While strategizing marketing campaigns, businesses consider and combine various tools, tactics, and actions. They drive the promotion and sales of their products/services by blending or mixing these products. The core components of the marketing mix are product, price, place, and promotion.
As the first component, a product or service meets the precise needs of the targeted customers. Price, as the second component of the marketing mix, impacts the demand for and sale of the product in the target marketing. Place, as the third important component of the marketing mix, ensures that potential customers can access the product without any hassles and delays.
As the fourth important component in the marketing mix, promotion refers to the marketing tactics required to make potential customers aware of the offering and influence them to purchase. However, marketers customize and extend the urban marketing mix while promoting and selling goods/services in rural markets.
While preparing the rural marketing mix, rural marketers consider these 4 P of rural marketing – product, price, placement, and promotion. In addition, they make the rural marketing mix impactful by considering 4 A of rural marketing – affordability, awareness, availability, and accessibility. These 4 A of rural marketing make the rural marketing mix different from the urban marketing mix. We can understand the rural marketing mix clearly by discussing these 4As and 4 P of rural marketing.
4 P of the Rural Marketing Mix
Product
The development of rural infrastructure created opportunities for companies to provide a variety of products or services to non-urban consumers. The tangible and intangible products available in rural markets can be divided into various categories based on their usage and value. For instance, rural families buy products like ceiling fans, pressure cookers, induction cookers, watches, and clocks – for immediate use.
At the same time, rural consumers keep women productive and stress-free by buying televisions, radios, DVD players, refrigerators, washing machines, and mixers. While developing products for rural marketers, companies focus on simplicity, usability, convenience, and maintenance. In addition, they convey the features and benefits of the product clearly by writing information on its pack in local languages.
Price
The seasonal income of rural consumers makes rural markets more price-sensitive than urban markets. Many companies generate demand for products in rural marketers by adopting differential pricing models. They usually make the product affordable by offering it at a reduced price in rural markets. Also, they consider three Cs – the cost of production, competitor prices, and customer value – when pricing products for rural consumers.
Placement
Companies often find it challenging to make their products available in rural areas due to a lack of transportation options and distribution channels. As they find it difficult to store products in rural areas, businesses distribute products through middlemen like wholesalers, retailers, and dealers. Also, they incentivize local retailers to make their products available by offering higher margins.
Promotion
Smartphone and Internet penetration has created opportunities for businesses to attract, engage, and influence rural consumers using digital channels like search engines and social media. However, many companies still promote and market their offerings in rural markets using conventional media like print ads, television commercials, radio ads, posters, billboards, and local events. They further make the content and advertisements impactful by considering local language and cultural differences.
4 A of the Rural Marketing Mix
Affordability
The income level of rural consumers is lower than the income level of urban consumers. Hence, rural consumers usually do not buy luxury products like luxury cars and designer clothes. Instead, they spend their money on essential or basic goods. These essential products help them maintain a reasonable standard of living by meeting their basic needs. Companies cater to distinct needs or demands by introducing budget-friendly products in rural markets. They ensure that the product fulfills the needs of rural customers without affecting their budget.
Availability
A surge is being noticed in the demand for products like smartphones and two-wheelers in rural markets. However rural consumers often purchase such items from urban dealers or retailers. Often companies find it challenging to make their products available to rural consumers on demand. Companies boost product availability by organizing logistics. In addition to storing products in rural areas, they explore ways to transport them without any delay. The rapid rural infrastructure development helps companies make their products available in rural and remote areas.
Acceptability
Often companies customize products according to the precise needs, preferences, and behaviors of rural customers. However, they still find it challenging to generate demand for the product in the rural markets. Marketers overcome this challenge by exploring ways to increase product acceptability. Brands improve acceptability by developing user-friendly and budget-friendly products. At the same time, marketers make the product acceptable by making rural customers realize its value.
Awareness
It becomes easier for companies to increase rural market share when consumers recognize and recall its products in varying conditions. Companies popularize their products in rural centers by running targeted brand awareness campaigns. While creating content and composing messages for such campaigns, marketers address the preferences and expectations of rural consumers. At the same time, they increase brand awareness by reaching urban consumers at local festivals and events. Also, they make rural consumers recognize the brand running print, television, and radio ads. However, many companies these days create brand awareness by running localized digital marketing campaigns.
