Digital Marketing Strategies for Rural India

Abstract

Digital marketing is dominating the market now. Though traditional marketing has not yet turned obsolete, digital marketing is surpassing traditional marketing. Digital marketing refers to advertising through digital means such as websites, social media (such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube etc.) emails and so forth. This is digital era and no one can deny the fact that there are immense possibilities in digital marketing. Social media marketing, email marketing, affiliation marketing, on-demand video streaming, the website, SEO, SEM etc. are attributes of digital marketing.
 Currently, according to the report in rural India, 78 million users or around 48% use the internet daily, while 140 million, or around 83%use the internet at least once a month. Rural India contributes to over 60% of the country‘s GDP and with the staggering increase in internet usage, there is expected to be a significant uptick in digital commerce. Consumers are aware of the alternatives available to them, due to the internet. Digital marketing just aims at potential customers, making them aware of the products and services in the market thus consumers get familiar with the opportunities and choices handy and take sensible decisions. With digital marketing, consumers of the rural area have gained awareness about the brands.
 The paper aims at finding out what digital marketing is all about, and how companies are adopting digital marketing strategies in rural areas to promote their products and make consumers aware, and also to gain a competitive edge over others. The paper describes the current scenario of digital market in rural areas and explores the challenges and opportunities businesses have with the companies going rural with digital marketing. Why are companies adopting it? What is the future of digital marketing in rural India? It concludes that digital marketing is something that will continuously grow in both practice and demand in rural areas.