essay about promotion process in service marketing

Promotion Essay

Businesses employ a variety of marketing strategies, all of which aim at improving the volume of sales. Among them is advertising, which comes in as the most commonly used form of marketing criteria. The mode of marketing may appear in form of writings in papers, magazines, and articles amongst others.

It can as well be aired through televisions or radios. Whichever means preferred to present the advertisement, the sellers or rather the producers of the advertised product must have the target audience in mind. They should further consider the market segment that the ad will suit.

The message included in any ad should address fully the needs of the customer. Otherwise, the ad is useless. The sellers must take time to design the details as well the factors in place that are worthy including in the ad primarily to make sure that the target audience sees, likes and goes for the advertised good or service.

Advertisement, or simply ad, forms one of the subsets of marketing strategies. Advertising simply means communicating a given aspect of message to a given audience, viewers or listeners to persuade them to take some action for example, of buying a given product, service or agreeing to a given ideology.

A sponsor on electronic or print media like television commercial, magazines, direct mail, websites or text messages among many others must pay for the airing of an advertising message (Mullin & Walker, 2010, p.34). The ad of my choice is that of ‘aqua fresh’, a toothpaste brand.

The choice of the brand follows the evident creativity employed in the ad that strategically drives home the intended message. The ad is a visually appealing package, well able to push one into an impulse buying of the brand.

The ad, aired on the local television, highlights the salient benefits that the buyer gains from using the product. It points out the faster elimination of germs in the teeth as well as its ability to strengthen weak teeth of the users. It makes the teeth clean all the time. It also highlights the lasting fresh breath, which makes its users feel free to talk and socialize with others without any worries.

Furthermore, the ad manages to differentiate its brand from those of the competing products like Colgate. It does this by affirming their approval from the dentistry society as the best toothpaste, which has no side effects to the users. The ad targets a specific market segment audience.

The ad targets exclusively every person able to use a toothbrush and willing to sacrifice for his/her teeth. However, the most targeted segment is the youth at school level. The segment heavily uses toothpaste based on the rules set in learning institutions requiring every student to keep his/her teeth clean.

The market segment targeted by the ad is good and strategic based on the huge population of scholars right from the school level through colleges to the university level. The ad still can be improved to appeal its target audience.

Though the ad has employed creativity appealing to the target segment, it too needs to capture the things that interest the youth. For instance, it needs to be humorous and catchy to attract the interest of the youth making them have fun while using the product.

For instance, it should provide information on how students can achieve their dreams by using the toothpaste like giving them space to engage in discussion without fear of being repressed by their colleagues.

The ad is well created. However, some loopholes do exist, which might trigger negative emotions on the target audience. The ad seems lengthy, a case that often bores the viewers once run in between some favorite programs on the television. Furthermore, the ad does not enlist some of the side effects that the product has, which may discourage the users from buying the product.

It is therefore important for the ad to put in more improvements in the way it is adapted in order to capture the viewers’ attention influencing the prospective buyers into buying it (Pfeifer, 2010, p.349).

One of the recommendations is that the ad should provide relevant information that will benefit the users after brushing their teeth with the brand like how the frequency of brushing teeth using the brand fosters the health of the teeth.

It also ought to specify the duration of changing from one brush to another and other valuable information relating to use of toothbrush. Furthermore, the ad should use people or events that suit a given targeted audience group (Pergelova & Prior, 2010, p.40). The ad should also incorporate music and humor to attract the attention of the buyers triggering them into using the product.

Advertising is a major way of promoting a given product, service or ideologies. It is therefore paramount for the sellers or the producers of particular goods or services to come up with a catchy criterion of persuading their target segment into buying their products.

They therefore, ought to consider the quality of the message to use for their advertisement. Does it meet the needs of the buyer? Does it specify the available varieties? Otherwise, advertising is a good way of reaching the buyers. The well structured it appears, the more the buyers it attracts.

Mullin, J., & Walker, O. (2010). Marketing Management: A Strategic Decision Making Approach. Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Pergelova, A., & Prior, D. (2010). Assessing Advertising Efficiency. Journal of Advertising , 39 (1), pp. 39-54.