Conclusion
Rural consumers differ from urban consumers in several aspects, including needs and behaviors. That is why; strategists customize and extend the marketing mix while promoting and marketing products/services in urban geographies. Like the urban marketing mix, the rural marketing mix considers the 4Ps product, price, place, and promotion.
However, the rural marketing mix, unlike the urban marketing mix, considers the 4 A – affordability, awareness, availability, and accessibility. The 4 P and 4 A of rural marketing help strategists cater to the distinct demographic characteristics of consumers or buyers living in non-urban areas.
Want to learn more about Rural Marketing?
We have been discussing different aspects of rural marketing by publishing a series of blogs. This is the 10th blog in the series. Please read our previous blogs on rural marketing and share your feedback.
Difference between Urban marketing and Rural Marketing
Rural Marketing in India
Types of Rural Marketing
Challenges of Rural Marketing
Scope of Rural Marketing
Innovations in Rural Marketing
Rural Marketing Books
In several countries, over two-thirds of the population lives in rural areas. Multiple studies have highlighted how access to knowledge, technology, and financial products eradicate poverty and improve prosperity in rural areas. The improving rural prosperity creates opportunities for enterprises to drive revenue growth by making products or services available in the market.
Rural marketing helps companies and startups introduce and promote various products/services in the rural market. However, decision-makers must remember that rural consumers differ from urban consumers in many categories – education levels, purchasing power, brand perceptions, and brand loyalty. Hence, decision-makers make rural marketing mixes by integrating 4 A’s and 4 P’s.
Their marketing strategies focus on the 4 A’s of rural marketing – affordability, availability, awareness, and acceptability. In addition, they make the rural marketing mix effective by emphasizing the 4 P’s of rural marketing – product, price, place, and promotion. We can identify some key features or characteristics of rural marketing based on these key elements of the rural marketing mix.
9 Salient Characteristics or Features of Rural Marketing
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Large and Diverse Customer Base
Rural markets are more diverse and scattered than urban markets. Often a company’s rural consumer base is scattered over thousands of villages and hamlets. Also, consumers’ socio-cultural backgrounds vary across villages. Hence, companies have to classify rural consumers into multiple categories using parameters like languages, purchasing power, customs, and traditions. Also, they must customize and localize marketing campaigns according to individual rural areas.
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Increasing Purchasing Disparity
There was a time when rural economies included primarily agricultural industries. However, welfare schemes launched by governments have created opportunities for rural consumers to supplement and increase agricultural income. For instance, many rural people these days generate income by growing the most profitable crops.
Likewise, they increase income by indulging in non-agricultural activities like poultry farming, bee hiving, and mushroom farming. These non-farm income sources increase the purchasing power of rural consumers. Also, regular income sources create opportunities for companies to meet the changing needs and preferences of rural consumers by marketing their products and services.
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Conventional Outlook
The conventional outlook of rural consumers makes them different from urban consumers. Old customs and traditions often make rural consumers resist changes. That is why; companies find it easier to generate demand for specific products – bicycles and fast-moving consumer goods – in rural markets. However, increasing literacy levels and digitalization have been changing the demand patterns in rural markets. Companies often find it easier to launch new products by targeting younger consumers.
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Traditional Marketing Channels
While planning urban marketing campaigns, businesses prefer digital marketing channels to conventional marketing channels. However, businesses cannot run successful rural marketing campaigns by ignoring traditional marketing channels. They must create brand awareness and generate demand using traditional marketing methods like banners, billboards, print ads, radio ads, flyers, brochures, and direct mail. At the same time, they must boost rural marketing campaigns by involving important stakeholders like retailers, distributors, and salespeople.
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Digital Marketing Channels
A large percentage of rural consumers these days access internet-enabled mobile devices regularly. Also, the 5th generation mobile network (5G) enables them to consume digital content in multiple formats. The expanding expansion created opportunities for companies to boost customer acquisition and demand generation using top digital marketing channels. They run organic digital marketing campaigns using search engines and social media. At the same time, they create brand awareness by investing in paid ads.
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Content Localization
Unlike urban consumers, rural consumers often acquire knowledge in vernacular languages. A large percentage of rural consumers still lack English language proficiency. Hence, rural marketing makes it essential for companies to produce marketing content in local languages. Also, each company must engage rural consumers by distributing multilingual marketing content. At the same time, content creators must localize the content according to the demographic characteristics of consumers living in specific rural areas.
