Colleges in Small Towns Are The Best Touch Point To Target Rural Youth For Rural Campaign

Around 70 % of Indian population resides in small towns and rural areas and about 49% of them belong to the youth group. This points towards the significance of keeping them in mind while devising a rural marketing campaign.

Rural youth is defined as people aged between 15 and 35 living in rural areas and small towns, they also coincide with the maximum of active working population of India. Hence, they can also be called the next generation of decision-makers, either they are in process of completing their education and obtaining a job or are already employed. They are also the risk takers and change makers of the country, this brings them in focus when long-term plans are made.
A study into the approach of rural customers prove that new products are best introduced to the younger members of the business fraternity as chances of them being educated and acceptance are positive.

How to reach the rural youth?

Now that we have established the importance of targeting the youth, let us talk about how they can be reached. The conventional methods have not proven to be very successful in attracting the youth and therefore innovation is required to command attention for the rural marketing campaign. While many marketers argue the viability of digital marketing at this point, some have found an offline manner of conducting these promotional activities. – College.

College as a touch point

The first place you can think of as a youth hangout is a college campus in small town and thus, its use can be productive for rural marketing. There are other added benefits to this approach, such as:-

• Attentive and participating audience
  One of the biggest challenges of implementing a rural marketing campaign is getting feedback and reactions from the audience but in a college, this challenge is reduced. Here, not only is the audience attentive, they also believe in satisfying their curiosity which helps in retaining their interest in the campaign.
• Volume of participants
  Otherwise than on a college campus, marketers have to ensure attendance of potential customers but here, it is not the case. Numbers can be ensured without much efforts which increases reach of the product.

• Brand awareness
  The fact that people in college are educated but also have a basic understanding of urban influence is an added bonus as they tend to recognize brand faster than their elder counterparts.
• Effective delivery of the message
  Finding a target audience that is literate, educated and aware is almost impossible in rural areas and small towns. However, the closest a rural marketing campaign gets to such an audience is through targeting college students. The objective of a rural marketing campaign is to provide information about a product or a service or a brand and colleges are the best way to achieve this when the target audience is youth.
• Easy availability of resources 
  As compared to other means, resources can be availed easily in colleges such as projectors, computers or even helpers.

Therefore, when the youth of rural areas and small towns are considered, college as a touch point is a smart and effective choice for rural marketing campaign.