EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Today we are bombarded on all sides by many types of advertising. No matter whether
we walk on the streets, drive an automobile on the highways, ride a bus, watch
television, read a newspaper or magazine or open our mail, we are brought face to face
with advertising. This creates a difficult situation for the manager, for he must
determine what advertising on his part would justify its cost amid the bewildering array
of advertisements by other companies.

The rural market has a huge buying potential due to increase in the income and higher
prices of agricultural products. Rural marketers should place greater emphasis on
developing sales forces to exploit the rural markets. The increase in the network of
roads, the literacy drive and many other things has brought about a change in economy
of the country. Rural India is now bound with opportunities waiting to be exploited by
potential marketers.

Marketing communication and promotion poses a lot of problems in rural India. There
are many constraints emanating from the profile of the audience and the availability of
media. Following are the problems:

• Seasonal Market

• Disposable Income

• Literacy level

• Marketing communication challenge.

There have been two schools of thought among Indian advertisers on rural advertising.
The first school believed that products and marketing techniques, which worked in
metro and urban areas, could be transplanted with little or no modifications to rural
India. But the more sophisticated Indian advertisers, quickly perceiving certain very
basic differences between town and country, inaugurated the second school: the belief
that rural marketing required radically different skills and techniques from its urban
counterpart.
For solving this problem the company must have a marketing management which has a
potential to promote its product in the rural area. After the company has decided on the
purposes of it’s advertising, the media must be determined.

The principle media include:

 Magazines
 Newspapers
 Trade papers
 Television and radios
 Billboards
 Direct mail.

This list is not intended to be complete. Other types of sales promotion may also be
included under the general heading of advertising are display, dealer’s help and
sampling.

Evidently, in the rural context the firm has to choose a combination of formal and non-
formal media. The possibilities are indicated below:

Conventional Media
• Traditional/Rural Specific Media

There are case studies which show how companies have tried to tap the Rural Market by
various types of Advertising. Following cases have been given:

• Coca-Cola
• Tata Salt
• Colgate
• HUL
• Casper