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The best way for you to get known is to use a mixture of conventional advertising
and shoestring marketing techniques. Here are several ideas:

1. Order a listing in the Yellow Pages if you haven¶t done so already. You may
have to wait for several months before the next edition is published, but at
least call now to find out when the deadline for ads is.
2. Place small display ads in appropriate sections of weekly or daily
newspapers. Look for ads from business like yours and try to advertise in the
same places they regularly advertise.
3. Make arrangements to exchange coupons and do joint mailings with
noncompeting local businesses who serve the same clientele.
4. Write up a press release announcing your business and send it to local
newspapers.
5. If you have any writing ability (or the money to hire som eone who does) write
up some articles on the benefits of your business ²this would apply mostly to
service businesses, and see if you can get papers to run them. (Submit them
as columns or write them up as a fact sheet to go with the press release about
your grand opening.)
6. Consider some type of giveaway²refer a friend, get a free service, or
whatever might be appropriate for you business. (perhaps some kind of free
product with the first service call.)
7. Put up a website and get it listed in search engines. You¶d be surprised how
many people use the Internet for finding products and services.
8. Network, network, network! Get into whatever groups are appropriate so
people get to know you. Consider offering the groups coupons for a free or
discounted service that the groups can give away as raffles.

Read more: http://articles.mplans.com/marketing-locally/#ixzz1KK0CiE5i 



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The term "brand" which is defined as a name, term, sign, symbol or special design or some combination
of these elements that is instead to identify or differentiate the goods or services of one seller or a group
of sellers. But a brand, by definition, has a very small description of a package of value, on which our
consumers relies & do same consistently over a period of time. A brand makes a distinction for a product
or service from competitive offerings.
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Branding is a process, as well a strategy for an orientation/ creating awareness sometimes with
differentiations among products/service by which a marketer tries to build a long-term relationship with
the customers, a tool to position a product or service with a consistent image of quali ty and value for
money to ensure the development of a recurring preference by the consumer.

Branding provides differentiation strategy when product cannot be easily distinguished. The process of
creating a brand stems from research that starts with the concept of what the product is, and what its
functions and objectives are. From this evolves the idea of what is should look, feel and talked about like.
From these ideas generate the name and all its connation, after which packing, logo and communication
strategies are developed.

So Brand building is usually a long, tedious and methodical work involving segmentation, marketing mix,
and packaging, technical and financial inputs. A branding process, if executed well creates a brand ie
equipped to handle changes in demographics, thinking from and functional changes as well as competitor
actions.97% of new brands that are developed in the FMCG sector failed due to the reason of static
nature applicable to overall market as it requires a continuous change in prod uct appearance and
performance as well as the total value equation is must for survival of any brand.

† ˜  ˜  ˜ ˜

The concept of branding entered in Indian rural markets. Consumers have graduated & aware about to
branded products as they are also having better income opportunities with increased affordability since
last few years. A brand is recognized in the rural market with the help of colours, visual effect or any
other identification rather than name which facilitates easy brand recall li ke: WO KALA WALA MANJAN
DENA, WO NEELA WALA KAPDE DHONE KA SABUN DENA etc. But some brands are known by their
names, for example, Nirma and Pan parag also.

The challenges in creating a brand identity in rural involve the need to relate the brand with the rural
lifestyle & behaviour, with appropriate status symbols, or with the rural environment. As most brands are
introduced in urban markets and then move to rural, creating a brand identity in rural markets is really a
tough job. As non of the biscuits ind ustry can easily break the image of Parle-G specially in rural market
as even a child can easily identify that.

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The brand should have its own individuality. It should work like a celebrity & the advertis ement should be
based on empathy so that it could create a feeling of belongingness among the rural consumers.

As Mahindra & Mahindra have maintained their sterling image in rural. The Bhumiputra (son of soil) series
of tractors,/ Ram ka Mesey, Shyam ka Taffe etc. with its rugged features.

