Month: March 2021

Research indicates that only those companies could perform brilliantly that developed multiple distribution centers catering a limited geography. Thus, they can reach the consumers quickly. There is a better control on product promotion and distribution.

A few essential things for effective distribution

• Focus on the local market is essential for a better grip on the situation. Since localized distribution hubs are supposed to cater a limited geography, they can work in a better way.
• All the stakeholders should be provided with adequate training. Yes, it is very much required because everyone has to be on the same page when you address the needs of rural consumers. Align your customers, vendors, and employees before you derive and implement effective marketing strategies.
• Tweak the product promotion and marketing tactics to the local needs. Since there is incredible diversity in cultures, traditions, and languages in rural India, the model has to be flexible and adaptive.
• Your company should make effective use of technology to reach the masses. Yes, there are ways to unleash the immense potential by thinking out-of-the-box ways of reaching people. Companies like Vritti iMedia have proved it. They made outstanding use of bus stands to promote products and services. Audiowala Bus Stand is a brilliant example of creative thinking and innovation.
• Service delivery is equally important. Marketing strategy shouldn’t be limited to promotion and distribution only. Rather, it should be equally efficient when it comes to delivering services.
• Always remember that an emotional touch works excellently in the rural areas. Once the trust is developed in the product, it is important that you live up to it.

Shandies/Haaths/Jathras/Melas: These are places where the rural consumers congregate as a rule. While shandies/heaths are held a particular day every week, Jathras and melas are held once or twice a year for longer durations. They are normally timed with religious festivals. Such places attract large number of itinerant merchants. Only temporary shops come up selling goods of all kinds. It can be beneficial for companies to organize sales of their product at such places. Promotion can be taken, as there will be ready captive audience. For convincing the manufacturing and marketing man with regard to the importance of these places from rural marketing point of view a visit to such places is necessary. It is estimated that over 5,000 fairs are held in the country and the estimated attendance is about 100 million rural consumers. Biggest fair ‘Pushkar Mela’ is estimated to attract over 10 million people. There are 50 such big rural fairs held in various parts of country, which attract urbanite also like ‘Mankanavillaku’ in Malappara in Kerela, Kumbh Mela at Hardwar in U.P. ‘Periya Kirthigai’ at Tiruparunkunaram in Tamil Nadu. These mandis located in agricultural area with population more than 10,000 on an average cater to 1,36,000 people. Cash-rich farmer can be directly contacted by setting up brand stalls in mandis. Sampling, free gifts can be provided along with the consumer research at these places where farmers have time and are in joyous mood. These mandis are also good platforms for promoting high-end durables, besides agri-input products.

The country’s oldest tradition holds the key to solving the promotion problems of the corporate world. 75% of the mobile supermarkets of rural India are held once a week, 20% are organized twice a week and rests are held daily. Rural people have evolved these systems of selling and communicating which have served them well for centuries. Corporate marketers have not used these platforms effectively, so far. There are 42,000 of such haats, each catering to daily needs of 10 to 20 villages. These haats can serve as good platform to promote brands through demonstration.

Public distributory system: The PDS in the country is fairly well organised. The revamped PDS places more emphasis on reaching remote rural areas like the hills and tribals. The purpose of PDS is to make available essential commodities like food grains, sugar, kerosene, edible oils and others to the consumers at a reasonable price. The shops that distribute these commodities are called fair price shops. These shops are run by the state civil Supplies Corporation, co-operatives as well as private entrepreneurs. Here again there is an arrangement for centralized procurement and distribution. The manufacturing and marketing men should explore effective utilization of PDS.

Co-operative societies: There are over 3 lacks co-operative societies operating in rural areas for different purposes like marketing cooperatives, farmers service cooperatives and other multi-purpose cooperatives. These cooperatives have an arrangement for centralized procurement and distribution through their respective state level federation. Such state level federation can be motivated to procure and distribute consumables items and low value durable items to the members to the society for serving to the rural consumers.

Distribution upto feeder markets/mandi towns: Keeping in view the hierarchy of markets for the rural consumers, the feeder markets and mandi towns offer excellent scope for distribution. The rural customers visit these towns at regular intervals not only for selling the agricultural produce but also for purchasing cloth, jewellery, hardware, radios, torch cells and other durables and consumer products. From the feeder markets and mandi towns the stockist or wholesaler can arrange for distribution to the village shops in the interior places. This distribution can be done by mopeds, cycles, bullock-carts, camel-backs etc. depending upon the township.

Mass Media:

Mass media with its known and perceived to be efficient cost per contact is the most favorite medium to spread the promotional message. The benefit of mass media is its huge reach and the easy tracking comparison with other below the line promotional activities.

TV is the most preferred mass media a significant part of the budget of rural marketing companies goes to TV because no other medium has that wide a reach across the country. According to the National Readership Survey, the print media reaches about 23 per cent of rural consumers in India, while 36 per cent have access to TV. The reach of cinema stands at approximate 26 per cent.

The mass media reaches about 57 per cent of the rural population, although, the reach of television rural India is high. Frequent power-cuts restrict viewing time considerably. Two out of five Indians were unreachable by mass media.

Rural India has a very high ownership of transistor radios and as these run on batteries, radio; can once again be expected to become a popular medium for reaching rural masses.

Mass media is too glamorous, interpersonal and unreliable in contrast with the familiar performance of traditional artist whom the villager could not only see and hear, but even touch. Television also does not distinguish between urban and rural. For marketers who use mass media like TV, this becomes a big challenge, as television does not distinguish between urban and rural audiences. There can be a common TV commercial for both urban and rural audience particularly for FMCG products provided the communication is not gimmicky or suggestive and is easy to comprehend.

Unconventional Platforms to Promote Brands:

In order to communicate the message to vast multitude of rural population, marketers have to experiment also with unconventional media along with the traditional mass media options. Rural Market offers the opportunity to the media planner with a wide range of platforms that can be used to carry the message ‘to the target market residing in rural areas’. These platforms can be used as complementary to the mass media options.

Using these media, the marketer can provide touch and feel aspect with regard to their brands, which is very essential in rural areas where good number of consumers are living in media dark villages. In the area of communication, corporate marketers have perhaps failed to recognise that a rural consumer may be buying a particular brand or even the product categories itself (particularly durables) for the first time.

