8/14/2019 ICT Marketing

1/3

2020 i4d | January 2006

ICT IN M ARKETING

Media for rural marketingIndian agricultural industry has beengrowing at a tremendous pace in the lastfew decades. The rural areas are consuminga large number of industrial and urbanmanufactured products. The ruralagricultural production and consumptionprocess plays a predominant role indeveloping the Indian economy. This hasdesigned a new way for understanding a

new process called Rural Marketing. Theconcept of rural marketing has to bedistinguished from Agricultural marketing.Marketing is the process of identifying andsatisfying customers needs and providingthem with adequate after sales service. Ruralmarketing is different from agriculturalmarketing, which signifies marketing of ruralproducts to the urban consumer orinstitutional markets. Rural marketingbasically deals with delivering manufacturedor processed inputs or services to ruralproducers, the demand for which is basically a derived outcome.

Rural marketing scientists also term it asdevelopmental marketing, as the process of rural marketing involves an urban to ruralactivity, which in turn is characterised by various peculiarities in terms of nature of market, products and processes. Ruralmarketing differs from agricultural orconsumer products marketing in terms of the nature of transactions, which includesparticipants, products, modalities, normsand outcomes. The participants in case of Rural Marketing would also be differentthey include input manufacturers, dealers,farmers, opinion makers, governmentagencies and traders. The existing approachto the rural markets has viewed the marketsas a homogeneous one, but in practice, thereare significant buyer and user differencesacross regions as well as within that requiresa differential treatment of the marketingproblems. These differences could be interms of the type of farmers, type of cropsand other agro-climatic conditions. One has

to understand the market norms inagricultural input so as to devise good

marketing strategies and to avoid unethicalpractices, which distort the marketingenvironment. Many of the inputs used forproduction process have implications forfood, health and environmental sectors.Rural marketing needs to combine concernsfor profit with a concern for the society,besides being titled towards profit. Ruralmarket for agricultural inputs is a case of

market pull and not market push. Most of the jobs of marketing and selling is left tothe local dealers and retailers. The marketfor input gets interlocked with other marketslike output, consumer goods, money andlabour. The importance of rural marketingcan be understood from the fact that today modern inputs i.e. diesel, electricity,fertilisers, pesticides, seeds account for asmuch as 70% of the total cash costs and23% of the total costs incurred by thefarmers in the Green Revolution areas.Further the percentages were higher at 81%and 38% for small; farmers owning 1.85hectares of land.

Strategic aspectsRural marketing in India is not muchdeveloped there are many hindrances in thearea of market, product design andpositioning, pricing, distribution andpromotion. Companies need to understandrural marketing in a broader manner not only to survive and grow in their business, butalso a means to the development of the ruraleconomy. One has to have a strategic view of the rural markets so as to know andunderstand the markets well. In the contextof rural marketing one has to understandthe manipulation of marketing mix hasto be properly understood in terms of product usage. Product usage is central toprice, distribution, promotion, branding,company image and more important farmereconomics, thus any strategy in ruralmarketing should be given due attentionand importance by understanding the

product usage, all elements of marketing mixcan be better organised and managed.

S.Gopalakrishnan Iyer India

gopal@ei-india.com

Media Ruralmarketing uses bothkinds of media i.e.the traditional

media as well as themodern media.Rural marketingrequires theunderstanding of the complexities andthis article reviewssome of the key issues.

8/14/2019 ICT Marketing

2/3

2121January 2006 | www.i4d.csdms.in

Client and location specific promotionIncreasing specialisation in the farming sector has marketers to thisstrategy. The marketer under this strategy has to design locationand carry out farmer specific promotional campaigns.Recommending the use of the products at micro level would resultin increasing productivity of the input and thereby increasing theimage and the sales of the product can raise the input demand forrural markets. Joint or co-operative promotion A personalisedapproach is required under this strategy of rural marketing. Underthis approach there is a greater scope for private sector and farmer

organisation to get into input supply and especially into retaildistribution, as it is a low risk activity.

Bundling of inputsIn order to reap the benefits of, the economies of the scale a ruralmarketer has to resort to bundling of inputs. Bundling of Inputsis the process by which the marketer would provide a bundle of products to the retailer so that he can meet the requirements of thefarmers in one place. The village level co-operatives and other agenciescan play an effective role in the distribution of inputs. Establishinglinkages with financial agencies and other input sellers can helpgreatly as the bank credit plays an important role by making thepurchase possible. Management of Demand A marketer apart frommaintaining good supplies in terms of quality and quantity also hasto focus on the demand side of the operations also. Continuous

market research should be undertaken to assess the buyers needsand problems so that continuous improvements and innovationscan be undertaken for a sustainable market performance.