Studies also have evaluated that the brand loyalty in the rural areas is much higher as comparative to the
urban ones. But it is possible just Because of the brand could found an acceptance in the rural market as
the one offering good value proposition. But building brands in rural areas is a different. This requires a
specific committed focus and may not happen as spill over from urban market or by doing slight
modification in communication and brand building efforts th at were planned for urban markets for that
there are the following tools, approaches and strategies have been employed by different organizations,
to successfully build their brand in the rural markets:


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A deep study of rural markets has the requirement to find out the needs, wants and aspirations of rural
consumers by directly contacting them. This can be followed with creating or 're-modifying' a product or
service delivery process to make it relevant to the need of rural consumers. The entire brand building
efforts has to be built on the basis of their needs and aspirations from a specific product category and the
corresponding value provided by the brand.

  

It should starts with the brand name itself and it is important that the brand name or the punch line is in
lingo language and is in tune with the culture of the market and the social surroundings of the market in
which the product is going to be sold. The same logic applies to the colour, logo, slogan and every aspect
of communication so that it strikes a right chord with the rural consumer and they can relate to the
message. The successful advertisement campaign by NAMAK with the tagline 'Desh ka Namak', has a
celebrity endorser not as a hero but as one who is depicting an identity of population of different regions,
speaking in the regional idiom; it was a campaign to which audiences could relate to.

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The media selection for a brand is really a tough taske for the branding as well very important, as the
usual mass media may not prove to be very effective when used alone in the rural market. So, the
organisation should select other below the line media as well; which can arouse the interest of rural
consumers. The media selection should based on the purpose to build a wish for a particular brand i.e.
live demonstrations, or contests depicting the qualities and the strengths of a given product.
Demonstration vans with audiovisual equipments , which clearly demonstrate how a given product will
solve the existing problems of rural consumers, are likely to have much deep-rooted impact, than the
short commercial on TV. The brand building, can be done in the Mandis, Melas and other gatherings of
the rural areas & can be followed by the presence of the organisation in the regular Haats and Mandis for
live demonstration of the benefits and actual sales of a product. Because of high level of interaction,
haats can be an effective medium for rural advertising. Villagers are in buying mood at the haats and
mandis.



Message for the brand building should be in the local manner of speaking and such that the rural
audience can easily decode the intended meaning. Message should meet the rural sensibilities and should
be modified in accordance with the cultural variation from one region to another.

Message should be utilitarian and narrating the functional benefits of the product.

Rural consumers have strong visual sense. As they relate more with logos, colour and symbols, icons.
Therefore, these have to be built prominently in the overall communication. Otherwise the entire brand
building effort can go haywire.

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The vast massive amount of the rural population either does not understand Engl ish or even is illiterate.
So, it becomes extremely important that the illiterate rural consumers or those who can not understand
English can be certain that they are getting what they are thinking of or desiring to have and not the
cheap imitation or a fake product having a similar name.

  


Rural communications effort undertaken by an organization should be such that it can generate a lot of
publicity in the oral Leninist culture of rural India. Therefore, targeting the right set of opinion le aders
with the campaigns which lead to oral publicity in the region is more likely to develop the brand recall
than the five or ten seconds commercial on the TV, which the rural consumers are likely to forget at the
time of the purchase. The rural consumers want more believable information and in order to be twice as
sure they prefer to hear from other people whom they feel to be more dependable than the TV or print
media advertisement. The stories they hear from others are more believable in from of clues and tips.

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So at the ending stage it can be said that 'branding' as a trend is getting established in the rural market.
But the response of consumers towards brands varies region-wise i.e. from developed to the developing
or under-developing areas. Different age groups with different socio-economic profile approach the
branding trend in very different manner in the rural market across different product categories. So to
estabilish a brand image in rural areas should be conducted with the help of various tools like
customization, relevancy, word-of-mouth etc.