With hardly any key influencer within the village and few sources of information (since print and electronic media have limited reach), the rural consumer feels inhibited and ill equipped to buy confidently.

Hence, there is a strong need to build the reassurance and trust about product quality, service support and company credentials in the minds of rural consumers. This is best done through the face to face below the line touch, feel and talk mode at haats, melas and mandis.

This not only spreads the message amongst the audience at these platforms but it also creates word of mouth stories, which carry the message in the entire region. Some of the platforms available for brand promotion are presented below. The relevant platform according to the product categories can be selected for communicating with the rural audience.

(a) Mandis:

These are agricultural markets, known by different names as terminal markets/ primary or secondary wholesale market and are set up by state governments to procure agriculture produce from farmers. 7,000 in number and located in high production centers of different crops, they can serve as a good platform for product demonstration, brand building and on the spot sales.

These mandis located in agricultural area with population more than 10,000 on an average cater to 1,36,000 people. Cash-rich farmer can be directly contacted by setting up brand stalls in mandis. Sampling, free gifts can be provided along with the consumer research at these places where farmers have time and are in joyous mood. These mandis are also good platforms for promoting high-end durables, besides agri-input products.

(b) Haats:

The country’s oldest tradition holds the key to solving the promotion problems of the corporate world. 75% of the mobile supermarkets of rural India are held once a week, 20% are organized twice a week and rests are held daily. Rural people have evolved these systems of selling and communicating which have served them well for centuries. Corporate marketers have not used these platforms effectively, so far. There are 42,000 of such haats, each catering to daily needs of 10 to 20 villages. These haats can serve as good platform to promote brands through demonstration.

(c) Melas:

The companies need to have innovative methods of advertising and brand building in fairs or melas to reach their potential customer base. There are 25,000 melas in India (90 per cent are religious and one day affairs), the 1,000 being larger and frequented by hundreds of thousands of visitors. About 5,000 are commercial in nature and could be targeted for brand promotion.

Melas provide a platform for communicating with rural masses. Organisations have an opportunity to present brand stories and exposures can be provided at a low cost per contact with relatively larger retention time. The marketer can use better display tools, i.e., large screens, animations, gizmos, etc.

Women folks of the rural areas are difficult to contact in the village setting and they do not visit the nearby towns often. But in melas they are present in large number. Thus, mela provides the organisations with an excellent opportunity to target rural women for research, brand promotion, demonstration and trial.

Some of the widely visited melas include Kumbh Mela at Haridwar, Allahabad, Ujjain, Nasik and Sonepur Mela in Bihar. FMCG giants – like HUL, P&G and many other companies set up branded kiosks in “Kumbh Mela” at Nasik, Maharashtra, similarly some tried at “Pushkar Mela” near Ajmer, Rajasthan, where Mahindra & Mahindra set up information counter for its farm tractor, and Nestle arranged coffee and Maggie shop.

Melas work best for introducing new brands and building brands through the organisation of events at the venue. Many companies congregate at the Ganges River for the Kumbh Mela festival, where about 3 crore people, mostly from rural areas, come over the span of a month. Companies provide ‘touch and feel’ demonstrations and distribute free samples. This proved to be extremely effective in advertising to the rural market.

(d) Mills:

Market Researchers conducted a study in 24 villages across Uttar Pradesh and Punjab and found that the creative use of avenues like mills, rural games, tournaments, service camps and appointment of local brand ambassadors can appreciably increase communication effectiveness in the rural areas.

It was found that more than 200 tractors visit a mill in a day during the peak season. This gives a very good opportunity to the marketer to target farmers. As they are relatively free just waiting for their turn, they would be more receptive than in other settings. Farmers in order to pass their time would keenly lend their ears and also see their demonstrations. There is a good probability of their participating in the interactive formats, which could provide useful inputs to the marketing organisations.

(e) Pilgrim Sites:

The vast potential of pilgrims’ sites to promote brands especially for rural market has not been exploited to a great extent. Most of the organisations do not have a proper marketing plan for utilising marketing potential of such locations. Vaishno Devi, Ashtaateerathadham are few examples of pilgrim sites visited by crores of people every year. These and other pilgrim sites, which attract lakhs of visitors, can be ideal platforms to promote the brands by integrating the brand and the promotional campaign with the occasion.

For example, one pilgrim centre, Khalgam, about 20 km from Daman (Gujarat), on an average draws a crowd of 20,000 to 30,000 people every Tuesday and Saturday and 50,000 people during the month of Shrawan. There must be at least 10,000 such sites in the country each of which could be marketer’s dream for promoting their brand, yet it would be surprising if these sites are even documented. Having the religious consumers in a large number at one place is a good opportunity to promote a brand.

(f) Rural Games:

Focus of rural marketers can be on events like Quila Raipur Olympics and Nehru Boat Race, which are annual extravaganzas for promotion of their brands. Nearly one lakh spectators turn up to watch the rural sports at Quila Raipur village being played out in three daylong events.

Punjab has 25 popular festivals in the year, which include sports festival, agriculture as well as cultural festivals, in addition to the religious festivals. It is here that the rural marketers need to focus their attention, as the eyeballs of captive audience are available at these meets. The latest estimates are that in most of these festivals 50,000 visitors turn out on an average.

Rural games and tournaments are hugely popular in rural areas and are attended by rural people in large numbers. These tournaments can be sponsored at a reasonable price and could be utilized as a platform to put the company’s stall for brand building and demonstration. The company’s products could also be given as prizes to increase the brand awareness. These products, given as prizes would lead to lot of word of mouth publicity in the rural areas as it would be talk of many villages for good number of days.

(g) Primary Health Centre:

The primary health centres are very good platforms to promote products that have to be sold on health and hygiene grounds. The campaign in these centres can be executed in coordination with the NGO state health departments. Medical Council or Dental Associations and even international aid agencies.

Swasthya Chetna Campaign to promote the habits of washing of hands by HUL in rural areas is a good example of this form of promotion; this would have directly or indirectly promoted sale of Lifebuoy, its leading brand, in rural areas.

(h) Schools:

Young children are emerging as the change agent in the rural areas. Organisations like HUL and Colgate are targeting the children in the schools. They are not only educating them about the product benefits but are also demonstrating the benefits offered by their brands for the health of children and the entire family.

