Integrated Marketing Communication in Government Programmes: A Look at Rural Development Programmes in India

Governments of any country, province or state propagate information about their various development programmes and activities of the government through a variety of media. The effectiveness of communication is critical as it determines the success of such government programmes. This also plays a vital role in building a strong and lasting government-citizen relationship. Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) involves an optimum utilisation of activities such as advertising, public relations, sponsorship of events and exhibitions in a synergistic manner to build a durable customer relationship. In India, both central and state governments operate programmes for the development of urban and rural areas. This research aims at investigating the nature and extent to which IMC is utilised for (i) promoting rural development programmes in the northern state of UP; and (ii) fostering government-citizen relationship. The perception of customers (citizens) was captured through a survey and the government view was captured through interaction with officials. Research reveals that the gov-ernment employs multiple media for informing and communicating about the self-employment generation schemes to the rural population. There are complementarities in the messages that are propagated but they lack in consistency. Integration of customers in the communication process and strategies may remove such inconsistencies, which is the suggestion the research has come out with.