Pfeifer, C. (2010). Determinants of Promotions in an Internal Labor Market. Schmalenbach Business Review (SBR) , 62 (4), pp. 342-358.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2019, May 22). Promotion. https://ivypanda.com/essays/promotion-essay/

"Promotion." IvyPanda , 22 May 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/promotion-essay/.

IvyPanda . (2019) 'Promotion'. 22 May.

IvyPanda . 2019. "Promotion." May 22, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/promotion-essay/.

1. IvyPanda . "Promotion." May 22, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/promotion-essay/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Promotion." May 22, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/promotion-essay/.

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Service Marketing

The term “marketing mix” could suggest that marketing managers are mixers of ingredients. Is that perspective a recipe for success when employing the 7 Ps to develop a services marketing strategy? The marketing mix is a business tool used in marketing products. The marketing mix is often crucial when determining a product or brand's unique selling point, meaning that the unique quality that differentiates a product from its competitors, and is often synonymous with the 4 Ps: price, product, promotion, and place. However, in recent times, the 4Ps have been expanded to the 7 Ps with the addition of process, physical evidence and people.

Marketing mix is not a scientific theory, but merely a conceptual framework that identifies the principal decision making managers make in configuring their offerings to suit consumers’ needs. The tools can be used to develop both long term strategies and short term tactical program (Palmer, 2004). According to Chai (2009), the idea of marketing mix is the same idea as when mixing a cake. A baker will alter the proportions of ingredients in a cake depending on the type of cake we wishes to bake. So, the proportions in the marketing mix can be altered in the same way and differ from the product to product.

When applying marketing mix, the managers can be the mixer of the ingredients especially when it comes to the service marketing strategy. The main reason the marketing mix is it makes marketing seem easy to handle, allows the separation of marketing from other activities of the firm and the delegation of marketing tasks to specialist, and the components of the marketing mix can change a firm’s competitive position (Gronroos, 1994). Chai (2009) pointed out that the marketing mix concept also has two important benefits.

Order custom essay Service Marketing with free plagiarism report

First, it is an important tool used to enable one to see that the marketing manager’s job. Second is it helps to reveal another dimension of the marketing manager’s job. Thus, this could help the managers to clearly understand on what exactly they have to do in order to alter the traditional 4Ps in the service marketing. In order to develop service marketing strategy, the traditional 4Ps can be implemented but needs some alter in this strategy. The 4Ps will not satisfy in the service marketing strategy due to its focus in term of the product not the service provide.

Moller (2006) highlighted that the shortcomings of the 4Ps marketing mix framework, as the pillars of the traditional marketing management have frequently become the target of intense criticism. The concept of 4Ps has been criticism as being a production-based definition of marketing, and not a customer-oriented (Popovic, 2006). As according to the book of Service Marketing (seventh edition), the 7Ps are integrated into wider organizing framework, combining it with the consumer and competitor analysis, as well as implementation.

This is shown that the 4Ps are not adequate enough to deal with the issues arising from marketing services and have to be adapted and extended. In addition, the traditional marketing mix does not cover on how to managing the customer in terms of customers interface for example like the customer preferences, complaint, managing customer waiting, so on and so forth. The 7Ps can represent the ingredients required to create viable strategies for meeting customer needs profitably in a competitive marketplace.

Considering others factors rather than the product oriented strategies may bring to the success of the service marketing strategies. This is because the managers consider the aspect of four parts that are first, understanding service products, consumers and markets; second is applying the 4Ps of marketing to services; third is managing the customer interface and lastly, is implementing profitable service strategies. The 7Ps are in included in all of the part, so that employs the 7Ps will result to success in developing the service marketing strategies.

Lets we go through the all 7Ps of marketing mix that have been altered from the 4Ps of the traditional marketing mix. First of all, is about the product element. The product design must be attractive enough and create meaningful value for the customers. Planning the marketing mix begins with creating service concept that will offer value to target customers and satisfy their needs better than competing alternatives. Service product in this 7Ps altered consists of 2 elements which are core product and supplementary service elements.