Personalized Media

In the marketing of textiles, highly personalized selling by vans and participation in rural fairs and festivals and mobile units/stalls may play a useful role.

Similarly, for cycles and sewing machines, sales vans and parti­cipation in fairs may be supplemented by billboard’s, hoardings and point of-sale materials. Sewing machines and cycles may be adver­tised on the radio and TV. Sewing schools and the organization for training would promote the sales of sewing machines.

In Mandi towns and rural markets, cinema slides, wall posters, paintings on walls, coupled with a mobile sales stall at rural fairs and festivals would go a long way in promoting footwear sales. It is necessary to establish individual brands to win rural consu­mer loyalty.

Rural marketing involves more intensive personal selling efforts compared to urban marketing. Firms should refrain from pushing goods designed for urban markets to the rural areas. To effectively tap the rural market a brand must associate it with the same things the rural consumers do.

This can be done by utilizing the various rural folk media to reach them in their own language and in large number so that the brand can be associated with the myriad rituals, celebration, festivals, melas, fairs and weekly hats.

TV/Regional Language Channels:

Over 75 percent of India’s urban households own a TV set, compared to just one-third of rural households, according to 2011 Census figures. The census also reveals that only 9.4 percent of households in the country have either a laptop or a computer and only 3 percent of them have an Internet connection. While 20 percent of urban and 5 percent of rural house­holds now own a computer or laptop, just 1 percent of rural Indian households own a com­puter with Internet.

However, measuring the audiences or identifying who was watching which channel has so far been a huge challenge. The problem is more acute in rural areas, where people receive TV signals from antennas, cable or dish. Earlier, TV audience data was provided by Television Audience Measurement (TAM), a joint venture between Nielsen and Kantar Media. It enjoyed a monopoly for years, but its data was inadequate. It captured data through TAM ‘people- meters’, which were installed in selected homes. But the people meters about 9,000 were installed were not only inadequate but they were not installed in rural areas. Charges of cor­ruption were also being levelled against the agency.

we can classify rural India into four groups:

• Diamonds:

High growth rate districts from FY07 to FY10. There are 79 diamond dis­tricts in India, which have seen high growth. These districts have contributed close to 28 percent of India’s rural growth and constitute 25 percent of rural population.

• Resilient:

Moderate to high growth every year between FY07 to FY10. There are 119 resilient districts, together contributing to 31 percent of rural growth and 22 percent of rural demand. The diamond and the resilient groups comprise 198 districts with 35 percent of the rural population. More than 90 percent of the growth in demand is accounted for by the diamond and resilient districts put together.

• Emerging:

Districts that have picked up growth from FY08 onwards, showing growth rates of 12 percent per annum. There were 173 emerging districts which generate 31 percent of the demand, but contributed only to 20 percent of rural growth. These dis­tricts demonstrated low growth in FY08 but picked up speed in subsequent years.

• Laggards:

Districts which are growing at a low rate of less than 5 percent per annum since 2008. There are 201 laggard districts which comprise one-third of the rural popu­lation, contribute to around 30 percent of the demand but capture only 20 percent of rural growth.

These districts do not follow the generally accepted wisdom of rich states and poor states. Most of the 198 diamond and resilient districts are seen to be clustered in multiple regions forming growth pockets. For example, northern Odisha accounts for a large part of the resil­ient rural growth in the country. Other such prominent clusters are found in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar do not seem to show consistent high growth and account for only nine such districts.

Wall Paintings:

Wall paintings reach even the smallest villages where mass media has not made inroads. These are cheap and serve as fixtures on walls with high visibility. Local painters do the job and villagers welcome these messages as the paint helps to protect walls. For consumer durables, direct marketing campaigns are effective. A dealer push combined with wall paintings and attractive schemes and exchange offers can give a lot of mileage in rural markets.

Many durables companies such as Bajaj Auto, Hero Motocorp, LG and so on are tapping rural markets through wall paintings and have made significant inroads in rural market. Wall painting is the most widespread form of advertising and well accepted among rural consumers, and so are an effective promotional tool, because they constantly remind rural people about names and logos.

Village Newspaper or Local Editions of Large Newspapers:

A look at mass circulated newspapers shows that villages are largely invisible to mainstream media. Apart from news of a farmer suicide or an accident, villages find very little coverage on nationally circulated newspapers. Some regional language newspapers or regional editions of larger newspapers are popular in towns but have very little reach in villages.

Among the exceptions is Eenadu, published in Telugu. It regularly carries tips on agricul­ture and animal husbandry and encourages reader participation by publishing their politi­cal opinions and grievances. Local editions of Rajasthan Patrika and Dainik Bhaskar cover local concerns.

BTL Techniques, Vans and Demonstrations:

Mobile van campaign is one of the most effective communication channels for rural consum­ers, since it involves interpersonal communication with direct experience, creating greater visibility and deep reach. Van campaigns in rural areas pull crowds. Vehicles carrying adver­tisements always grab attention, thus helping better brand building, creating visibility and also encouraging trials.

Rural service camps and creation of local brand ambassadors also serve as means of effective communication. Some companies put stalls at prominent locations in vil­lages. Such stalls are not only cost effective but can also target high potential consumers, especially during festive seasons. Other crowd pullers in rural areas are rural games and tour­naments. These are very popular; companies put stalls or banners at such avenues and sponsor the events.

In many instances, they offer their products as prizes. Service camps are another effective brand building activity. Since word-of-mouth recommendations are very popular in rural areas, and people in the villages consult their friends, relatives or neighbours before buying any durable product, keeping the existing customers happy through service camps leads to more referrals and sales.

Community Radio or AIR Local Channels:

Community radio is a type of radio service that caters to the interests of a certain area, broadcasting content that is popular to a local audience which is often overlooked by com­mercial or mass media broadcasters. Globally, community radios have proliferated and provide people living in remote or isolated areas access to information. In India, the govern­ment restricts its spread.

In other parts of the world, modern-day community radio stations serve listeners by offer­ing a variety of content that is not provided by larger commercial radio stations. Such stations carry local area news and information programmes, particularly useful for farming communi­ties that are poorly served by other media channels.