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Varying Demand Patterns
As noted earlier, rural consumers are more diverse than urban consumers. Also, the needs and preferences of rural customers are impacted by specific traditions, customs, and belief systems. Hence, companies must consider product demand variations while making rural marketing strategies. They must determine the target audience for a product by assessing rural consumers’ purchasing power. At the same time, they must tailor the products or services according to the socio-cultural background of consumers across rural areas.
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Infrastructural Development
While discussing the challenges of rural marketing, bloggers often mention the lack of infrastructural facilities. However, government initiatives and investments have led to rapid infrastructure development across rural areas. Many villages now have concrete roads, warehouses, and communication systems. The infrastructural development enables eCommerce companies to expand into villages and hinterlands. The expansion boosts rural marketing by making it easier for companies to deliver products to rural consumers. At the same time, rural eCommerce creates opportunities for rural entrepreneurs to sell products like handicrafts to urban consumers.
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Spurious Products
Companies initially launch new products or services in urban markets. They introduce the product or service in rural markets several months after the initial launch. The delay creates opportunities for local entrepreneurs to make spurious products available in rural markets. These producers add authenticity to the spurious products using the brand’s logo, trademark, and packaging. While planning rural marketing campaigns, companies must focus on making rural consumers abandon fake merchandise. Also, they must help rural consumers differentiate between the original and spurious products by providing relevant information.
Conclusion
There have been a lot of innovations in Rural marketing recently: Digital devices and channels enable businesses to increase rural customer reach in a flexible and cost-efficient way. However, no company can launch and promote its products in rural markets successfully by replicating digital marketing strategies and tactics. Decision-makers must remember that rural consumers differ from urban consumers in many aspects.
While making a rural marketing mix, they must focus on integrating the 4 A’s and 4 P’s seamlessly. Likewise, they must localize and customize rural marketing campaigns according to the needs, preferences, and expectations of customers living in specific rural areas. At the same time, they must keep in mind the key characteristics of rural marketing that make it different from urban marketing.
This is the seventh blog in our series on rural marketing. The first blog highlights the differences between rural marketing and urban marketing. The subsequent blogs in the series cover important aspects of rural marketing – the types of rural marketing, the importance, scope, challenges, and classification of rural marketing. In this blog post, we are highlighting some of the influential innovations in rural marketing.
There was a time when rural marketing was synonymous with agricultural marketing. In the initial phases, rural marketing strategies focused extensively on making various agricultural products available to urban consumers. However, modern rural marketing strategies focus primarily on boosting customer acquisition and gaining market share.
There was a time when companies reached out to rural consumers using traditional marketing channels like print ads, billboards, event marketing, and broadcasting. However, the surge in mobile penetration and internet access enables enterprises to acquire and retain rural customers by running multichannel digital marketing channels.
The transformation and evolution of rural marketing are driven by different types of innovation. Each type of innovation helps companies communicate with and engage rural consumers by solving challenges. Also, these innovations help companies run marketing campaigns by targeting rural and urban consumers simultaneously. We are discussing some of these influential innovations in rural marketing.
9 Influential Innovations in Rural Marketing
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Rural Consumer Outreach
Customer outreach refers to the strategies companies use to cultivate relationships with customers. Digital devices and channels have changed the way companies connect, engage, and influence rural consumers. They no longer engage indirectly with customers through distributors, retailers, and marketing professionals.
Instead, they build and foster relationships with rural customers by sending text messages, instant messages, and emails. They further send personalized messages to rural consumers by creating buyer personas. Buyer personas help them tailor brand and marketing messages by leveraging demographic information collected through polls, interviews, and research.
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Rural eCommerce
There was a time when eCommerce companies were delivering products to customers living in rural areas. However, leading eCommerce platforms have started delivering products to customers staying in the hinterlands. The expansion makes it easier for companies to sell products to retail customers by overcoming infrastructural and supply chain constraints.
At the same time, eCommerce platforms create opportunities for artisans and small businesses to sell their products to urban customers without investing in supply chain management. That is why; a surge is being noticed in the number of rural enterprises promoting and marketing their handicrafts digitally and aggressively.
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Financial Inclusion
Financial inclusion refers to making essential financial products and services accessible at affordable rates. There was a time when rural consumers lacked access to useful and affordable financial products or services. However, many banking and non-banking financial institutions have been focusing on financial inclusion in non-urban areas.