Developmental marketingDevelopmental marketing refers to taking up marketing programmeskeeping the development objective in mind and using variousmanagerial and other inputs of marketing to achieve these objectives.

A prerequisite for developmental marketing is Development MarketResearch, which can be termed as the application of marketingresearch tools and techniques to the problems of development. Theresearch tools of marketing like product testing tests marketing,concept testing and media testing or message test and focus groupsare used in this work. Developmental marketing has started to findits roots in India where researchers are using focus groups andproducts tests to learn more about rural markets and products needsand USPs (Unique Selling Proposition) can be tried out. Mediarural marketing uses both kinds of media i.e. the traditional mediaas well as the modern media. The traditional media includes puppetry,drama, folk theatre e.g. tamsaha (role play of different characters by one or two persons), nautanki (short skits with songs and poetry),street plays, folk songs, wall paintings and proverbs. Marketer usestraditional media as it is more accessible, personalised, familiar and

carries a high potential for change. The modern media includes theprint media, the television and the radio USPs.

The NanaSala Dahasak (1000 NanaSalas) Project of ICT Agency which is being implemented under the patronage of H.E. thePresident, is well under way with 150 Centers already operational.The ICTA nevertheless understands that the subject of InformationCommunication Technology is new to most of Sri Lankaspopulation, especially in the rural areas, and that they may not befully aware of the benefits of ICTs. They may even be un-informedof the services offered at the NanaSala centres. Even for the segmentof population that understand these benefits, and also know wherethe closest NanaSala is, the affordability factor may dissuade themfrom using these services.

In order to address this affordability gap, the ICT Agency hasbegun an innovative voucher program, which is currently beingadministered by Pricewaterhouse Coopers Sri Lanka. Customers

can visit the NanaSala, ask for a Rs. 50 voucher and use a computeror the Internet for the exchange of this voucher. The owner is thenreimbursed by ICTA for the cost of the voucher, also providing asource of income for the owners. Currently, the awareness andvoucher programmes are in operation the NanaSala: RuralKnowledge Centres in 3 districts, Hambantota, Moneragala andBadulla, and will be extended to the rest in the near future. ICTA has also obtained the services of SEEDS - an institution withextensive experience in communicating complex concepts in ruralareas - to create awareness of this voucher programme. SEEDS arecurrently running outdoor advertising campaigns with villagemeetings in areas near the NanaSala centres.

Already in its short existence, the voucher programme has madepositive impacts on the people in the target areas. In Moneragala,the Nanasala owners speak of people from the community doingCAD drawings and chatting with relatives who are in foreigncountries. In Badulla, NanaSala owners help people find jobsthrough the governments JobsNet website and receive e-Learningin certain A and O level subjects. In Hambantota, people come tothe NanaSala to learn English through e-Learning software, accessgovernment services through the web, access market prices and dotypesetting and desktop publishing. NanaSala owners, whounderstand their communities better than any outsider, are comingup with creative and innovative ways to popularise the centres by mobilising segments of their communities through ICT-learninggroups called e-societies, visiting nearby schools and giving free/

low-cost computer classes at the centres.The digital divide between the rural areas and urban areas,the poor areas and affluent areas is striking in most countries, bothdeveloping and developed. This divide leads to an opportunity gap where rural populaces are denied some of the prospects thatare available to those in urban areas and many a concept has beenproposed and actioned to bridge these gaps. The ICT Agency isexecuting some of the more promising ideas - with the voucherprogramme being the front runner among them - to ensure thatthe digital divide, in Sri Lanka at least, becomes a thing of the past,and every student, entrepreneur or any citizen, regardless of location, gets an opportunity to reach their fullest potential.

Source: ICTA, Sri Lanka

NanaSala Vouchers

8/14/2019 ICT Marketing

3/3

2222 i4d | January 2006

Some of the USPs of the companies engaged in rural marketingare given below. Mahindra Tractors- Mera Desh Mera Gaon (My country my village) Tafe Tractors-Grameen Bharat ki DhadkanTafe ka Massey Ferguson(The heart beat of rural India its TafesMassey Ferguson) Swaraj Tractors- Pragati aur Khush-hali ke liye(For development and happiness) Escorts- Nayi technique ke sath,Bharosa Jeevan bhar Ka (A life long trust with new techniques)Eicher-Ghazab ki takat, ghazab ki shaan (Incredible strength,Incredible pride) Sun Seeds- Grow with Sun ICI Karate Insecticide-Keedon ka Maha-kaal, Phasal Ka Pehredaar (Insects enemy protectorof the crops). Pesticide India- Desh ke liye Phasal Anek, Keedon keNaash ke liye Foratox Sirf Ek (Numerous crops for the country butonly for destroying pests i.e. Foratox). Thus the companies usedifferent formats to influence the target audience in order to producethe desired results. Extension Services. There are several limitationsof rural marketing in the Indian context, this leads to the need forextension services to supplement the efforts of the firms engaged in

rural marketing. The various extension services could include creditfacilities, competitions among the farmers, educating the farmersregarding the appropriate agricultural practices, etc. Extensionservices would thus play a crucial role in the development of ruralmarketing in India.

