My talk at CII: Growth Strategy for Rural Market using Moments of Truths

It was an honor for me to be invited as a Speaker at 4th edition of #CII Rural Panchayat. Program by the Confederation of Indian Industry got together some of the best thought leaders from the industry to share their insights on what has helped them unlock #Rural #Business opportunities in #India using different #marketing and #sales tactics.

Using the framework of Moments of Truth, I shared my views about developing businesses in Rural. Following is brief summary of thoughts shared at #CII forum.

While concepts of marketing/ business development/sales are applicable in every segment and category, we need to customize our offering considering the unique challenges of each segment. One of the challenges of designing a rural strategy is to avoid Urban bias (Lack of exposure to Rural since the strategy is mostly designed in an Urban setup).

I believe, irrespective of your offering (financial products, services or consumer goods), one should customize inputs depending on the Moment of Truths applicable in the Consumer Journey to get maximum impact. There are multiple Moments of Truth, however, for simplification, I have taken 3 key Moments of Truth for this note.

0th Moment of Truth - Awareness in Rural

2 unique challenges exist in Rural which makes awareness difficult - Rural consumers are different and a large part of Rural India is still Media dark

• Rural means a lower frequency of engagement. Does your mass communication make HIGH #impact and leave a residual message amongst consumers? The impact can be made if the mass media content is localized/entertaining/relevant/memorable and get a toehold. #Contentmarketing does not mean only Digital but it is King in rural as well.
• One can look at a few successful local brands to get inspiration on what matters on the ground. Indeed “think global but act local” is the right trick in Rural.
• Check a market that is media dark and you would see companies rushing to maximize reach on the ground. But more than efficient reach, it is quality of engagement that matters most in Rural. Should we measure the number of contacts made per day or the quality of time spent per contact?
• A number of companies work on creating a BTL program that makes a casual connect with the consumer and at best leaves few leaflets or samples. Does it really work? While in mass media we have common communication for all, try customized communication on the ground, it may swing the needle.
• Casual consumer activities are no longer effective because in today’s overwhelmingly advertised/connected world capturing the consumer’s attention is almost impossible. Check if your activity is compelling consumers to sit up, notice you and register your brand/ proposition.

1st Moment of Truth - Trial in Rural

4 challenges in Rural act as barrier to trying- Low literacy, regional language, cyclical disposable income and high cost of reach

• Low literacy means brand proposition has to be conveyed VISUALLY, a tough task considering urban comfort with text. Try hiding all text to see if your proposition comes alive to pass this litmus test.
• Isn't it amazing that most of the brands that want to reach rural still have ENGLISH packs? Are you one of them?
• LUPs are a good way to ensure that consumers with cyclical income cycles are not lost. Look at #data to understand what would work best for your category.?
• By incurring one time cost, a product can be placed at the last mile. But does it guarantee a sale? Instead of just distribution, focus also on category creation.
• How can we tap into local knowledge to get into a social circle or their #socialmedia ? There are early adapters in every segment, waiting to show off the latest trends.
• Can we encourage a consumer to be your local brand ambassador? One local ambassador can activate several others by arranging touch/ feel/ experience/ #education .?

2nd Moment of Truth - Retention

2 unique challenges exist for driving retention in Rural - the connotation of 'Value for Money' is different and so is driving advocacy

• Of course, the product is key to driving retention. But in Rural consumers do expect 'aur bhi jyada'
• Perception of Value for money is different in Rural. It is not just about Value for money for me, but for ‘pura pariwar’ (entire family) and ‘saal-dar-saal’ (for a longer period). Do we have such an offering?
• Influencers do not exist only in #digitalmarketing . Can one identify rural influencers - Sarpanch (Head of Village)/ Vaidh (Doctor)/ Teacher in the village and collaborate with them to promote your offering??

Thank You #CII for the opportunity which forced me to take out time and get my thoughts together. Thank You also for the lovely memento which I could put as a header image for this article :-)

So do you have a different #success mantra/learning's / difference of opinion on this topic? I would love to read your comments and questions.