NORTH EAST DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY (NEDS)

OUR PROGRAMS :

MARKETING INITIATIVE FOR HANDMADE PRODUCTS:Our flagship program revolves around the multifarious initiatives which are articulately designed and meticulously implemented to foster the livelihood of the artisans and craftsmen in the remote rural areas. Apart from making the rural artisans equipped with cutting–edge skill through workshops and orientation programs we have developed multifarious marketing strategies with the following intent;-

Detecting the segment of potential buyers.
Developing the positioning strategies of each of the products that are to be promoted.
Developing various platforms of marketing communication for making the members of the target segment sensitized regarding exclusivity of the products generated by the folk artisans and craftsmen.

Now let us specify the different marketing initiatives that were executed by us :

DEVELOPMENT OF MARKETING COOPERATIVE: We have facilitated the development of Marketing Cooperative with the unemployed youth of the rural areas which fall under our area of operation. The basic purpose of this marketing-cooperative is to procure the hand-made products directly from the artisans at justified price and to sell them to the buyers at judicious price.
LINKAGE WITH EXPORTER: The handmade products designed and developed by our artisans have potential market in the foreign countries. But neither the artisans nor the Marketing Cooperative is endowed with the license for export marketing. Hence we traced out an export company and got it linked with the artisans and craftsmen in our area of operation.
PRODUCT LITERATURE: Our content development team has executed research on each and every product developed by the artisans. Accordingly we have generated product literature for each one of these products. The comprehensive product literature portrays the ingenious features of each product , its utilities , its tradition , its production process etc. We hope that the product-literatures will definitely play an instrumental role in establishing the brand-identity of the indigenous handmade products produced by artisans.
CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAM ON PRODUCT MARKETING: We want to involve all the machineries of development in our mission of fostering the livelihood of the rural artisans and craftsmen.

Hence we have organized a comprehensive capacity building program for the youth clubs , community-based organizations and likeminded NGOs on the quintessential aspects of Product marketing. The different topics that were covered in the training program are as follows ;-

Tradition of rural art & craft in north-eastern states of India.
Production Process.
Brand Positioning Strategy.
Segmentation strategy.
Media Planning.
Management of promotional events.

EXHIBITION:We have organized an exhibition of seven days duration , where the folk artisans were granted the opportunity of participating without any entry fee. The exemplary handmade products produced by them were displayed to the visitors from various places of north-east as well the other states of India. The exhibition served as a platform for establishing direct linkage between the artisans and the potential buyers.
DIRECT MARKETING:We have trained and subsequently deployed a marketing machinery which constitutes a group of social –marketing entrepreneurs . They are being driven by the ideology of executing marketing program for issues which have profound social relevance. We are guiding these social entrepreneurs to carry out direct marketing of the handmade products in the emporiums , showroom etc.
COLLATERAL DEVELOPMENT:Many business organizations are developing marketing-collaterals for strengthening their brand value. These collaterals include designed t-shirts for employees , key-chains , paper-weights , page-marks , calendars , pen-stands etc. We are trying to procure the orders for generating these collaterals and getting it developed by the rural artisans.
PRESS COVERAGGE:We are facilitating the rural artisans to get a press coverage of their tireless initiative. We are orchestrating press-tour and taking the press professionals to the site where the rural artisans are engaged in the process of executing their creative endeavor.