Ethics in BusinessEthics occupies a special place in rural marketing, and has been atthe heart of all the transactions whether cash or kind. In order tomake a lasting impact on the rural clients, the firms need to built atrustful relationship and that is possible by no other means butonly by ethical conduct.

Partnership for sustainabilityThere is a need to build partnership with rural clients for a sustainablebusiness relationship and sustainable marketing relationship.There should be a long-term relationship between the firms andfarmers for agro business projects, which are risky, long drawn andtechnical in nature. Partnership is required in rural marketingbusiness so as to award distributorship to local groups and individualsemploying locals, staff secondment in local projects, preferentialpurchase of local product, training to locals and discount on productsupplies in some areas. Rural marketing firms can work with NGOsalso because NGOs have better linkages and understanding of thelocal communities and their problems. Nagarjuna fertilisers andChemicals Ltd has set up an agro output division which is knownas FMS (Farm Management Service) which provides packages tothe farmers right form soil testing to post harvest stage of the cropsystem. The FMS aims at enhancing farm productivity optimisingcost of production, improving economic returns to farmersand enhancing the cost of production and enhancing theproduce quality.

ConclusionRural marketing in India has still a long way to go, rural marketershave to understand the fact that rural marketing in India has atremendous potential in our country. Rural marketers should

understand this fact and try to tap the huge untapped potential inour country.

NepaLinuxNepaLinux is a Debian and Morphix based GNU/Linuxdistribution focused for Desktop usage in Nepali languagecomputing. It contains applications for Desktop users like:OpenOffice.org, Nepali Gnome Desktop, Nepali input systemsetc. Since January 2004, Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya, the principalarchive of books and periodicals in the Nepali language, undertook the Nepal component of the 30-month long PAN LocalisationProject (www.PANL10n.net ), a multi-nation localisation projectbeing conducted in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia,Laos, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, with the support of InternationalDevelopment and Research Centre (IDRC), Canada. This projectincludes a Nepali GNU/Linux distribution NepaLinuxcomprising of localised GNOME, OpenOffice.org, Mozilla suite,and other utilities that include Nepali Spellchecker, Thesaurus,Nepali Unicode support, etc. This distribution can be used in

Nepali as well in English environment.Though NepaLinux is basically a live CD it can also be installedin the computer. The work for the installation process has beenfacilitated through the European Commission supported BhashaSanchar Project (www.bhashasanchar.org ) which is led by the OpenUniversity (UK). NepaLinux is a Free/Open Source Software(FOSS), in which the source code is open and the users have thefreedom to use, study, modify according to ones needs andredistribute it. NepaLinux, being a Free/Open Source Software,does not charge for its software unlike proprietary software, whichcost a lot and also do not allow the users to study, modify, orredistribute. The official website for NepaLinux iswww.nepalinux.org . Other available places to look for assistanceare: Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya support forum (www.mpp.org.np/

forum), NepaLinux Mailing List (www.nepalinux.org/lists ),NepaLinux Wiki (www.nepalinux.org/wiki ), IRC for realtimequeries (#nepalinux on irc.freenode.net ). The web space for thehosting of NepaLinux for the users inside Nepal has been providedby Everest Net. Information regarding the download of NepaLinux for users outside Nepal is available on the website.

Digital cinema Virtual multiplexes When UFO (United Film Organizers) Digital Cinema Systems was launched, they had promised that their systems will providescheduling flexibility to their Exhibitors. The exact implication

of this statement is now been reflected in theatres. With zeroinvestment in print costs, distributors are using UFO DigitalCinema System to convert single screen cinemas into virtualmultiplexes. In a manner similar to multiplexes where multiplefilms are exhibited on a single screen. Single cinema screens likeCentral Plaza in Mumbai, Mahalaxmi in Surendranagar and Vinay in Adipur are getting released with simultaneous screening of Ek

Ajnabee and Kalyug. Similarly Kalyug and Apharan are beingreleased simultaneously in Bangbasi in Howrah, Central Plaza inMumbai, Durgapur in Durgapur, Manoj in Asansol, Paradise inPorbandar and Rakhi in Salkia. This is possible solely due to UFODigital Cinemas unique capability of hosting 8 to 10 films at a

time on their servers for exhibition in their theatres. More information can be found at www.ufomoviez.com