Community radio stations provide spe­cialized content that is immediately relevant to villagers. In India, community village radio could not develop properly as government guidelines permit only NGOs and civil society organizations to own and operate community radio stations. Most community stations in India are thus run by NGOs or educational institutions and have little presence in rural areas.

Melas and Fairs:

Instead of media campaigns, rural markets are more influenced by BTL techniques at the vil­lage level and at events such as Kumbh Mela, Onam, Rathyatra, Baliyatra and Dhanuyatra. Bloomberg (2013) reports that outdoor marketing campaigns at events like the Kumbh are becoming very popular with a large number of companies. Fairs and melas represent rural marketing opportunities for companies. People come to these gatherings in huge numbers.

The biggest such gathering is the Kumbh Mela, described as the world’s largest gathering. The Maha Kumbh in 2013 drew some 100 million people to Ganges in Allahabad. It was a once-in-a-decade chance for companies to reach consumers who are otherwise hard to reach. Reaching all of 100 million people from rural areas in one place was a dream for advertisers. The 2013 Maha Kumbh saw companies such as Colgate, Vodafone, Dabur and HUL participat­ing and reaching the mass of the consumers directly.

The Kumbh is a huge draw and is an opportunity for brands, but smaller melas held all over the country, which gather some 10,000 to 20,000 people per day, are useful for experien­tial marketing and are therefore more marketing friendly.

An objective is the goal or target or aim set to be achieved before commencing a work. It underlines the purpose behind taking a course of action. The audience analysis report helps to a great extent to determine communication objectives. The determination of objectives can also be guided by the information collected through secondary sources- study of existing documentation and reports and other methods like group discussion, consultation with knowledgeable persons, observation etc. The objectives are mostly concerned with expected changes through a particular activity up to a particular degree of success. Since we are here concerned with communication objectives, let us see how it has been defined and then how it can be analysed.

“Communication objective is a target which spec~fies the intended audiences, the type of change that is expected, when and where the communication activity is to take place and finally, what criteria will be- used to measure its degree of succes.k.”

Steps have involved in preparing an objective.

• Identifying the problem
• Knowing the audience
• Specifying the intervention
• Preparing an objective

The objectives should state’ specifically the improvements/changes that are expected to occur through a particular communication intervention.

• Relevant: To the “audience” (trainees’ job)
• Logical: In accordance with the need
• Unequivocal: Should be beyond controversy or argument
• Feasible: Within limits or means
• Observable: The net result can be seen or observed
• Measurable: The changes expected to occur should be measurable (the rise in performance should be measurable)

Communication strategy is a combination of approaches, messages, methods and channels, and directed towards the achievement of a particular communication goal or objective. Let us now take an example of a selected area where a pest disease has spread and is expected to destroy the crops, unless some immediate measures are taken. How to develop a communication strategy? We have the problem before us. Our audience is farmers from the target area. The audience analysis should be able to provide us an insight into the level of knowledge, attitude of the audience as well as audience access to communication media. This should help us to set a communication objective through which we may expect farmers to identify the diseases and select and use appropriate pesticides. Simultaneously, we may have to decide approach, message, method and channel.

Once you have identified the problem, known the audience, and developed a communication strategy, you should be able to draw up a detailed management plan which will also specify activities, responsibilities and time frame. This management plan should be used as tool for effective implementation of communication package.

For FMCGs distribution becomes complex. The distributor in the towns needs to have a supply network of hundred plus outlets in 50 odd locations, which cover villages up to 200 plus population. There are only 85,000 larger villages out of more than 6,38,000 villages. But they have 40 per cent of the rural population and 60 per cent of total consumption.

Many of the established packaged goods companies reach more than 20 lakh retail outlets using trains, trucks, bullock drawn carts, camels, and bicycles and many companies claim to service each one of those Outlet once a week. As, only small percentage of consumables can reach the rural market automatically through the retailers and consumer coming to the town for the purchases.

This pain of reaching the rural consumer is worth taking as this direct contact with the retail in the rural world enables a closer relation with the trade, as retailer is a critical link in the overall chain for supplying products to the rural consumer. In a study, to measure the level of influence that the rural retailer has on the rural consumers, it was found that in about 35 purchase occasions, rural retailer was able to influence the sales to the rural consumers.

Therefore, rural retailer needs to be targeted effectively through various strategies so that he sides with the company’s products whenever he is in a position to do so.

Understanding of Peak Seasons:

Different regions of India especially the rural parts have different peak seasons of demand. These times are associated with the festivals, harvest and marriage seasons. Bulk of the demand for the consumer durables is concentrated during these times. Organisations have to ensure that their products are available in accordance with the increased demand the rural consumers are in shopping mood and have the same at this time. On account of their joyous mood they are more acceptable to try new and somewhat premium brands.

As these peak seasons are at different times in different parts of India, organisations can focus their distribution energy for that time to that particular region. Sankranti during Kharif harvest or Pongal in South India. Baisakhi during the Rabi harvest and Diwali in North, Durga Puja in the East are coming at different times in different regions. Even the marriage season, which is in winter in North India, it is in summer in the Southern part.

Missing these times for a particular region is almost equivalent to missing the year in that rural market for any product categories. Quantity discounts can be offered to the rural stockists in small towns and gift schemes should be launched for the bigger shops in feeder villages. This will motivate the distributors to be more aggressive in taking these goods to the rural retailer’s shelves. The rural retailer considering the peak season could be willing to stock more brands. Even the promotional campaigns at local and regional level can be customized according to the theme of the festivity.

Delivery Vans:

Certainly, reaching out to 33 lakh retail outlets in rural areas is an uphill task. Company delivery vans which can serve two purposes; they can take the products to the customers in select rural areas and also enable the firm to establish direct contact with them and thereby provide an opportunity for promotion. However, only the bigwigs can adopt this channel.

The companies with relatively fewer resources can go in for syndicated distribution where a tie-up between non-competitive marketers can be established to facilitate distribution. In order to move products in rural areas in cost effective manner, the organisation and distributors can make use of rural makeshift transport vehicles known in different areas.

They are very cost effective as their acquiring cost is very low and is not a barrier. They are very rugged to handle the excessive wear and tear that happens on the rural roads. These vehicles are very popular in the rural areas of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab and can be easily available to different organisations to transport their products in remote villages at a low cost. These vehicles were employed quite effectively by the rural sub-stockist of Coca Cola to distribute soft drinks in the rural market.

