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(GIST OF KURUKSHETRA) Communication Strategies in Rural Marketing

[September-2021]

Communication Strategies in Rural Marketing

Introduction:

Rural markets have increasingly begun to have more potential for consumer durables and services. The growth of rural marketing leads to increased business operations, professional activities, and services that can generate a lot of employment opportunities.
The entire bandwagon of marketing goods needs a specialised communication strategy along with marketing and advertising tools. A well defined communication strategy can substantially enhance rural marketing.

Pratik Modi (2009) has given the following summation of the ambit of what constitutes a rural market.

a. Urban to Rural (U 2 R): A major part of rural marketing falls into this category. It includes the transactions of urban marketers who sell their goods and services in rural areas, like pesticides, fertilisers, seeds, FMCG
products, tractors, bicycles, consumer durables, etc.

b. Rural to Urban (R 2 U): Transactions in this category basically fall under agricultural marketing where a rural producer seeks to sell his produce in an urban market, like seeds, fruits and vegetables, milk and related products, forest produce, spices, etc.

c. Rural to Rural (R 2 R): This includes the activities that take place between two villages close to each other, like agricultural tools, handicrafts and bullock carts, dress materials, etc.

Communication Role in Rural Marketing:

The communication strategy should be aimed at better management of traditional markets with an aim to:

(a) providing legal certainty for traditional market operators,
(b) realising order, security, cleanliness, and comfort of traditional markets,
(c) regulating and organising the existence and establishment of traditional markets,
(d) providing business guidance and protection to traditional markets, and
(e) the implementation of prosperity among traditional market business actors.

Benefits and Challenges of E-commerce

1. Recognise various actors involved in the system and how each one of them can contribute to the system.
2. Price determination and the variables that influence it.
3. Consumer needs.
4. Discerning some of the existing e-commerce frameworks.

Way forward:

To facilitate the growth of the rural market, the government has to develop infrastructure facilities like roadways, railways, etc., in rural areas.
Rural communication facilities like telecommunication systems, internet facilities, broadcasting systems as envisaged under Digital India have to be improved so that there will not be any communication gap among players of the rural market segments.
Educating rural consumers is the key to successful rural marketing. Rural consumers need to be educated in all aspects like usage of the products, gathering product information, consumer rights, laws and regulations, getting the right product at the right place at the right cost at the right time, GST, pricing, packaging, and customer communication.
An efficient distribution system needs to be developed so that products reach the ultimate consumer in the quickest time possible at minimum cost.