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.
