Hi friends, in my previous blog you read about how demography, psychography and socio-economic classification play a major role in planning your brand’s rural marketing.
Today I am going to discuss few more important things which is imperative for the marketers to understand before making rural marketing strategies. Going ahead, the rural socio-cultural behaviour plays an imperative role in consumption pattern. And thus, it assists in shaping-up the strategy. The challenge is in understanding the diversified characteristics, which are determined by various factors; primarily people, income, traditions and cultures, dialect, buying and selling periods, cropping pattern, regional flavours among many other local factors.
Hence, to make this big data look simpler, the country is classified into 58 socio-cultural regions (SCRs), for example Mithila in Bihar; Vidarbha in Maharashtra; Mewar in Rajasthan; Mewat in Haryana; Rayalseema in Andhra Pradesh and so on. As each SCR is socially, culturally and economically different from each other, thus, any product, service or marketing strategy designed for one SCR may not work for another. A marketer, hence, needs to customise the strategies according to a particular SCR. This will result in more success and revenue.
Another big factor is the rapid development of rural infrastructure and spread of services. Following are the basis that has made rural spread its roots and become a flourishing ground for the marketers such as literacy,: infrastructure, mobile usage and banking network.
The literacy rate in rural India has seen a sharp growth from 44.69% in 1991 to 74% in 2011, making it clear that rural today is just not a mass of illiterates. Communication becomes easy when the receiver can decode with ease and the increasing rate of literacy in the rural, to a large extent, has resolved the issue. The growing literacy rate is opening avenues for the marketers to explore the rural market swiftly and recognise more opportunities.
Rural infrastructure plays crucial role in reaching the rural consumers whether it’s roads, electricity or telecommunication. In last two decades, the rural infrastructure development has seen a major boost. According to the Census 2011, due to the Centre’s flagship rural roads programme,Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), 67 percent villages are now connected with all weather pucca roads, 75 percent households are connected with electricity and 63 percent are living in pucca houses. Seeing the ongoing development, it is expected that in next 10 years, 100 percent villages are estimated to be connected with pucca roads and similarly 100 percent households are expected to be electrified and are estimated have pucca houses.
Rural roads have not only increased the sales of automobiles in rural India but also eased the rural distribution network which has resulted into growing sales of FMCG and consumer durables in the villages. Rural electrification has boosted the sales of consumer electronics and perishable goods in the villages. This paradigm shift in rural infrastructure is going to drive the growth story for rural marketers by providing them access to this untapped rural consumer base.
Today, out of 84 crore rural population, 50 crore use mobile phones while 19 crore access internet connection on their mobile phones. Penetration of mobile phones in rural India has paved the way for mobile marketing, moreover it has given a boost to literacy. Children here can learn through e-books, online classes, smart classes etc. Thus, opportunities are at large for e-commerce, online educational institutes, call centres etc.
This rapid advancement has made rural India a giant market that has awakened a new opportunity for the marketers. Rural today is a market no brand can afford to miss.
Thank you for reading the blog. If you have any question, query, suggestion, or want me to cover any specific topic, do let me know with your comments. To get more instructive blogs for simplifying rural marketing, stay connected and take care. I’ll see you next week with the next video and blog in this series.
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I’ll see you next week with the next video and blog in this series.
If you want me to cover any topic, in particular, let me know in the comment section. I will try coming-up with the same in the video and blog.