According to the book Service Marketing 7th edition, the core product is the central component that supplies the principal, problem solving benefits customers seek. The supplementary service is the variety of other service-related activities referred that usually accompanied the core product. The core products tend to become commodities as an industry matures and competition increase, so the search for competitive and advantage often emphasize supplementary services. For example, in the hotels industry, the core product is the rooms provided.

The supplementary services with regard to the hotel industry are the information obtained by the customer; order taking that includes applications, order entry, and reservations or check-ins; the billing; and also payment in terms of is the hotel have variety of payment options exist, and in terms of how convenience and ease that options to the customers. The next Ps is place and time. Nowadays, services distributions not only involve a physical channel but also electronic channels or can use both depend on the nature of the service itself.

The more ease and convenience the service distributions, will results to the higher satisfaction of the consumer. The distribution of the core product will accompanied by the supplementary services due to the increasing the used of sophisticated technology. For example, nowadays bank’s offer its customers a choice of distribution channels. Despite of visiting the branches, the customers can conduct bank transactions by doing it online using the internet banking. For example like making a bill payment, the customer of Maybank can just pay through e-billing in the Maybank website without leaving their own house.

The billing payment is the supplementary product for the bank services. Other examples are like today banks are also provided services like using a network of ATMs and doing business by telephone. In term of the time, speed and convenience of place and time have become important determinant of effective’s distribution and delivery of services. Nowadays, many services are delivered in real time while the customers are physically present. The third Ps is price and other user outlays.

The service provider should use the dynamic pricing strategy and must always remember that do not set the prices only for the target that the customer are willing and be able to pay but also must consider whether the cost is ‘worth it’ or not with the service that they may go beyond just money and assess the outlays of the customers time and effort. It is possible for the service provider not to include any of these outlays such as additional cost like travel expenses to go to the service location, time expenditure, unwanted mental and physical effort and exposure to negative sensory experiences.

Customers may not prefer any additional cost or hidden cost during the services that are giving to them. Customers always prefer and particular about the exact cost of the service that they wanted and if it had any additional cost, the service provider should tell them exactly at that particular moment. Despite that, we know that service is intangible and something that cannot be inventoried. In the service industry, during the peak demands customers may be feeling disappointed or have been asked to wait until later to get the services. Time would be another outlay for the customers to be avoided.

So as the service provider, they need to find the ways of smoothing demands level to match available capacity using dynamic pricing strategies. The forth Ps is promotion and education. The ability to speak and persuade customers to buy or use our product or service is a must in marketing. Effective communication is a crucial part in marketing programs in order to success. There are three vital roles in this component, which are providing needed information and advice, persuading target customers of the merits of a specific brand or service product and encouraging them to take action at specific time.

While education here is referring to the information about the service provided. The service provider needs to teach their customers regarding the benefits of the service, where and when to obtain it, how to participate in service processes to get the best results. Service is intangible and often difficult to visualize and understand. So that, customers need to be educated on how to best use a service. Usually service providers or firms are thinking that they should give the best service ever and helping the customers to solve their problems and fulfill their needs and wants.

Not just that, they ensure that communications not only provide information for customers but also persuade the customer of the service’s relevance to the customer’s particular problem. But now, customers also play important roles in the process service delivering. If the you knows how to use well the service, they will not only have a better experience and outcome but also greater efficiency may boost the firm’s productivity, lower its costs, and even enable it to reduce the price you pay. The next Ps is the additional Ps in the service marketing which is process.

The process means that by which the firm delivers product or service elements. Service process is the way in which a service is delivered to the end customer. Let’s take the example of two very good companies that are Mc’ Donalds and Fedex. Both the companies thrive on their quick service and the reason they can do that is their confidence on their processes. On top of it, the demand of these services is such that they have to deliver optimally without a loss in quality. Thus the process of a service company in delivering its product is of utmost importance.

It is also a critical component in the service blueprint, wherein before establishing the service, the company defines exactly what should be the process of the service product reaching the end customer. The more ‘high contact’ your product, and the more intangible, the more important it is to get your processes right. Service provider must remember to look at this from the customers’ point of view. The process problems that are most annoying to a customer are those that are designed for the provider’s convenience, not the customer.

