M.COM SEMESTER - III (CBCS)
RURAL MARKETING
Most Important Question Bank for Current Exam
Module - I
Q.3. Discuss
the 4P’s of Rural Marketing Strategies.
ANS:
Marketing
mix comprises of various controllable elements like product, price, promotion
and place. Success of any business enterprise depends on marketing mix and
these four elements are like powerful weapons in the hand marketers.
Since
behavioral factors of rural consumers are different and almost unpredictable in
nature, the marketers have a challenging task to design marketing mix
strategies for the rural sectors. Due to considerable level of heterogeneity,
marketers need to design specific programs to cater needs and wants of specific
groups.
A -
Product Mix:
Product is a
powerful tool of an organization’s success. The products must be acceptable to
rural consumers in all significant aspects. The firm must produce products
according to the needs and future demands of rural buyers. The product features
like size, shape, color, weight, qualities, brand name, packaging, labeling,
services, and other relevant aspect must be fit with needs, demands and
capacity of buyers. Product must undergo necessary changes and improvements to
sustain its suitability over time. The effectiveness of other decisions like
pricing, promotion and place also depends on the product.
B - Price
Mix:
Price is the
central element of marketing mix, particularly, for rural markets. Rural
consumers are most price sensitive and price plays more decisive role in buying
decisions.
Pricing
policies and its strategies must be formulated with care and Rural Marketing caution.
Price level, discounts and rebates, then credit and installment faculties are
important considerations while setting prices for rural specific products.
Normally,
the low-priced products always attract the rural buyers, but rarely some rural
customers are quality and status conscious.
C-
Promotion Mix:
Rural
markets are delicately powerful to cater to the rural masses. The promotion
strategies and distribution strategies and Ad makers have learned to leverage
the benefits of improved infrastructure and media reach.
Most of the
companies advertise their products and services on television and they are sure
it reaches the target audience, because a large section of the rural India is
now glued to TV sets. Marketers have to decide on promotional tools such as
advertisement, sales promotion, personal selling and publicity and public
relations.
The method
of promotion needs to meet the expectations of the market. Vehicle campaigns,
edutainment films, generating word of mouth publicity through opinion leaders,
colorful wall posters, etc. — all these techniques have proved effective in
reaching out to the rural masses. Village fairs and festivals are ideal venues
for projecting these programs. In certain cases, public meetings with Sarpanch
and Mukhiya too are used for rural promotion. Music cassettes are another
effective medium for rural communication and a comparatively less expensive
medium. Different language groups can be a low budget technique and they can be
played in cinema houses or in places where rural people assemble. It is also
important that in all type of rural communication, the rural peoples must also
be in the loop. The theme, the message, the copy, the language and the
communication delivery must match the rural context.
Eventually,
the rural communication needs creativity and innovation. In rural marketing, a
greater time lag is involved between the introduction of a product and its economic
size sale, because the rural buyer’s adoption process is more time consuming.
Nowadays,
educated youth of rural area can also influence decisionmaking of the rural
consumers. Rural consumers are also influenced by the western lifestyle they
watch on television. The less exposure to outside world makes them innocent and
the reach of mass media, especially, television has influenced the buying
behavior greatly.
D - Place
Mix:
Rural market
faces critical issues of distribution. A marketer has to strengthen the
distribution strategies. Distributing small and medium sized packets through poor roads, over long
distances, into the remote areas of rural market and getting the stockiest to
do it accordingly. Both physical distribution and distribution channel should
be decided carefully to ensure easy accessibility of products for rural
consumers. Choosing the right mode of transportation, locating warehouses at strategic
points, maintaining adequate inventory, sufficient number of retail outlets at
different regions, and deploying specially trained sales force are some of the
critical decisions in rural distribution. Normally, indirect channels are more
suitable to serve scattered rural customers. Usually, wholesalers are located
at urban and semi urban to serve rural retailers. Not only in backward states,
but also in progressive states, local rural producers distribute directly to
consumers. For service marketing, employees of rural branches can do better
jobs.
Various
sectors like banking, insurance, investment, satellite and cable connection,
cell phone, auto sales and services etc. — the market for these sectors is
booming in villages of some states in a rapid speed. Service industries are
trying to penetrate into rural areas by deploying specially trained employees
and local rural area agents.
Nowadays,
online marketing is also making its place gradually in rural areas of the
progressive states. Marketers must design and modify their distribution
strategies time to time taking into consideration the nature and characteristics
prevailing in rural areas, may be quite differently than that of urban markets.
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