TARGETING AND POSITIONING

IN RURAL MARKETS

Targeting involves evaluating

each market segment’s

attractiveness and selecting any

one or more segments to enter.

Evaluation of segments,

Selection of segments,

Coverage of segments.

Profitability of the segment,

Attractiveness of the segment,

Growth rate of the segment,

Company’s objective,

Limitations of the segment.

Selection of segment can be made by rating

the alternative segments on a predetermined

scale in respect of 5 aspects given above.

The segment may be ranked based on the

scores obtained and be considered for

selection.

Those with the high scores will be accepted

and the others will be kept aside for future

consideration.

Organization has 3 alternative

coverage strategies to suit their

segmentation approaches. They

are:

Undifferentiated marketing

strategy.

Differentiated marketing strategy.

Concentrated marketing strategy.

Positioning is the act of finding place in the

minds of the consumers and locating the

brand therein.

The companies have to plan the positions

that give their products the necessary

advantage in the target markets.

Identifying the differences of the offer with the

competitors offer,

Selecting the differences that have greater

competitive advantage,

Communicating such advantage effectively to the

target audience.

The marketing offer may be

differentiated along the following

lines:

Product differentiation

Service differentiation

People and image.

When the company identifies several

differences it can evaluate them

with the help of following criteria:

Attractiveness,

Distinctiveness,

Primitiveness,

Affordability,

Communicable.

Once the company has chosen the difference

it has to choose an appropriate marketing

strategy.

High – tech positions may be communicated

by futuristic products, classy ads in elite

journals and large showrooms with good

atmosphere.

Profitability of the segment

HUL’s Lifebuoy has targeted mainly the major

segment of rural area i.e. the working segment

from the age group of 20 – 50.

Thus this age group comprises majority of the

rural population.

Hence, this segment is 100% profit Promising.

Attractiveness of the segment:

In rural India, health is of paramount

importance, because indisposition is very directly

related to loss of income.

People in rural area are mostly into agricultural

activities or its allied activities.

Hence, they have to play with mud on daily basis.

If the farmer is well protected then the country is

well protected.

Hence, this segment is quite attractive.

Growth:

Since 70% of India’s population

lives in rural area, this sector is

definitely gong to grow.

Also the age group that Lifebuoy

had targeted is large enough to

capture the entire market.

Hence, the growth can be seen in

the area.

Company’s objectives:

Company’s objective is to make Lifebuoy

synonymous to soap in the entire country.

Its objective is to make Lifebuoy the most

trusted soap of India.

Unilever's mission is to add Vitality to life. We

meet everyday needs for

nutrition, hygiene, and personal care with

brands that help people feel good, look good

and get more out of life.

Limitations:

The major limitation of lifebuoy is that, it

has targeted only one segment of the rural

market.

The age group of 0-20 and 50-70 remains

untapped.

The opinion leader i.e. the doctor is also

not so appealing to the rural people.

Hence their opinion leader fails to promote

the product

HUL for Lifebuoy has targeted

only one major segment of the

rural market i.e. the working

class.

Concentrated marketing strategy is used by

Lifebuoy.

Lifebuoy is targeted only to 1 segment i.e. the

working class.

Their opinion leader targets to the working class

of the rural market.

Therefore this strategy has provided Lifebuoy a

kind of brand loyalty form the working class of

the rural market.

Profitability of the segment

BlueStar’s HealthPlus has targeted 2 segment

of rural area i.e. the working segment from

the age group of 20 – 50 and also the age

group from 2-12 i.e. the infant and children

segment.

Targeting both the segment will definitely

give higher profit to the company.

Hence, this segment is 100% profit promising.

Attractiveness of the segment:

In rural India, mostly people work in agricultural

or allied areas.

Hence, the work in mud through out the day.

Therefore, health becomes an important issue

for them.

Another major issue for them is monetary issue.

Being poor they can’t spend much money on

their health.

Hence offering them the health soap in a small

budget remains the attractiveness of this

segment.

Growth: Since 70% of India’s population lives in

rural area, this sector is definitely going

to grow.

Also healthplus has targeted 2 major

sector of the rural area.

Unintentionally it also targets the

teenager segment i.e. the age group

from 12-20.

Hence, the growth can be seen in the

area.

Company’s objectives:Company’s objective is to make

Healthplus synonymous to soap in the

entire country.

Its objective is to make Healthplus the

most trusted soap of India.

To enhance the wealth generating

capability of the enterprise in a rural

environment.

Limitations:The major limitation of is that the

working class will also use the same

soap as the infants do.

Hence due to their orthodox thinking

they might use a different soap for

kids or for adults.

Therefore this can break the market.

Results were as follows. ( out of 100)

20% said only for Kids

30% said only for working class

10% said only for teenagers

40% said only for both working class and kids.

Rank Segment

1st Both working & kids.

2nd Only Working class.

3rd Only Kids

4th Only teenagers

According to survey rural people want it for

both the class.

Hence undifferentiated marketing strategies

are used.

This soap is being targeted to both

segements i.e. the working class and the

infants together.

Hence only one marketing strategies will be

used for marketing of Healthplus.

HealthPlus Lifebuoy

Product

Differentiation

A research has been made about the

environment in the rural area so as to make this

soap more effective.

The soap has same

elements that are suitable

to the urban areas.

Therefore the

effectiveness is low.

Service

Differentiation

It has its own outlet in the rural areas.

It has made special tie ups with the seller too.

In the initial stage selling of product will be

commission based.

Hence the seller tries to sell more of healthplus

soaps.

It has come up with

various schemes such as

discount offers.

At the initial stage the

soaps were distributed

even through the doctors

who are their opinion

leaders.

People and

Image.

Healthplus has positioned the soap only into the

minds and hearts of 1 person i.e. the LADY OF

THE HOUSE.

Since mother takes care of the infant as well as

their husband, positioning this soap into her

mind and heart will automatically position the

soap into the minds and hearts of the entire

family.

Lifebuoy has positioned

mainly the working class.

That is the working

adults.

They have positioned the

soap into their minds and

hearts by cultivating

opinion leaders i.e. the

doctors.

HealthPlus Lifebuoy

Attractiveness Since the lady of the house

takes care of both the

infant and husband she will

prefer to have health Plus

soap.

The Opinion leaders

play an important

role to attract

people to the soap.

Communication With our previous survey,

we also made a survey on

their favorite film star and

the results are

Jaya Bacchan – 40%

Amitab Bacchan – 30%

Sharmila tagore – 20%

Jitendra – 10%

Hence, our brand ambassador will

be Jaya Bachaan, and our ads will

star the Bachaan Parivar.

Their soap is

communicated

through their opinion

leader i.e. the

doctor.

End Of Presentation, Thank-you.

Dharak Mehta : CEO : BlueStar

Mouli Mistry : Finance Manager : BlueStar

Pooja Mehta : P.R. Manager : BlueStar

Nishit Mehta : Logistic Manager : BlueStar

Hiren Mehta : Sales Manager : BlueStar

Nishit Mehta : Marketing Manager : BlueStar

Ankit Mistry : Marketing Manager : BlueStar