Sales Promotion

It is a short term tool adopted by the marketer to increase the sales of the particular product / service in a particular area for a particular period of time.

According to marketers, sales promotion includes those sales activities that supplement both personal selling and advertising, and coordinating. It also involves making the advertisements effective, such as displays, shows and exhibitions and demonstrations.

Types of Sales Promotion

The following are the different types of sales promotion:

Push-up Sales Promotion

It is the technique where marketers persuade third parties i.e. intermediaries like dealers, retailers etc. to stock the products of the respective company and push them towards the ultimate customers.

Marketers started providing various incentives, pop material etc. to the intermediaries which encourage them to sell the products to the customers. To increase product sales ratio push-up sales promotion is the important part of promotion efforts taken up by the companies.

In case of rural marketing the companies also follow push-up sales promotion strategies. The commonly followed push-up sales promotion strategies include:

• Free display materials: Free display materials like banners, sign boards, neon lights etc. are distributed among dealers to attract and inform the customers about the products.
• Storage materials: Storage materials like racks, shelves, refrigerators etc. are distributed among shopkeepers who help in visual merchandising and also aid in storing the product.
• Demonstrations: Important technique of push-up sales promotion, free demos at dealers’ shops inform the consumers about the handling of the product.
• Incentives to dealers: Under the push-up sales promotion special incentives are provided to dealers on the number of units sold to the ultimate consumers.
• Lucky draw contest: It is to motivate dealers to stock the company’s products and promote sales, and lucky draw contest are organized among dealers.
• Free gifts: It is a common strategy adopted by the companies and free gifts are often distributed among dealers during festive seasons to increase the consumer base.
• Pull-up sales promotion: As the name suggests, pull-up sales promotion is the tool where marketer pulls the customers towards their product through various promotional strategies and advertising.

Personal Selling

It is a process of face-to-face interaction between the salesperson and the prospective customer. Through a proper training and guide, a salesman can be a valuable medium between the marketer and the prospective customer.

A good salesperson is the one who has thorough knowledge about the product he is about to sell and tries to strike a common point of link between the product and the customer needs.

Personal Selling in Rural Region

Most of the marketers think personal selling is not feasible in rural areas because of various reasons ranging from scattered population to a large number of villages to be covered.

Though still not a prevalent practice adopted by the national level marketers, personal selling is widely done by the local manufacturers of utensils, garments, edible good etc.

For the marketer to adopt personal selling as a tool of promotion in rural area, following are few of the basic requirements that need to be present in their salesperson:

• Familiarity with the Rural Area: It is difficult for the salesperson to be familiar with rural area. As the population of rural region is scattered, it becomes a lot more important for the salesperson to have sufficient knowledge about rural area which he is supposed to cover.
• Proficiency in Local Language: Fluency in the local language is another key skill that must be present in the salesperson. It acts as a major communication point in converting prospective customer into an actual one.
• Acquaintance with the Rural Folks: It is a common tendency among rural people that they only pay attention to those people whom they can consider as a part of their social group. Thus, if the salesperson belongs to the particular rural district, in that case his job not only becomes easy but also chances of success in achieving his sales target increase strongly.
• Be Persuasive but not Pushy: A good salesperson is one who is persuasive but not pushy in nature. Rural people are always skeptical in nature about the new product and strongly hesitate to purchase it due to lack of faith.
• Here a salesperson needs to remove the doubts of the prospective customer and make him believe to purchase the product. But being too pushy in his approach can ruin the chances of sale of the product.
• Public Relations: Public relations in case of marketing promotions in case of rural areas are highly important so as to create the formal relationship with the newly acquired customers. Also, dissemination of information concerning the rural folk is possible only through effective public relations.

Educating rural people about the importance of administering polio drops to children, vaccination to mother and child, sanitation, hygiene etc. has become possible only through the publicity health campaigns.

Free Distribution of Samples

Distributing free samples among rural people not only popularize the product but also gain huge acceptance among them. When the company decides to enter into new market and launch the new product, in such cases free distribution of samples is an effective pull-up sales promotional activity.

As compared to urban consumers, the tendency to try the new product is low in case of rural consumers because they have lack of faith about the new products. Free samples encourage trial purchase among consumers.

With-pack Premiums

Here, a free product is given either inside the pack or outside the pack. This attracts the rural customers to purchase the product. This is successful only when the free product is either complementary or useful to the consumers. For example, a free toothbrush that comes complementary with toothpaste.

Price-off Premiums

This refers to the cut-price technique for a product. This is useful not only in case of FMCGs but also in case of consumer durables if the discount is appropriate.

Money Refund Premiums

It refers to the price of the product, which is partially refunded to the consumers on the repurchase of same product by showing of proof of previous purchase like cash memo, empty wrapper, poly packs etc.

Exchange Premiums

It is quite similar to the above strategy, under which instead of refund of money a new product is given to consumers on showing of proof of previous purchase.

Interactive Games

Innovative fun-filled games generate interest among the rural crowd. The winner of the game can be rewarded with the product of the company which sponsored such games. Sometimes such games ensure high customer involvement and also increase the interaction between the marketer and target customers.

Fairs and Exhibitions

Fairs are a part of rural people’s life. For the rural people, they are the source of entertainment and a good opportunity to launch their products for the marketers in the rural market. It has mass appeal as several villagers come to fairs.

Customers may be attracted by using the mass media like organizing folk songs competition, folk dances, magic shows, puppetry shows, street theatre, acrobatic skills, juggler, etc.

Village Haats

Haats are the weekly markets from where rural people buy the items of daily necessities, garments, farm inputs etc. They are the source for rural people and a place of social gettogether. The existence of haats can be traced back to ancient times the times of Chandragupta Maurya.

Haats provide to the marketers an opportunity to display their products. Consumers are ready to try the product by overcoming all inhibitions and can get the touch and feel of the product and this will further generate sales as most of the people come to the haats with an intention to buy.

Melas

Melas are again the essential element of India’s culture and pull masses. In a trade mela, one can find variety of products. Melas are held usually in festive seasons like Dussehra, Diwali, Holi, Eid etc.