The financial inclusion makes many rural consumers buy mobile devices and two-wheelers on credit. Leading brands drive sales growth by partnering with various financial companies. The partnership helps them boost sales in rural markets where a large percentage of customers whose primary occupation is agriculture.
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Mobile Marketing
As highlighted by several studies, rural users will drive the sale of internet-enabled mobile devices in the future. The increase in mobile device sales creates opportunities for companies to promote their products or services in rural markets by leveraging smartphones and tablets. Leading companies these days expand customer outreach by sending text messages, instant messages, and emails to rural customers using mobile devices.
Also, they boost customer acquisition by running targeted mobile marketing campaigns. In addition to customizing mobile apps for rural consumers, they have been adopting a mobile-first approach. The mobile-first approach helps rural customers gather information about products, services, and brands. At the same time, brands influence their purchase decisions by distributing content optimized for mobile devices and platforms.
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Marketing Content Localization
Adult literacy rates are much lower in rural areas in comparison to urban areas. While planning digital marketing campaigns, managers ensure that each rural consumer can access content in his preferred language. They address the literacy gap by producing content in various formats and languages. For instance, they target educated consumers by delivering content in English and local languages.
At the same time, they use content repurposing and translation tools to convert the textual content into audio and video. The audio and video content helps them convey the brand message to customers who cannot read the textual content. Many companies these days leverage artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to accelerate the creation of marketing content in various formats and languages.
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Omnichannel Marketing Campaigns
Access to mobile devices enables rural consumers to consume digital content in multiple formats. Educated consumers living in rural areas usually gather information about products, services, or brands using search engines and social networks. At the same time, a significant percentage of rural consumers gather information by watching videos or listening to audio.
Hence, enterprises these days drive demand generation and customer acquisition using organic and paid digital marketing channels. They keep brand messaging and customer communication consistent across channels by running multichannel or omnichannel digital marketing campaigns. They run omnichannel digital marketing campaigns to reach out to the targeted rural consumers, regardless of their preferred digital marketing channel.
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AI-Driven Marketing
In addition to automating routine marketing activities, Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies enable companies to run data-driven rural marketing campaigns. AI tools make it easier for companies to connect with rural consumers. A company can use AI-powered content writing tools to create multi-format and multilingual content for rural marketing campaigns.
Also, businesses respond to questions and queries asked by rural consumers by implementing AI chatbots. At the same time, intelligence technologies enable businesses to plan localized rural marketing campaigns based on real-time market data. They help decision-makers make sense of rural market and consumer data by sharing insights and highlighting trends.
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Tech-Driven Logistics
Logistics is often cited as a key challenge in rural marketing. Companies overcome this rural marketing challenge by leveraging cutting-edge technologies. Tech tools enable them to distribute and deliver products in rural areas efficiently and accurately. Leading companies drive rural market penetration using a wide range of logistic technologies.
For instance, they optimize loads and identify the best routes using transport management systems. Likewise, warehouse management systems make it easier for them to deliver products to rural consumers by storing and handling the stocks more effectively. Hence, tech-driven logistics have been increasing the availability of products in rural markets.
Conclusion
The huge rural population and growing rural prosperity create opportunities for companies to boost revenue growth by running digital marketing campaigns. However, rural marketing has been evolving consistently. The evolution or transformation of rural marketing is being driven by different forms of innovations. Each innovation of rural marketing makes it easier for companies to expand rural customer bases by reducing complexities and costs.
This is the fourth part of our blog series on Rural Marketing. In the previous blogs, we covered the types and challenges in Rural marketing. In the third edition of the blog series, we covered the aspects of Rural marketing in India.
While making and implementing marketing strategies, marketers believe that transportation and communication options have converted the world into a large village. They assume that most consumers these days live in urban areas, and their disposable income grows consistently.
However, the data collected by the United Nations (UN) suggest that only 55% of the world’s population currently live in urban areas. In several developing countries, the rural population is much higher than the urban population. For instance, about 65% of India’s population live in rural areas in 2023.
Likewise, the statistics compiled by Statista in 2022 suggest that 86.5% of inhabitants in Asian countries were living in rural areas. The statistics and data depict the significance and scope of rural marketing across countries. No domestic or multinational company can sustain profitable growth without supplementing urban marketing with rural marketing.
As a marketing system, rural marketing makes companies consider consumers living in rural customers while planning, developing, pricing, distributing, and promoting products/services. Each company can implement rural marketing concepts by adopting various approaches – urban to rural, rural to urban, and rural to rural.
