As we know promotion or the 4th comprises personal selling, Advertising, Sales Promotion, and Public Relations.
In the context of rural marketing, following observations are important.
Personal Selling:
To be a good rural sales personal one must possess many qualities – Knowledge of local language (to establish commonality with the buyer), Willingness to get located in villages (so that he is visible all the time), Cultural Congruence (Rural salesman must have proper acquaintance with the cultural pattern of rural life), Patience (have to spend lot of time with customer and make several visits to gain favourable response), Capacity to handle number of products line – (to handle much large number of products lines as compared to urban salesman), and Greater Creativity – Rural marketing involves greater creativity. If the product is very new in the rural context, He has to introduce it using consumption pioneers and opinion leaders.
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Advertising:
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Literacy growth rate in rural areas have increased almost double to urban area growth during 2001 Census to 2011 Census. Thus reading is not much of a problem. Newspapers in regional language and regional TV channels are quite important. Local language newspapers and magazines are popular among educated rural families, e.g., Dina Thanthi in Tamilnadu, Punjab Kesri in North and Loksatta in Maharashtra.
Radio:
Is almost available in most of the above BPL homes. It is a well-established medium in rural areas. Radio reaches large rural population at low cost. About 77% of villages receive TV transmission and 27% of rural people actually watch TV. Regional channel is very popular like SUN TV in Tamilnadu and Asianet in Kerala.
About 29% of rural people watch cinema as regular lifestyle. Short feature films with advertisement message, Ad-films and documentaries that combine knowledge and advertisement are useful for rural communication.
Point of Purchase or Point of Sale:
ADVERTISEMENTS:
It is a popular promotional tool used in rural market. POPs should be especially designed to suit rural requirements. POPs, Colors, symbols and pictures should be used more than the written words for better impact.
Outdoors:
Such as hoardings, wall paintings, illuminations and other displays are also now being used for rural communication.