During melas, marketers get to interact with a large number of consumers and encourage for trial purchase. These melas help the marketers target large audience.

Mandis

Mandis are the place for agricultural produce and inputs. Mandis can be a good platform for manufacturers of agri-inputs both durables and non-durables. Durable are tractors, pump sets, threshers etc. Non-durable includes seeds, fertilizers etc.

FMCG

Rural markets offer FMCG companies a good growth opportunity. A slogan suits FMCG companies’’ More rural, more profit’’ However few things which can make jobs of FMCG companies easy are:

1) Rural-urban hubs: Creating some rural urban hubs where every village is within an hour of reach and could ensure a large percentage of population has easy access to urban areas and become the big markets of tomorrow.

2) Formal banking: Access to formal banking in rural areas would make the informal banking services like money lenders at stake which would be beneficial for the rural consumers, as it will also bring capital investments I to rural. This would improve agricultural productivity and also help to build small scale enterprises and other commercial venture.

3) Skill building: With the help of ITI’s industrial skills can be built up and young people can be prepared for their role in retail due to which skill building is needed for generating income opportunities in rural India. BPO, hospitality and other services would also build similar skills in them.

4) Market Penetration: Companies need to apply rigour to governance and control to make sure their strategies translate into required action and they have to develop novel strategies to serves rural consumers. It is required to understand consumers culture and thereby sustain in rural markets.

5) Get regional: FMCG companies can adopt strategies which the rural consumers would feel closeness towards them according to rural consumers tradition and use of folks for the region would even help to gain customer loyalty.

6) Continuous Research: Continuous research should be undertaken by FMCG companies to understand the changing needs of the rural consumers and thereby the companies would also change and manufacture products accordingly.

Consumer Durables

Consumer durables involves any type of products purchased by consumers that manufactured for long term use. As opposed to many goods that are intended for consumption in the short term. The consumer durables industry can categorize into two segments:

• Consumer electronics (brown goods): Television, laptops, cameras, computers.
• Consumer appliances. (white goods): Washing machines, kitchen appliances, ovens, air conditioners and fan.

Rural consumers are very much cautious about their money and their spending level. It might be due to the fact that they have little scope of earning additional money outside their usual sources. In other words, for them marginal utility of money is very high so they are very cautious. Indian rural consumer durable market is very vast size and having lot of opportunities. Guidelines to consumer durable industry are as follows:

• Modify the product to market for the needs of rural awareness about the products.
• Arrange customer care units in all areas for clarifying and giving the information about their products.
• By considering the population the organization have to establish or open new sale outlets.
• To encourage social activities for development of rural areas for brand loyalty.

The key growth drivers for consumer durable industry are as follows:

• Rise in disposable income: The demand for consumer electronics has been rising with the increase in disposable income coupled with more and more consumers falling under the double income families.
• Availability of newer variants of a product: Consumers are split for choice when it comes to choosing products, Newer variants of a product will help a company in getting the attention if consumers who look for innovation in products.
• Product pricing: The consumer durable industry is highly price sensitive making the price the determining factor in increasing the volumes at least for lower range consumers. For middle and upper range consumers, it is the brand name, technology and product features that are important.
• Availability of financing schemes: Availability of credit and the structure of the loan determine the affordability of a product. Sale of a product is determined by the cost of credit as much as flexibility of the scheme.
• Rise in the share of organised retail: Rise in organized retail will set the growth pace of the Indian consumer durable industry. The share will go bigger players entering the market.
• Innovative advertising and brand promotion: Sales promotion measure such as discounts, free gifts and exchange offer, coupon codes helps company in distinguishing itself from others.
• Festive season sale: Demand for TVs come during the festive season as at that point of time the company releases new tvs with different and unique features which thereby attracts the customers.

Agriculture goods and Services

Agriculture produces and marketing continues to be on a higher side amongst the Indian population. Most of the agricultural produce comes from the rural market due to the large access of the land to be produced for as compared to the urban areas. Agricultural produce has its own features of their own they are as follows:

• Uncertainty: There is a high degree of uncertainty because the country wholly depends on the rainfalls. It is very difficult to forecast the volume and the output. The cultivator can only plan the production of a certain crop but he final output depends upon the weather, disease, pests, fertilizers etc which does not posses any control. Hence things are uncertain during agricultural produce.
• Heterogeneity of produce: The quality of agricultural produce cannot be controlled as it can be done to other products. This lack of standardization of quality makes the task of gradation and assortment very difficult for the marketers.
• Perishability: Agricultural goods are more perishable than industrial goods. Although some crop such as rice, wheat, gram etc. retain their quality for a long time but most of the farm products are perishable and cannot remain long on the way to the final consumer without losing loss and deterioration in quality.Hence the marketer needs to preserve in an appropriate manner and make it available to the consumer at its earliest way or manner.
• Seasonality: Seasonal agriculture is a problem itself and one cannot stop it as production cannot be adjusted according to the demand. Hence maintaining smooth supply of agricultural produce according to the season helps to call for good and large storage space.
• Processing: Some of the agricultural products like sugarcane, cotton, jute, tobacco etc have to be processed before they are consumed. This requires adequate processing facility.
• Bulkiness: Agricultural products tend to be bulky and their weight and volume are high when compared with their value. This makes their storage and transportation difficult and copy.

Fake brands are identified under two broad categories, namely:

Counterfeit products: These are fake products that bear identical name of product/ packaging/graphics/colour scheme and even same name and address as the genuine manufacturer. They look exactly like real products other than the legal owner of the real products & trademarks.

Pass-Off products: Such products have a similar sounding name or have a similar spelling with similar looking packaging and design. These products are meant to mislead the consumers who are illiterate or in a hurry to purchase goods.

When brand loyalty is difficult to achieve and brand identification is a big challenge in the presence of fakes and counterfeits, innovation in packaging becomes extremely critical. Since only select people can read the name of the brand in the rural market. These innovations in the form of pack sizes and colours act as differentiator and can create demand-pull because of the excitement they create in the mind of consumers.

Rural markets suffer from the problems of low penetration and poor availability of branded products. Hence, although there exists a huge demand for branded products, there are no distribution channels to make the product reach the customer. This has led to the growth of fake brands.

