rural marketing

As we all know that rural marketing has proven to be an essential part of the marketing mix. The spending capacity and habits of the rural people has increased tremendously in the past few years. Vritti-i-Media has taken an initiative to enter into rural markets and market brands in the places best suitable to reach maximum people, not to forget about the Pandharpur Yatra and Kumbh Mela in Maharashtra as well. Best Media Info had interviewed the Director of Vritti-i-Media Mr. Rajesh Radhakrishna about the strategies involved in rural advertising in India, how has rural marketing evolved in the past years in India, about the particular target audience and so on. Let’s have a look at it below. Question No. 1- When it comes to rural marketing, is there any particular strategy that works out very well in India? Mr. Rajesh answers this by sharing his views about building local relations. Localisation is basically taking into consideration the people living in a particular region, the psychological and basic behaviour patterns. Identifying the pockets with similar patterns as well as the common thread in the psychological behaviour makes it much easier to target the right people at the right time. Question No. 2 – How has rural marketing in India evolved over the years? Mr. Rajesh has wisely said about the increasing way of connecting between the rural areas and urban areas. It is now possible to reach out to people and engage with them in a more effective manner with a localised model using digital platforms. Moreover, many products and services are available in most of the parts of the rural areas including remote localities. Marketing strategies have led to more awareness and exposure to products earlier found just in urban areas. Question No. 3 – How has the attitude of brands and advertisers evolved as far as incorporating rural marketing into their business strategy plans is concerned? Mr. Rajesh portrays facts of how the attitude of marketers has changed from ‘what rural?’ to ‘why rural?’ and now ‘how rural?’ for marketing and advertising in rural India. There are certain companies that have devised well-focussed marketing plans for the rural area. Communication wise, there is surely a need for more development. People have to think in a local way rather than having a global approach. Pocket wise development of market is also a vital factor to be considered. Question No. 4 – As far as the urban markets are concerned, the target audience is quite well-defined and marketers know whom they are addressing, but when it comes to rural markets, the TG is very layered and is vastly different even if they fall within the same economic strata. What challenges does this pose while devising communication strategies? Mr. Rajesh tells about the challenges that he faced and his success over those challenges. The ‘Audio wala bus station’ by Vritti-i-Media is a direction plus localisation. Large companies such as Hindustan Unilever with an established network can explore a rural market indepth for various activation initiatives. Other brands have to think several times before undertaking any activation in rural markets. Vritti i-Media have made use of bus stands at the taluka and district levels to reach out to the masses through our bus stand announcement advertising initiative that reaches many local people in their local language helping in more awareness. If you are able to deliver your messages in the local language for a certain product made for the local market, you hit a big number. There are other congregation hubs as well, such as the Pandharpur Yatra, where you can definitely carry out activation drives. All these approaches are good, but cost is an issue, frequency is an issue. Building a consistent model for communication is still a challenge. In this Interview we get to highlight ourselves with the knowledge and need to rural marketing and its benefits in the near future.

This day, a huge Yatra or religious procession of pilgrims known as Pandharpur Ashadi Ekadasi Waari Yatra culminates at Pandharpur in Solapur district in south Maharashtra situated on the banks of the Chandrbhaga River Pandharpur is main center of worship of the deity Vithoba a local form of Vishnu. This year it falls on 27th July 2015. The city gets crowded with 15-20 lacs of pilgrims from different parts of Maharashtra. Some of them carry Palkhis (palanquins) with the images of the saints of Maharashtra. Dnyaneshwar’s image is carried from Alandi Namdev’s image from Narsi Namdev, Tukaram’s from Dehu, Eknath’s from Paithan, Nivruttinath’s from Trimbakeshwar, Muktabai’s from Muktainagar, Sopan’s from Sasvad and Saint Gajanan Maharaj from Shegaon. These pilgrims are referred to as Warkaris.The duration of the Yatra is 7 days. They sing Abhangas (chanting hymns) of Saint Tukaram and Saint Dnyaneshwar, dedicated to Vithoba.The Pilgrims REACH to Pandharpur after 15 days of walking bare foot. The Pilgrims call as ss“ Warkari” and the Group of pilgrims call as Dindi . Every Dindi consist of minimum 300 to maximum 1000 warkaris and there are more then 500 such dindi’s who walk to Pandharpur from two different place and directions and they are Alandi and Dehu of Maharashtra.Every Dindi carries a palki of The great Saint Tukaram Maharaj and Dyaneswar Maharaj . There are more then 10,000 Palki and 5 to 6 lakhs of Warkaris reach to Pandharpur on the 7th Day of the Yatra and they spent 3 days in the city. More then 10 lakhs of devotees who reach from the day 1 of the Yatra welcome the Warkaris to the city with a mega event called as “ Ringan”. Warkaris stay at the local accommodation centers / lodges call as Mutt’s .Mutts has Big size rooms for male and female warkaris. In Pandharpur, Vritti along with the association and support of local authorities like Corporation, Temple Authority, Police Dept. And MSRTC undertakes various marketing activities. Vritti Media has 7 years of expertise to organize many marketing campaigns, brand activations, on ground activities, product launching, planning and executing client specific engagement activity’s in Pandharpur Yatra. Past 7 years we have worked for the following client for the Marketing campaigns. 1. Launching of Good Knight’s innovative cost-effective mosquito repellant – Fast Card. 2. Sales stall for “Colgate max fresh toothpaste” 3. Branding and marketing for “ Wagh bakri tea” 4. Product Branding for JK cement , Nokia , HUL , Pidilite , ITC, P&G , Idea Cellular , Vodafone , Videocon , Samsung , State bank of India , central bank of India and many more. -To get associated with Vritti at the Pandharpur Waari or for any business enquiries; -Contact: 9561068555 OR email :rajesh.radhakrishnan@vritti.co.in