Using Mass Media to reach Rural Markets is Easy - Shubham Chandra

Use of conventional mass media techniques might be successful in urban areas but often fail to strike the right chord in the rural communities for several reasons. Low literacy rates, remoteness and sparsely populated areas characterize rural markets. Apart from that, penetration of access media like TV, print and radio along with different cultures and dialects pose severe challenges for the campaigners. Even celebrity endorsements and portraying a popular icon to create a natural pull for the brand fail to impress the rural dwellers.

Mass media is able to reach only 57% of the rural population. Large parts of rural India are inaccessible by TV. Only 41% people today can be reached through TVC.  There is a need of a paradigm shift in the focus of mass media from conventional means to disruptive innovation techniques. For example, HUL relies on its own company organized media. Stickiest organize promotional events. Godrej uses radio in the local language to reach the rural population. LG uses vans and road shows to reach rural customers.

Clearly there is an urgent need to educate rural customers on the tenets of adopting mass media, the benefits it can fetch and change the basic thought process mass media uses to target rural customers.

Bottom Line

IT is not easy for Mass media to reach rural markets, they need to come out of conventional techniques and target rural markets with means they understand.