Page 224 - DMGT509_RURAL MARKETING

Unit 11: Promotion Strategies for Rural Market

4. Increased competition and plethora of products make you vie for customer’s money. Notes
Advertising may not provide the motivation needed for making customers buy your
products.
5. Buyer’s loyalty is limited and can be enhanced with active participation of retailers. Since
your competitors are doing exactly the same, you have to be on the constant look out for
better and more rewarding promotional plans both your customers and retailers.
There are various ways of product promotion:
 Buy one get one free,

 Buy now pay later,
 Take a free sample with each purchase of our other product you just purchased.
 Many firms offer discount coupons as incentive to buy at a lower price. When the customer
goes to redeem the coupon a good salesman can sell a lot of the company products. At least
the customer would have tried your product and may be, he will like it so much that he
buys again.
 Special low cost packs are offered as promotion to encourage trial. Similarly, some firms
give money-back offers where in the unlikely event of the customer not liking the product
he can get the money back. Experience shows that hardly anyone ever comes to return the
product for cash, unless the product is defective.

 Contests are also used as sales promotions. If your product package has a gift written on
it you get it, Colgate offers, millions of rupees, besides other goodies like computers.
 Hotels and airlines offer high usage, discounts, and frequent flyers free tickets as promotion
plans.
Trade promotion plans offer the following to retailers:
1. Display incentives for better merchandizing and shelf use

2. Short-term discounts for inventory control and sales push
3. Turn over discounts are given for achieving sales targets
4. Assistance in running sales contests among retailers sales persons
5. Cooperative advertising with the retailers where Advertising expense is shared on
mutually agreed basis.
Several promotion plans do not give the desired results, because the middlemen, the channel
members do not stick to the spirit of the promotion. If the free pencil is not given with the pencil
box it would not mean much monetarily for the buyer. However, it would downsize the
credibility of the entire organisation. Imagine, a war that can be lost for small reasons like
inaccurate supply of a minor equipment.
Promotions in rural markets assume a much larger proportion as the, usually gullible village
folks go entirely berserk when cheated even for a pittance. Monitoring of proper execution of
any promotional plan is of vital importance because, a lot of money and time is spent on
conceiving and then executing the promotional plans. Perhaps a random audit of the promotion
with the distribution channel members is essential for, not only the success of the campaign but
also for the well-being of the company. Even small items like sweets and toffees for the village
children may suffice to sell other products including FMCG and yet their mismanagement can
derail the programme in its entirety.

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