Did you know? In India, 70% of the total population lives in the rural sector.
Although it doesn’t matter where you come from or where you belong… until you are a marketer!
The moment you market a product or service, your perception changes. Taste, demand, and requirements vary by location. This gave birth to the concept of rural marketing.
What is Rural Marketing?
The concept of rural products and services includes analyzing rural consumer behaviour and developing marketing strategies that are rural focused. The objective of rural marketing is to sell both urban and rural products in rural areas.
The lifestyle and consumption patterns of the people living in the rural area are different as compared to the urban area. That said, people in rural areas are now trying to consume just the same things as urban consumers. They are attempting to equalize the lifestyle. This widens rural area business opportunities in India.
Consumer spending in rural India is expected to reach $100 billion by 2025, according to recent Nielsen estimates. The market is predicted to grow at a rate of 1.5 times the rate in urban areas today.
A widening gap between urban and rural communities has been bridged by education, awareness, and the internet. Another important factor influencing urban demand in the rural market is the availability of the internet in multilingual languages.
To understand wealth-generating rural marketing strategies in India or how to market in rural areas, you need to first study the opportunities and challenges of the rural market –
Opportunities of the Rural Marketing:
1. In India, 69% of the total population lives in the rural sector with approx population accounting to 895 million people spread over 664,000 villages.
2. Currently, around 299 million people in rural India use the internet. By 2023, 48% of India’s internet users will be from rural areas, according to recent studies. Rural markets are set to become a significant opportunity for players.
3. Due to government initiatives in the past years, in the form of rural development, has also led to employment opportunities. Thus reflecting rural income.
4. Rural India is better known as emerging India where education is becoming more and more important. As of 2015, the literacy rate of rural India is 71%.
5. Technology in rural areas is on the rise, and the tech-gap between both worlds is growing ever smaller. Three-fourths of rural citizens have a smartphone.
6. A whopping 66% of people living in rural areas claim to use the internet every day. According to CSC data, YouTube was consumed the most by rural India, followed by Facebook and Netflix in March. The growth numbers for YouTube and Facebook stood at 219% and 374%, respectively.
7. 45% of rural businesses have a website. Despite being a low number in comparison with registered businesses, the number is steadily increasing. Rural India offers an excellent opportunity for all companies to expand.
Challenges of Rural Marketing:
1. In rural areas, language can be a major challenge. English literacy is low in small towns and villages. A majority of rural residents speak a regional/local language or Hindi. As a result, rural areas need different forms of advertising and formats.
Internet availability in multiple languages, from Facebook to YouTube and Google, has made it easier to connect people.
2. A whopping 66% of people living in rural areas claim to use the internet every day. This still leaves with a crucial 44%. Like in urban areas, the marketing of the product or services cannot be completely digitized in rural areas. Considering the literacy rate, one needs to mix on-ground marketing, print media, verbal marketing and digital marketing.
3. Rural areas are rarely served by rail transport. During monsoons, many roads got severely damaged due to poor surface maintenance. Even today, bullock carts are an inevitable part of life. Throughout Rajasthan and Gujarat, camel carts are used both in the rural and urban sectors.
Taking account of the channel mix is necessary for rural marketing
Technology has changed dramatically over the last fifteen years. Nearly everyone has a smartphone in their pocket, which is ten times more powerful than early PCs and laptops.
A successful business should have a website, a social media presence, and a content marketing plan. To reach a wider audience, your product strategy in rural marketing or promotional strategies in rural marketing should also be mixed with on-ground or offline promotional methods.
As a result, door-to-door sales and radio advertising can be replaced with Google ads and social media marketing. Ads in newspapers, pamphlets and brochures can be replaced by Whatsapp broadcast images and SEO content optimization. YouTube videos and ads can replace television commercials. Moreover, websites can replace traditional stores, so they reach not only local people but also expand their reach and horizons.
Channels have largely remained the same, but the marketing game itself has changed. By doing so, you not only save a lot of money but also reach a large audience at once. Also, it saves you a lot of time while giving you the option to choose our demographic and geographic reach more closely. You can filter people more specifically on Facebook and Instagram. As a result, you reach your potential customer.
Additionally, hoardings, banners and on-ground campaigns can be mixed with a digital approach.
Why Choose Ascent Group?
Finding a company with expertise in both digital and offline marketing and good experience in rural marketing is really hard.
Ascent Group, however, with its experience of over 18 years and expertise in innovative rural marketing ideas, has also worked with big brands and startups alike. The expert team at Ascent digs into the details about all aspects of the brief, including influencers, targeted geographies, buying behaviour, studying market trends, competition, past performance, etc. After that, come up with a well-thought-out strategy that will deliver desired results within a given time frame.
Contact now and target 70% of India with Rural Market!