In addition, in the service marketing, customer also involve in co-production. In some service circumstances, it is requires customers to get involved actively in co-producing the service product. For example, in the gym services. Customer needs to be involved in order to completed the service that given by the service provider. The customers that go to the gym may have got the direction on how to use the equipment or questions about personal training from the personal trainer. Despite of that, physical environment or physical evidence is also an additional Ps in the service marketing mix.

As said before, services are intangible in nature. However, to create a better customer experience tangible elements are also delivered with the service. Take an example of a restaurant which has only chairs and tables and good food, or a restaurant which has ambient lighting, nice music along with good seating arrangement and this also serves good food. Which one will you prefer? The one with the nice ambience. Ambient here refers to those characteristics of the environment that pertain to the human’s five senses.

The ambient conditions re perceived both separately and holistically and include lighting and color schemes, size and shape perceptions, sounds such as noise and music, temperature, and scents or smells. For example in the restaurant, the slow-music that played in the restaurant makes the customers to spent longer in that restaurant. Same goes with the shopping complex. Playing familiar music in a store was shown to stimulate the shoppers and thereby reduce their browsing time. Instead of the store playing an unfamiliar music, it will induce shoppers to spend more time there. The next important ambient is scent.

Scent or smell which pervades an environment, may or may not be consciously perceived by customers and is not related to any particular product. For example like in the lobby hotel, they usually use a flora scent for make the customers feel relaxing and calming. Despite music and scent, color also have it owns different impact on people’s feelings. The colors like red, yellow and orange are the warm colors, while blue, green, indigo, and violet are the cool colors. These colors plays it own role to stimulate people emotions and expressions towards the surrounding environment.

Several times, physical evidence is used as a differentiator in service marketing. Imagine a private hospital and a government hospital. A private hospital will have plush offices and well dressed staff. Same cannot be said for a government hospital. Thus physical evidence acts as a differentiator. When you sell tangible goods, you can offer your customer the chance to ‘try before they buy’, or at least see, touch or smell. With services, unless you offer a free trial, your customer will often be buying on trust.

And to help them do so you need to provide as much evidence of the quality you will be providing as possible. This element also called as servicescape. Servicescape is a concept to emphasize the impact of the physical environment in which a service process takes place. Servicescape as the environment in which the service is assembled and in which the seller and customer interact, combined with tangible commodities that facilitate performance or communication of the service (Booms and Bitner, 1981). Last but not least of the Ps are people.

People are one of the elements of service marketing mix. People define a service. If you have an IT company, your software engineers define you. If you have a restaurant, your chef and service staff defines you. If you are into banking, employees in your branch and their behavior towards customers define you. In case of service marketing, people can make or break an organization. Thus many companies nowadays are involved into specially getting their staff trained in interpersonal skills and customer service with a focus towards customer satisfaction.

The impact that your people can have on your marketing cannot be underestimated. At its most obvious, this element covers your front line sales and customer service staff who will have a direct impact on how your product is perceived. You need to consider the knowledge and skills of your staff such as their motivation and investment in supporting your brand. Any element of the marketing mix will also have its impact on other elements of your business, but the people element is one where the importance of regarding marketing as an integral part of the way you do business is crystal clear.

Provide the front line sales with better communication skills and also how to manage conflict and complain also plays an important role when doing business with customers. This is because those skills can manage such situation that are unexpected and can be controlled effectively and in a good manner. As the service provider, a company or an organizations needs to sent their employees for further training in order to keep their employees up-to-date and at the same times, improve their skills in communicate and handle any conflicts and complaints made by the customers.

That is why people in the marketing mix is also very important in developing the service marketing strategy. In the nutshell, by using the 7Ps the marketing managers can develop service marketing strategy very well. By adding three Ps in the traditional marketing mix is really helps in service marketing in order to succeed their service delivering to the customers or consumers. As we all know, even to deliver a good product to customer or consumer, there are still included a service or vice versa.

Marketing mix used by a particular firm will vary according to its resources, market conditions and changing needs of clients. The importance of some elements within the marketing mix will vary at any one point in time. Decisions cannot be made on one element of the marketing mix without considering its impact on other elements. So, with these seven’s marketing mix will really help the marketing manager to develop a service marketing strategy in order to give a better service and product through an effective and efficient ways.