• Ponds has been replaced by Bond’s talc
• Fair & Lovely by Fair & Lonely
• Lifebuoy by Likebuoy/Lifeboy

Fake brands exist in rural as well as urban locations. But the problem is more acute in rural areas especially the deep pockets which are less accessible and people have very little knowledge about the original brands. “Most people in rural India can recognize alphabets but not complete words, so during a research, we found a whole lot of samples of fake Clinic Plus shampoo sachets where the visual was similar to the original brand but the name was changed to ‘Clinton’ as Bill Clinton was to arrive soon in the country. During another such raid, we collected about 99 variants of Fair&Lovely cream including Fair&Lonely, Far & Lovely etc.”, said Mr. Pradeep Kashyap, president, Rural Marketing Association of India (RMAI) and CEO, MART while sharing an interesting incident in past.

The Indian rural landscape being scattered in smaller villages, gaining access in all of them is a tedious task for brands. Also, most of the FMCG brands have not been able to set up an efficient distribution network in such areas. The local entrepreneurs are well aware of these challenges. Hence, take advantage by manufacturing cheap substitutes of original brands, misleading the rural consumers. These manufacturers have an advantage of being local and thus reach the shops before the original brands do.

Such counterfeits piggy back on huge marketing budgets of FMCG companies. The rural consumers are aware of the brand owing to ads broadcasted on radio & television channels. But on time of purchase, the consumers tend to pick their fake counterparts due to unavailability of original product or get fooled by the retailers who on purpose sell cheap products for higher margins.

Over the time the share of fake products in the FMCG market has grown to 10- 15% causing a deep hole in the pockets of the FMCG companies.  A study conducted by AC Nielson, a research agency reveals that FMCG industry loses around 2500 crores annually to counterfeits and pass-off products. In another recent survey conducted by AC Nielson reveals that top brands in India are estimated to lose up to 30 percent of their business to fake products. Besides the loss of revenue, the leading companies also bear the damage to brand image and brand loyalty of consumers.

On a whole, the brands not only suffer in terms of revenue but also have to compromise on the brand image which in no case can be tolerable. Therefore, various brands have come up with unique strategies to overcome their shortcomings in the rural markets and curb the growth of fake brands in rural areas.

Companies like Coca-Cola have set up an elaborate system to curb the menace of duplicate manufacturers, offering incentives to informers.  It has 48 consumer response coordinators across the countries who work with their teams and redress consumer complaints directly, including overcharging and spurious bottling. Besides, it has a large network of route salesmen who have a one-to-one relationship with the retailers on their beat and keep their ears to the ground. When they spot suspicious activity, they inform company officials. So though it is impossible to stop counterfeiters totally, it is possible to minimize the damage they cause.

Upgrading the product packaging periodically or launch product variants so that the manufacturers of counterfeits find it difficult to copy their products. Hindustan Lever has initiated special tamper-proof packs for its deodorant spray ‘AXE’, whose nozzle can’t be detached from the body while Procter and Gamble uses special labels for its Vicks Vapo Rub which does not peel off even if soaked overnight in water. This makes it difficult for spurious goods makers to imitate.

Stopping the counterfeits market is a long process but it’s more important for companies to create awareness among the consumers about the ill effects about such fake products and the hazards they pose.

Companies should not only price their products competitively, but also offer their rural prospects the maximum value for money spent. Indian companies can do this by putting in place an aggressive cost structure. Re-designing of products for the rural market should be done in a manner to maintain a low cost for the products. Refill packs are a good example in this case.

Law of demand says ‘Higher the price of the products, lower will be the demand of the product and lower the price of the product, higher will be demand for that product’. This law is totally applicable in the rural markets. Because of the relatively lower income, the rural consumer is more sensitive towards price. Marketers have to plan their activities in order to bring down the cost of production. They have to bring down the price in order to attract the customers e.g. Nirma Washing Powder.

The price decision must be influenced not just by the income received but also on when it is received and how it is allocated as rural consumers either get daily wages or the farmers get major income during the harvest season.

Companies must follow the strategy of penetration pricing with the backup of a good quality product to be successful in the rural market. As ‘two for one’ deal and coupons are not very effective marketing tools, it is far better to price the product as low as possible in the first place.

FMCG companies can cut cost to maintain the price points through reducing the net weight of the products or doing away with freebies and promotions. In developing markets, the profit margin on individual units will always be low. What really counts is capital efficiency getting the highest possible Returns on Capital Employed (ROCE).

The key is to make constant efforts to reduce capital investments by extensively outsourcing. Manufacturing, streamlining supply chains, actively managing receivables, and paying close attention to distributor’s performance. Very low capital needs, focused distribution and technology investments and very large volumes at low margins lead to very high ROCE business; creating great economic value for shareholders. The overall impact on the volumes and margins will be based not only on the industry dynamics but also on how intelligently the package is designed.

Price Point:

Low unit packs were there since long; only denomination is different now. The pioneers in this category were tea and coffee marketers. Brooke Bond pack was available earlier in 5 paise, later in 10 paise, 25 paise and 50 paise and then with inflation it became Rs. 1 pack. Now it is the time of Rs. 5 pack.

The current craze for Rs. 5 positioning could be because of Coke’s success in promoting the pouch strategy. Colas helped to highlight the price point to the consumer and their medium weight really threw open the gates for other manufacturers to come and ride piggyback on the Rs. 5 price point. And what is different from the past is that large numbers of product categories are now available in small packs and it has taken the shape of mega trends.

The small packs increase user base, usage occasion and can thus explode the market. The consumer base of soft drink increased from 16 crores in 2002 to 24 crores in 2004. A two-year period for which the Rs. 5-price point remained in force.

The Colas started it but host of other branded products are now realising the importance of being present at Rs. 5 price point. Ready availability of five rupees coin has been an advantage and many consumers are not worried as much about grammage as price. They are used to ask for Rs. 2 or Rs. 5 worth of commodity.

Some of the brands that HUL sells for Rs. 5 are Pond’s Talc, Pond’s Cold Cream, Rin, Taaza, Fair & Lovely and Lux. The price point also helps branded FMCGs, which are battling fakes from unorganized sector. Rs. 5 price point leads to growth in user base of brands and increased category penetration for those who have introduced such packs.

Key to successful rural marketing lies in selling goods and services that can be afforded by villagers. Most of the rural population depends upon agriculture for livelihood and as such their income is irregular. Also the per capita income of the rural areas is lower.

