Does Your Organization Have a Working Rural Marketing Strategy?

I have been involved in Sales, Marketing, Brand Activation, Promotions and even Business development for over 11 years. Across these roles I juggled between B2B and B2C business relationships. I have seen most physical (Tangible) product based organizations especially the FMCGs having similar Route to Market strategy.

The most common ones are usually from the Manufacturer to the Distributors, then to the sup distributors (Sometimes), next to the whole sellers who in turn sell to the retail who breaks it to the final consumer. Though, some organizations have a strategy that cut off all these middle guys and ensure their products get to the retailer who makes it available to the consumers.

All these strategies works with the assumption that distributors/sub distributors / van reps would ensure their products are well distributed across all market channels. Off course, these channels are usually limited to the Open markets, Modern / Traditional retails and HORECA.

In the last 20 months and, I have visited different communities and villages via a Last Mile Distribution project I lead in Nigeria; Insights from these trade visit and engagement kept me wondering how many organizations (both MNC and LC) have a “working rural marketing strategy ?” And before you respond by “our products are everywhere”, I would like to ask you, how did these products get there, was it intentional or accidental? When it’s intentional it’s usually backed by strategy and when it’s accidental is backed by coincidence.

Only few organizations are well informed that rural markets have a high potential and can generate huge sales volume for companies which manufacture cost-efficient products and have active supply chain management.

What is Rural Marketing Strategy?

A rural marketing strategy simply refers to the planning of adequate and consistent supply of consumer goods and services to the villages and rural communities at an affordable price to meet the needs of the consumers residing in these rural or Bop areas.

It’s good to mention, that it’s not just a mere ‘’planning’’, lot of work is done from conceptualization, inclusive innovation and even sustainability framework with clear indicators to measure ROI/GPM. This is one area Bopinc has supported a lot of organizations to develop unique model that resonates with their general organizational strategies.

The 4 A’s of Rural Marketing Strategy

Using the market strategy you currently used for channels like open market or traditional retail store to penetrate rural or Bop Markets may not yield substantial ROI as expected. This is usually one mistake most organizations make, “thinking all styles fit all” thus they fail before they know it.

Whenever a company plans to enter the rural market, it has to restructure its marketing strategies to suit the needs and requirements of rural consumers. This is because; they are mostly illiterate and belong to a low-income group i.e. base of the pyramid. So in coming up with a rural marketing strategy ensure you consider these 4 A’s as components of your strategy.

1. Affordability: How affordable are the products you are planning to introduce to Rural/Bop customers? In rural areas, the income of the people is meager. This is why the consumers are unable to spend on luxury goods. Moreover, they are mostly concerned about buying the necessary products. Keeping in mind the low affordability of rural consumers, marketers must plan for small packaging of the products at an economical price to capture the attention of price-sensitive consumers. I will always suggest you first of all understand what affordable really means in terms of your product to the target Bop community. These may be similar in country but may differ regionally.

2. Availability: The regular supply of the products in the remote areas is another challenging task. Rural consumers are usually daily wage earners who spend on their necessities every day. But, many times, the product is not readily available in the rural markets, due to which such consumer may shift to another substitute product. Recently I did a research on the preference of diaper brands and one major reason parents gave for why they preferred a brand of diaper aside quality was availability. So in coming up with a workable marketing strategy for rural product distribution, how you will sustain consistent product availability is important. Implementing these strategies mustn’t be capital intensive like the traditional distributor/sub distributor model. Building an agent network has worked for many MNC/LC. Bopinc is also an expert in supporting organizations in innovating similar agent networks for rural distribution.

3. Acceptability: The product should be designed in a user-friendly manner such that it satisfies all the needs of a consumer by deriving them some value. If the rural consumers are willing to put in extra money for buying the product, it shows their acceptability towards the brand. I have always advocated that no product should be created for any target consumer group including rural consumers without involving them. Let them be actively involved from product conceptualization stage to its packaging and distribution stage. No one knows the need of a people better than the people with the need.

4. Awareness: A rural consumer has low accessibility to the media, such as television and smartphones. Moreover, they have a very different perspective from that of an urban consumer. Therefore, marketers need to focus on that medium of communication and entertainment which are commonly available in rural areas. This will help them to create brand awareness and grab the attention of these potential rural consumers towards their product. Neighborhood or open field product demos and competitions could still work in creating product awareness in rural communities. Strategically involving influential and respected individuals in these rural communities as brand ambassadors to use word of mouth has been validated as a viable strategy.

Conclusively, aside the 4As I just enumerated, there is a need to align with the 4Ps i.e Product price, promotion and place as well. Also, being updated with the traditions and values of the rural consumers and planning the marketing strategies accordingly, like a promotion campaign targeting a festival is another option to consider.

Rural marketing is not just for any manager regardless of their performance. Instead, an enthusiastic person belonging to the rural background having the willingness to work in villages should be best considered to lead the team. Organizations with CRS policies could seize this as an opportunity to introduce a new business models with focus on social impact like promoting education or empowering women/ men for overall growth.

In my opinion, I will suggest for organizations to understand the rural market in a better way, their company can hire a rural marketing specialist firm like Bopinc which has prior global knowledge and experience in these areas considering their global presence even in Nigeria and most west Africa countries.