Cite this Page

Service Marketing. (2018, Mar 10). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/service-marketing/

Run a free check or have your essay done for you

More related essays

When President Richard Nixon and Congress passed the Postal Service Act of 1969, a self-supporting postal corporation owned by the federal government was formed. However, it was not until 1982,.

GM’s Onstar telematics system builds itself by successfully maintaining larger market share by venturing even into the Chinese markets and planning to expand globally. Although the company has variety of.

This marketing audit report is prepared for Camp Five to indicate how the organization is currently performing in their service level. The report is prepared based on secondary data gathered.

Introduction In a competitive market, a business’s main purpose is to create value for customers, because it is basically the consumer who essentially determines what a business is, even the future.

What Is the overlap between operations, marketing and product/service development at Acme Whistles? The simple answer to this question Is, There Is a very significant overlap between these functions'. The.

Executive Summary When technology change the way people interact with each other in daily life, those writing days were gone with letters and postcards and personalized greeting cards and they are.

From Bags to Riches Company was founded in September 2007 in north Mississippi with the goal of creating and marketing hundreds of authentic, exclusive designer bags and jewelry. From Bags.

Direct Marketing is the practice of delivering promotional messages directly to potential customers on an individual basis as opposed to through a mass medium while mass marketing is a simultaneous.

We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. By continuing we’ll assume you’re on board with our cookie policy

Save time and let our verified experts help you.

Your Article Library

Promotion services and its objectives.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

These four types of promotion are the traditional marketer-dominated ways of influencing sales for service products. Between them they offer the organization a wide range of possibilities for promoting services in the marketplace. Astutely used they can be most effective tools of communication and influence.

(a) Advertising – defined as any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of services by an identified individual or organization.

(b) Personal selling – defined as the personal presentation of services in a conversation with one or more prospective purchasers for the purpose of making sales.

(c) Publicity -defined as the non-personal stimulation of demand for a service by obtaining commercially significant news about it in any medium or obtaining favourable presentation of it in any medium that is not paid for by the service sponsor.

(d) Sales promotion – marketing activities other than advertising, personal selling or publicity that stimulate customer purchasing and use and enhance dealer effectiveness (e.g. competitions, coupons).

However two important qualifications should be noted. First, service organizations promote themselves and their service products in other ways than the four forms considered here. 

Second, there is increasing research evidence that in some kinds of services markets these marketer dominated ways of influencing sales for service products may not necessarily be the most effective. For example, a study covering eight different types of retail services (dry cleaning, hairdressing, car loan finance, dentistry, photography, carpet shampoo, car repair, gynecological services) showed that customers of retail services do not reply on the more traditional information sources.

Instead, they prefer to use more personal sources of information from friends and other contacts. Also location is a key factor in the final purchase decision. The importance of personal recommendations has been confirmed in the life insurance market too. Customers in this market have been shown to rely heavily on the opinions and influences of others through word of mouth communication.

Promotional objectives:

The general purposes of promotion in services marketing are much the same as in other kinds of marketing to:

(a) Build awareness and interest in the service product and the service organization;

(b) Differentiate the service offer and the service organization from competitors;

(c) Communicate and portray the benefits of the services available;

(d) Build and maintain the overall image and reputation of the service organization;

(e) Persuade customers to buy or use the service.

Ultimately the purpose of any promotional effort is to sell the service product through informing, persuading and reminding. Clearly these general objectives vary according to the nature of each service industry and service product.

For example, the kinds of promotional objectives that are considered to be relevant in the transport and distribution business include:

(a) Creating awareness of the firm’s service among potential users;

(b) Generating detailed knowledge of the firm’s product and service including details of cost- benefit relationship, price and other pertinent information;

(c) improving the firm’s image among existing and potential users so as to improve the firm’s target group towards being more receptive to the new service which will be launched in the near future;

(d) Eliminating perceived misconceptions;

(e) Advising existing and potential customers of special offers or modifications of the service;

(f) Advising the marketplace of new channels.

Clearly the specific objective for any particular service in any service product/market situation will vary. So too will use made of the elements of the promotion mix.

Below we summarizes a wide array of possible objectives relating to customers, intermediaries, and competitors.

