Rural Communication
Module 9
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Effective messaging
A major challenge for rural communicator is how to make the communicated messages
effective
Experts have identified a number of factors affecting of effectiveness of messages
1. Languages:
▪ The message has to be understood
▪ This requires communicating in a language that is meaningful to the consumer
▪ This suggests:
– a message that is simple
– the use of appropriate words
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Effective messaging
1. Languages:
▪ Message should reflect culture and religion of audience, taking into account religion,
festivals and local sentiments
▪ Dabur distributed religious texts or calendars with religious themes with their products
▪ It is also important to note that rural audience appreciates messages that are simple,
comprehensible and in a language understood by them
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Effective messaging
2. Pictorial Presentation
▪ The use of visuals as part of the message is important in rural markets as literacy levels are
low
▪ This includes:
– use of pictures and colours
– use of symbols, including logos
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Effective messaging
2. Pictorial Presentation
▪ Visual messages have enormous appeal on rural audience and an excellent recall
▪ Use of signs, symbols and pictorial presentations - design of product, packaging, including
shape, size and colour, all help create a strong image in the mind of rural consumer
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Effective messaging
3. Message form
▪ The effective communication to rural consumer should be:
– utilitarian
– narrative
▪ Rural consumers prefer utilitarian message that link benefits that they can derive out of
products
▪ Messages can also be narrative in form
▪ Use of story-based commercials is an example of narrative messages
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Effective messaging
▪ 4. Source of the Message
▪ Credibility of the source is critical for rural markets.
▪ Message source can be a person communicating to rural consumers
▪ Persons can be (a) a likeable source: (b) a trustworthy source; (c) an expert source
▪ Likeable source: Can be film-star
▪ Trustworthy source: Can be friends, relatives or neighbours having used/possessed the
product
▪ Expert source: Are opinion leaders consulted by rural buyers
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Effective messaging
5. Context Association
▪ Associations create interest, hold attention and provide meaning
▪ Recall of advertisements on products of relevance to rural audience was higher than that
to urban audience
▪ The rural audience is influenced by the rural context of the advertisement
▪ Advertisements showing urban settings might not find favour amongst rural consumers
▪ Hence, besides trying to create an interest in consumers, advertisement must show
relevant environment or situations
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Media
▪ It is important to understand the media that is being adopted by rural marketers
▪ The forms of media used are of two types:
(i) Mass Media (or Conventional Media)
▪ Including Television (Satellite channels/local cable networks), Radio, print,
cinema/theatres, word of mouth, video on wheels
▪ These are also termed as modern media
(ii) Traditional Media (Non-Conventional Media)
▪ Including Puppetry, Folk theatres, demonstrations, Haats and Melas, wall paintings, post
cards and posters
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Rural communication: challenges
▪ Low Literacy Levels: Indicate that it would be unrealistic to use print media
▪ Poor Infrastructure Facilities: Such as lack of roads, telecom facilities, postal services, etc.
This undermines the utility of press, and even TV viewership is affected by low voltage and
uncertain supplies
▪ Unique Media Habits: Almost all the readership is secondary, household press subscription
is almost non-existent; magazines are largely not read
▪ Low-Spending Capacity: Rural consumers have less disposable incomes so as to buy
products
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Rural communication: challenges
▪ Lack of Research Data: There is a complete lack of syndicated research services on media
access, reach and media habits, in rural India. Although efforts of NCAER (conducting
regular studies and publishing the findings) are few and far between. Hence decisions on
message and media-mix are largely dependant on feedback from sales networks.
▪ Selective Attention to/Retention: Of messages by rural target population adding to noise
levels in communication. This problem is further compounded by low product-availability
▪ Linguistic and Socio-cultural differences: Languages, cultural and social norms differ from
place-to-place creating problems for marketer in designing the message.
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Rural communication: challenges
▪ Strong Kinship Ties: In rural areas, Male members of families act as information drivers,
influencer and buyers of products, and the women have to depend upon them. Hence, it
becomes difficult for communicators to reach the females directly
▪ Different Leisure Time Activities: For people in rural areas, as agricultural activities have no
fixed timings, and often requiring work during nights and in odd hours. The difficulty,
therefore, is to find the time slot for the ads, as the leisure times are situation-based.
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Rural communication: strategies
Managing spread and diversity
Managing the challenge of spread and diversity requires:
▪ Languages: The message has to be understood.
▪ Identifying geographical locations with a larger concentration of rural consumers
▪ Locating potential consumers with a higher propensity to spend
▪ Localizing decisions on media and message using region-specific budgets
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Rural communication: strategies
Managing spread and diversity
▪ It would not be possible for a communicator to reach every village
▪ But, if a quarter or one third of the villages have been reached, about 65 percentage of
rural population of a state would have been covered
▪ However, it would be much more realistic to target much less population, with a
propensity, to spend
▪ Sales promotion in ‘Haats’ and ‘Melas’ present excellent opportunities for much less
promotion budgets
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Rural communication: strategies
Use of audio-video medium
▪ Literacy rates being less in rural areas, and TV and Radio having much more reach in rural
masses compared to print media, communication through electronic media (mainly TV &
Radio) must be given priority over press
▪ These channels have greater growth rates.
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Rural communication: strategies
Appropriate communication mix
▪ Needs to be used giving priority to local promotional tools over advertising, as advertising
in rural areas is marked by selective attention and retention
▪ Usually a 70: 30 plan is recommended
▪ 70 per cent budget should go on promotion (effective utilizing local promotion activities
like wall paintings, stalls, hoardings, etc.) and 30 per cent on advertising
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Rural communication: strategies
Tailor-made communication
▪ Ad messages should be modified to suit to regional requirements, in order to counter
linguistic, social and cultural differences
Use of publicity vans/animals
▪ Especially in remote/tribal and hilly areas
▪ These help spreading advertising messages
▪ Vans can also carry the products to induce brand trial
▪ Animals like elephants can carry banners on them and be paraded in villages
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Rural communication: strategies
Use of stalls and Haats
▪ Especially in village festivals to spread messages and can also include brand trials
Appropriate scheduling
▪ Of ads, Generally, during the post-harvest periods, farmers and cash-rich and in the right
frame of mind to consider buying new products
▪ Ads can be slotted around this time
Use of cinemas
▪ Especially in those states/regions having maximum exposure to cinema
▪ Cinema halls and video parlours present an exciting audio-visual media option for the rural
market
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Rural communication: strategies
Selective communication strategy
▪ Is needed, as only a few villages with greater sales potential concern the marketing man
▪ Most of the advertising and promotional tools should be used only in the villages having
larger market size and potential
Use of logos and symbols
▪ To enable illiterate persons remember brands only by picture symbols, as opposed to brand
names
Opinion leaders
▪ While chalking out, communication strategy
▪ These can be village ‘Sarpanch’, ‘Gram Sevak’, Village School Master, etc. They influence the
buying decisions of rural consumer
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