on the rural consumer mindset nowadays. Marketers have to derive separate and focused marketing strategies to attract rural consumers. While FMCG sector understood the importance of it, others are also changing their stand rapidly.
Understanding rural customers is difficult
Marketing experts say that the biggest challenge faced by marketers is to understand the mindset of rural customers and exposing the right products to them at the right time. Right communication and reaching to the last mile are two main issue. As companies need to invest huge money in managing the vast heterogeneity of the rural market, there is immense pressure on managing top and bottom lines.
It is very obvious that companies that didnt pay sufficient effort in understanding the rural market faced crushed out terribly. On the contrary, companies that understood the aspirations, requirements, and interests of the rural consumer did pretty well. ITC and Unilever are to name a few.
Communication strategy, the pivotal aspect of success
It is said that advertising is the business booster. However, rural markets were considered a sellers market for ages, where there was no need of informing consumers about the benefits or unique selling propositions. When they know the distinct benefits of buying a product or service from their perspective, they appreciate the product.
The scenario has totally changed today. Due to the influence of the electronic media and awareness of consumer rights; companies need to derive a specialized strategy for the rural markets. It is a paradigm shift indeed where taking care of the aspirations and emotions of rural consumers become an inevitable business strategy. Communication strategy for rural consumers has to be totally different. Entrepreneurs know it well today.
Since the mindset is different, corporates have to focus on rural consumers through different rural advertising methods. They should be considered differently. Those who realize it early, reap the benefits.