It is estimated that more than two-thirds of Indian villagers belong to low income group, and thus they are very much price-sensitive. A villager will purchase a particular product only if he feels that he is getting enough value for it.

Rural population normally does not indulge in conspicuous spending. In order to sell to the village markets, many organizations developed low priced options specifically suited to the rural customer’s pockets. Britannia’s tiger biscuit is a low priced snack which is popular among village kids.

In the year 1998, Lg electronics introduced its sampoorna television range targeted at rural buyers. Procter and gamble brought out tide naturals, a comparatively cheaper detergent powder. Most brands of shampoo are available in sachets priced at Rs. 2-3.

The nature of competition in rural market is very different from that of the urban one. The number of brand options available to the rural consumer is very different from the one available to urban consumers. The brands rarely compete with one another on the retailers’ shelf space but they have to be just there and then through the influence of the retailer they can find way into customer’s home.

Thus, the competitive strategy with regard to rural market varies on almost all the five forces, which clearly suggests that the strategic approach required for the rural market is very different from the one adopted in the urban market.

The focus remains on the people who are living in the remote areas, and the marketing activities should be planned accordingly. Seeing this, now-a-days many companies are turning towards the rural market to expand their scope, and to overcome competition or to restart or give new shape to competition. A lot of focus is required to be given on the rural markets because rural markets are the “tomorrow’s markets”.

Now-a-days people say that there is lot of competition in the market. Actually it is not only lot of competition but cut throat competition, especially in the urban areas. Companies are playing on the basis of price. Every big company is trying to swallow the small and new companies. Prices are going down steeply just because of the tough competition.

Apart from the price factor, companies have started increasing product features and added value to their products to compete in the market, without increasing the prices. The concept is increase the utility and value and decreases the prices. Irrespective of the above facts, there are certain products which have already achieved the maturity level or have reached the saturation level. Demand is not increasing in these sectors so the best strategy is to explore new markets for the products.

So rural marketing is turning out to be a market for the packaged products with a minimum or no competition. Firms can generate demand and increase profits.

The changing competition in the market research industry has also influenced the foray into quasi- consultancy. Though the number of research agencies in the country has not increased considerably from the 30-odd agencies that were around 10 years back, mergers and tie ups over the past three years or so have changed the structure of the business. In the 1980’s, the two agencies, IMRB and ORG-MARG dominated the Indian market research scene, followed by Mode.

In the mid-nineties, Bangalore based Research and Consultancy Group (RCG) tied up with MBL and was eventually taken over by the inter public group’s $450-million market research company, NGO World group. Around the same time, AC Nielsen entered and bought a stake in MRAS while TNS bought a stake in Mode. Dutch giant VNU bought a stake in ORG-MARG in 1996.

Several new outfits have also stepped in by this time. For example, Blackstone, a small outfit from the US, set up shop and teamed up with a large American agency, Market Facts, in India. Market Probe, a boutique U.S. company, set base in 1999. Then MBA, a small Mumbai-based outfit, tied up with Gallup. Barring the WPP Group’s Research International, which has been here since 1992, most global players came to India in the last three years.

If the newer players ushered in change through branded techniques, then the pre-reform players like ORG-MARG and IMRB had vast databases, could over two decades or more that could be used to better effect. The nature of the market is changing too with the advent of Internet and Information technology era. The Telecom and Financial Market reforms also opened up the market and newer avenues like consultancy research opened up.

Till the 1980s, market research was restricted to the data delivery function alone. As competition grew, predicting consumer behaviour came to the forefront of client demand. So, research agencies started adding value by defining what kind of information should be collected rather, than merely sticking to the client’s brief.

For example, a soft drink player today would also look at competition from a category like bottled water. Similarly, a moisturizer would also compete not only with other moisturizers but also with skin lotions and homemade products like malai and so on.

Marketers also agree that the needs are evolving. For example, the new area that HLL has added to its research requirements is the concept of consumer windows. HLL has two consumer windows-one is the traditional view of consumers through market research and the second is direct customer contact. For the latter, a website was set up, where HLL managers across the country can log in and request for an interface with any type of consumer across India.

The request is then processed by the research agency, which organises meetings between the managers and the consumers. HLL claims that after this window was set-up, every day, roughly nine managers contact consumers in 20 locations and interface with five consumer groups.

For instance, when sales of Lifebuoy, one of HLL’s designated ‘power’ brands, were tapering, the consumer window sessions, especially in rural areas, helped the company change the product composition from carbolic to non-carbolic and reposition the soap from a male market to a family product.

Marketing Research techniques and tools always have to be adapted to the target group. Rural marketing research is undergoing a major transition as the scope of the research is expanding with the rising size and potential of the rural market. The mostly quantitative approach followed so far is giving way to behavioural and qualitative studies. In view of the illiteracy and lower exposure of rural consumers, however, tools are required to be specifically adapted or designed.

Branding Strategy:

To build a brand in rural market, products have to be geared to rural in terms of price, packaging and communication and delivered to target audience in the language they understand using the idiom specific communication.

In packaged goods industries (FMCG), reduction of the number of brands and creating master brand to serve many segments by product variety or brand extensions is a strategic option adopted by many players. The high cost of building many brands is significantly lowered if only few master brands have to be developed and promoted for different but related products.

Logos and Symbols:

Use of symbols like muscle man for MRF, lightening for Rin, helps the rural consumers to identify brands at the time of the purchase. If, the logos or symbols are not registered very clearly in the mind of illiterate rural consumer, then it is easier for the retailer to sell a fake or counterfeit version of the brand.

As most of the rural consumers do not know English and products of most of the national level companies are using only English language, the highlighting of logos and symbols can help the rural consumers to identify the brand during the final selection.

The sun symbolises life, moon depicts love and stars represent destiny, with such perception and interpretations symbols become very vital consideration for effective rural communication. Certain successful brands in rural market have numbers, symbols and animals as brands e.g., 555 soap, Monkey brand toothpowder, Gemini tea (with elephant), etc.

Logo and the colour are not the only factors that influence purchase. There are other factors to be considered like size of logo, shade of color and also the significance of combined effect. Rural markets respond in different ways to different symbols than the urban consumers.