The media model

The media model

The ideal media model to reach rural audiences is to influence the opinion leaders first and win them over before targeting the rural masses, as the former guide the latter in their purchase decisions.

All efforts must generate sufficient word-of-mouth publicity for the product, so that when the rural customer is ready to buy, the brand has top-of –the-mind recall.

Reaching the Opinion Leader

Contrary to popular belief, the press, particularly the regional press, plays a very important role in reaching opinion leaders in villages, who are generally literate and exposed to rural masses and the mass media. Since such opinion leaders are few and can be identified easily by name, address, direct marketing efforts such as road shows, direct mailers and one-to-one contact programmes specifically aimed at them can help create a favourable image about a product. In addition, messages conveyed through the mass media like television and radio are understood by these opinion leaders in the same way as they are by urban audiences. Dealers too, play a major role in influencing the choice of a brand at the point of sale for both the target audiences.

Media Innovation

This section gives a brief account of emerging communication channels, whose primary aim is to address the immediate problems or issues of social importance at the local level, such as literacy, gender, sanitation, disaster relief, health and family welfare, etc. that effect the life of rural people and village communities.

Influence of consumer behavior on communication strategies

Consumer behavior exercises a major influence on communication strategies. The process of making a purchase passes through different states of readiness on the part of the buyer and this in turn dictates the communication objectives adopted by the marketer.

State of readiness of the consumer

Consumer behavior‘s state of readiness-making process

to purchase a new product, as compared to a new brand. The consumer first becomes

aware of the product. He may or may not be uses. Once he is convinced, he purchases the product. When harvester combine were

launched for expediting the process of harvesting and threshing of wheat and rice in Punjab and Haryana, the initial communication efforts aimed to create awareness, then interest, followed by knowledge among potential consumers. Agricultural officers who educated the farmers about the combine harvesters and their benefits carried out the process of education. The conviction among consumers was created and reinforced through field demonstration.

Involvement levels and communication strategies.

The involvement level of a rural buyer varies with the purchase of different items. Generally, daily-use FMCG items like salt and soap are low-involvement purchases for rural buyers and hence efforts to seek information are low. For an FMCG marketer, the need is to get the information to the consumer at a comparatively low cost.

In the case of a high-involvement durable product, the consumer seeks information to reduce the risk of purchase and is willing to invest time and effort in making a purchase decision. Buying a tractor tyre is considered a high-value, high- involvement purchase. Appollo tyre have branded their 100 star performing dealer shops as Appollo Pragathi Kendras to educate farmers on ways to select the right type of tyre, depending on the purpose for which the tractor is used.