Rural marketing creates opportunities for enterprises in various sectors to expand their customer base, generate incremental revenue, and outperform competitors. We can discuss the scope of rural marketing based on significant changes and recent developments across regions.
Important Factors Influencing and Impacting the Scope of Rural Marketing
Size of Rural Consumer Base
Rural urbanization is an ongoing process. People living in rural areas move to cities regularly to find better commercial and employment opportunities. However, the annual rural population growth rate is still increasing in many countries. The substantial size of the rural population creates opportunities for companies in various sectors to expand their customer bases across regions.
Increase in Firm Income
Several studies suggest a consistent increase in farmers’ income across countries. Farmers these days increase agricultural income in several ways – growing cash crops, adopting modern farming practices, using modern equipment, and leveraging agricultural subsidies. Rural prosperity results in increasing farmers’ disposable income and purchasing power. Enterprises have been expanding the scope of rural marketing by leveraging rural prosperity.
New Job Opportunities
Governments have been creating new employment opportunities in rural areas. Various programs and schemes launched by governments enable educated and qualified people living in villages to earn money without engaging in agricultural activities. For instance, many educated youth in India these days earn recurring income by working as teachers, Anganwadi workers, craftspeople, and freelance professionals. The new-age rural employment opportunities increase the demand for various products and services in rural areas.
Consumption Growth
Often bloggers use consumption patterns as a key parameter while differentiating urban consumers from rural consumers. But several recent studies suggest that there are no differences in food consumption in urban and rural areas. Also, the demand for certain products is 10% higher in urban areas than in rural areas. Hence, companies can increase revenue by offering the same products to rural and urban consumers simultaneously.
Untapped Markets
Most urban markets are already too saturated. No company can acquire market share without spending money on demand generation and customer acquisition. But most rural markets still remain untapped. Hence, companies can enter rural markets and acquire market share without incurring huge advertisement costs. The competition in urban markets makes many companies focus on tapping rural markets.
Lifestyle Changes
As noted earlier, rural urbanization is an ongoing process. The people living in rural areas aspire to adopt and experience urban lifestyles. Consistent increases in income and purchasing power enable rural consumers to afford products and services developed and launched for urban consumers. The lifestyle changes create opportunities for companies to generate incremental revenue by making their offerings available in various rural markets.
Smartphone Penetration
A significant percentage of rural people these days use smartphones and tablets regularly. The data released by a leading research firm depict that 30% to 40% of smartphones sold in 2022 were purchased by customers living in rural India. Smartphone penetration alters the choices and lifestyle of consumers living in villages. They look for opportunities to buy the desired product without visiting the nearest town or city. Hence, companies can boost sales by making their products available in rural markets.
Rural Infrastructural Development
While implementing rural marketing strategies, companies often find it challenging to build distribution channels due to a lack of infrastructure. Governments have already made rural infrastructure development a top priority. They have been modernizing rural areas by building roads, tracks, bridges, schools, hospitals, and marketplaces regularly.
Rural infrastructural development helps companies make their products available in rural markets. Leading FMCG companies have already set up robust distribution systems in many developing countries. Likewise, many companies make consumer goods available in rural markets by partnering with local entrepreneurs, stores, and dealers.
Low-Cost Marketing Channels
In the age of e-commerce, companies can sell products to rural customers over the Internet. Also, they can create brand awareness, generate demand, and promote customer loyalty by running digital marketing campaigns. In addition to using search engines and social media, marketers can deliver tailored content to rural customers by sending emails.
At the same time, they can promote a product using conventional marketing strategies like mobile van marketing, retailer marketing, billboard advertising, and retail marketing. These conventional and digital marketing strategies help companies enter rural markets and acquire market share without incurring huge marketing and advertising costs.
Conclusion
In 2023, a large percentage of the global population lives in rural areas. Several studies suggest a steady increase in recurring income and purchasing power of consumers living in rural areas. The rural population size and growing rural prosperity expand the scope of rural marketing.
Rural marketing creates opportunities for domestic and multinational companies to increase revenue and profits by targeting rural consumers. However, an enterprise cannot enter into rural markets using urban marketing channels and strategies.
It has to implement custom rural marketing strategies that consider the consumer behavior that differentiates rural customers from urban customers. Also, the strategy must focus on driving sales by overcoming existing and emerging rural marketing challenges proactively.
