Rural marketing

AN OVERVIEW
 The expansion of India's telecom industry has led to an "all-inclusive growth" of
the Indian economy in terms of GDP
 In the 2006/07 the country saw the growth rate hit 9.6 percent-Majorly due to
telecom sector.
 The demand for telecommunication services are surging across rural India, as
middle class and upper classes are growing in most villages

OPPORTUNITY IN RURAL INDIA
 A huge population – 720 million people in 630,000 villages across 3.2 million
square miles.
 A massive economy – over 50% of India’s total GDP. There are almost same
number of middle to high income households in rural areas (21.16 mn) as urban
India (23.22 mn).
 A booming economy – with the consumer durables market, for example, growing
at 25% per year (vs 10% nationally).
 A parallel economy – with the same needs as developed markets but a reduced
ability to pay.

GAP BETWEEN URBAN AND RURAL

 No celebrities will work
 No mass media coverage
-Due to lack of access to technology
Rural market lies in the bottom of the Pyramid. The 4 A’s work for them
 Availability
 Affordability
 Acceptability
 Awareness
COMMUNICATION HELPS
 Lack of transportation
-Coordinated rural transportation based on mobile information delivery, will increase
convenience and allow users to find reliable, regular and affordable transportation ‘on-
demand’.
 Difficulties in managing commercial transactions
-Micro-commerce ventures like mobile ordering, payments and delivery requests can all
help isolated small-scale entrepreneurs in remote locations.
 Lack of healthcare services
-Telecom and broadband intervention will allow doctors, nurses and midwives to stay in
closer contact with patients.
 Ignorance of governance policies
-Rural governance services giving access to citizen data will allow the rural population to
be more informed about national level developments and reduce the urban-rural divide.
IDEA
 The most favorable service provider in one of the 2 villages
 Has good network in the village
 Availability is high but the distribution is not well channelized
 Branding is seen in and around the village- not extensive
 The amount that people spend is Rs 10/- to Rs.150/-
AIRTEL
 Is favored in one village and not in the rest
 The network is good in Sonwadi because of the existence of a tower
 Availability is high, but distribution is poor
 Very poor branding around the villages
 The spending of the people remain the same irrespective of the network

VODAFONE
 Not favored by the villagers
 Usage rate of Vodafone is extremely low because of poor network
 Availability is not as high as that of Idea and Airtel. This is because of low
demand
 Huge amount of branding is done all around the villages and district
NEED GAP ANALYSIS
 No direct distribution of sim cards and recharges
 People hesitate to buy a cellphone because of discomfort with usage
 Network: Only Idea and Airtel have good network
 Nominal women users
 Few purchase location: only 2 outlets in one bazaar
 No initiative taken by the company
 Inadequate branding (except for Vodafone)
DISTRIBUTION
 Well channelized distribution
- Direct distribution to the rural market
 Trade discount and trade promotions
- Incentives to the shopkeepers for branding and meeting sales target
- prizes
 Tie-up with a mobile company for low cost phones to be distributed

PROMOTIONS
 Women’s initiative
- Educate them in the village to encourage sales
- Special schemes , e.g. speak to the ancestral home free of cost
- Interaction with women on Mondays
 Festival branding
- The service provider can brand the pandals
 - Built kiosks
 Cultural fairs, dramas and respected community elders
 Fairs and weddings

PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES
 Communicating and changing quality perception
- Value for money
 Communication in Indian language
 Exploit social and cultural values
- Sensitive people
 Talking about a normal Indian
- Base advertisements and interactions on normal Indian families
 Marathi names for the schemes
BRANDING
 Umbrellas
 Rooftops
 Run down buildings
 Interior branding
- Inside stores
 Initiatives in college and high schools
 Communication
- Focus on network
 Increase towers for better network
- e.g. Vodafone
- Create awareness about the tower
 More shops needs to have the products
- Only two shops in the entire bazaar had the products
 Companies need to come and show initiative in the villages

CSR ACTIVITIES
 Workshops to educate the children in the villages
- The best performer gets a mobile phone with sim card
 Sponsor cricket tournaments
- The target audience is the youth
 Medical check ups twice in a year
- This will help the villagers to connect with the brand