- Conventional media is ineffective as rural people value a product's functionality over frills.
- Marketers need to look at brands which will have traction in that terrain, and then craft a communication programme and gather insights. If the insight is not sharp enough then the communication developed from it is not likely to work.
- At the pilot level everything works, so marketers need to keep in mind that it has to be scaled. One must concentrate on certain geographies, go into those markets and observe what happens.
- Need to engage with people with a certain amount of frequency. Marketers must not expect them to buy the product on first exposure.
- The challenges for a company of size is to decide what to focus on. Marketers need to have very sharp focus in terms of initiatives.
- Definition of rural is different for everybody. Every organisation needs to have a specific definition of rural that applies to their initiatives.
- Marketers need to assess volatility of demand.
- Need to watch out for surrogate categories to gauge change in consumption patterns.
- Marketers need to be aware on the consumer engagement front.
- Marketers need to be clear about the category, and know which categories work in which markets. There may also be a case to create a category in those markets.
- One must not underestimate the role of influencers.
- Need to start looking at customising product or service for this segment; work carefully with scale limitations while customising.
- Need to customise communication.
- Decide on a real, sustainable pricing strategy.
'Awareness, affordability, availability': George Angelo, Dabur India
The ED, sales at the FMCG major on the environment within which rural marketing exists
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