Building a brand in the rural service sector

Abstract

The rural service industry comprises of five distinct areas of service that are specifically focused on the primary sector. These areas include suppliers, professionals, brokers, contractors and some farm businesses. The level of competition ranges within and between these areas is generally determined by the demand for the service. As such, there tends to be more participants and competition in the areas of high demand. The rural community tends to be more insular than in the city. It is a relatively tight network and word gets round pretty fast, particularly if a service provider is doing a bad job. For this reason a rural service providers' performance can be under more scrutiny than in other more highly populated markets. Customer satisfaction is predominantly based on service quality, rather than the quality of the product being sold because product quality is fairly equal in a competitive service market. In general farmers tend to be more selective and careful in choosing who they do business with and are loyal and support companies and individuals that have served them well. Given the nature of the rural sector it is more important to develop a brand that focuses on service and building strong relationships than in a non rural business environment.