Rural market is not exploited completely and is yet to be explored.

Ever wondered a day came where marketing in rural areas became the mantra for success? Well yes,
our generation and future would be totally dependent on marketing. "And why do we need to? Isnt it
against ethics??"Why should we market and how much should we market innovatively in rural areas?
Should marketing be confined to the procedures performed or should it include the qualifications and
skills? The answer is crisp with fact that how much the public in rural areas are aware of the role of
product and how we can improve their awareness. To end it any marketing which is realistic and
promotes our skills and interdisciplinary team effort with an added educational value to the public is an
effective one.
Pre 1960s rural marketing is a synonym of agriculture marketing. Later 1960s-1990s marketing of
agriculture input and nonfarm rural product was considered as rural marketing. Finally post 1990s with
raising income and mushrooming middle class various companies focused on tapping rural market
potential. Rural marketing now refer to FMCG and consumer durable goods in rural areas.

Yet today 60% of population lives in rural areas offers a plethora of opportunities in comparison to the
urban sector. The number of middle and high income households in rural areas will increase as per
statistics. Trends show that rural markets are coming up in big way and growing multiple fold times as
faster as urban markets. Improvement in infrastructure and reach promise a bright future for those
intending to go rural.
A market innovation is the implementation of a new marketing method involving significant changes in
product design or Packaging, product placement, product promotion or pricing. Innovative marketing
of products is about leveraging the marketing mix, namely, the four Ps: Product (Design and Packaging),
Price, Place and Promotion in ways that has not been before by the organization implementation.
The 4 As- Acceptability, Affordability, Availability, Awareness has to be effectively adopted in order to
capture the untapped potential of the rural consumers.
Instance, Coca-Cola Used its Ps and implemented 4As. It increased in number of outlets from 80,000 in
2001 to 190,000 in 2005 resulting in increased market penetration from 13 % to 28 %.It concentrated its
advertising towards rural marketing with Aamir khan a bollywood star .It also tapped the local form of
entertainment like annul hats ,fairs and made huge investment in infrastructure for distribution and
marketing. Coca-cola also provided low cost ice-boxes because of the lack of electricity and refrigerators
in the rural areas.






Rural markets are delicately powerful. Certain adaptations are required to cater to the rural masses;
they have unique expectation and warrant changes in all four parameters of product, price, promotion
and distribution.
Continuous customization seems a sure shot approach to provide both short and long-term returns in
the rural markets.