Possible objectives of consumer promotions for services:

1. Objectives Targeted at Customers:

a. Increase awareness of a new or existing service

b. Encourage trial of a service

c. Encourage nonusers to:

I. Attend a demonstration of the service

II. Make trial use of an existing service

III. Apply to join or subscribe to a service in which admission, acceptance, or installation of technical hookups is a prerequisite to receive the service

d. Persuade existing customers to:

I. Continue purchasing the service and not terminate use of the service or switch to a competing alternative

II. Increase their purchase frequency of the service

III. Commit to purchasing the service for an extended time period (thus taking the consumer out of the market for competing alternatives)

e. Change the timing of customer demand for the service

f. Reinforce advertising for the service and draw audience attention to it

g. Obtain market research information about how, when, and where the service is purchased and used

h. Promote the service as part of a broader product line (or link it to sales of a complementary service marketed by another organization)

i. Encourage customers to change the way in which they interact with the service delivery system, such as

I. Perform tasks themselves (self-service)

II. Use a new technology, e.g., the Web

2. Objectives Targeted at Intermediaries:

a. Persuade intermediaries to deliver a new or re-launched service

b. Persuade existing intermediaries to provide additional push for the service, including point- of-sale merchandising

c. Insulate intermediaries from consumer price negotiation at the point of purchase

d. Insulate intermediaries from any temporary sales reduction that might result from a price increase

3. Objectives Targeted at Competition:

Move offensively or defensively on a temporary basis against one or more competitors.

Related Articles:

• Top 6 Objectives of Market Promotion
• 30 Major Objectives of Sales Promotion

No comments yet.

Leave a reply click here to cancel reply..

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Service Promotion Meaning, Features and Objectives

Service promotion meaning.

Service promotion refers to the strategic activities undertaken to raise awareness, generate interest, and ultimately drive the adoption of a particular service offering. A well-executed service promotion campaign can greatly enhance brand visibility, attract new customers, and foster customer loyalty. Service promotion aims to effectively communicate the values, benefits and unique features of services to the target audience. It holds significant importance in the international business environment .

Many times people equate marketing promotion’ with marketing. The widespread promotion garners excessive attention from management. Marketers employ various promotional tools like advertising, public relations, sales promotion activities, and personal selling to inform potential buyers about what they have to offer and persuade them to respond favourably.

The term “promotion” originates from the Latin word ‘promovere,’ which signifies ‘an endeavour to redirect people’s focus from one extreme (disinterest) to the other (interest).’ Service marketers leverage this marketing tool to strategically position their services, making them more tangible and valuable.

In communicating the services to the customers, the promotion element of the service product marketing mix plays a vital role. This also helps in communicating benefits to other key relationship markets. Promotion is a descriptive term for the mix of communication activities that service organisations carry out to influence the public on whom their sales depend.

According to Stanton, “Promotion includes advertising, personal selling, sales promotion and other selling tools”.

According to Philip Kotler, “Promotion compasses all the tools in the marketing mix whose major role is persuasive communications”

Features of Service Promotion

Features of service promotion are as follows;

1) Persuades Customer for Purchase: The company uses persuasion to win customers over and secure service sales.

2) Facilitates Service Information: The company notifies customers about its services when introducing a new one or modifying an existing one.

3) Assists in Service Reminders: Replacing the same advertisement serves as the company’s method for keeping customers informed about its services.

4) Helps in Identifying Customer Needs and Preferences: The manufacturer carries out promotional activities. The producer holds the responsibility for acquiring consumer and prospective consumer information to meet their demands.

5) Promotion Techniques: Promotion includes, advertising, personal selling and other sales promotion techniques.

Objectives of Service Promotion

1) general objectives.

i) Differentiate the service offer and the service organisation from competitors.

ii) Build awareness and interest in the service product and the service organisation.

iii) Maintain the overall image and reputation of the service organization.

iv) Communicate the benefits of the services available.

2) Objectives Targeted at Customers

i) Encourage the trial of a service.

ii) Increase awareness of a new or existing service.

iii) Reinforce advertising for the service and draw the audience’s attention to it.

iv) Encourage non-users to attend a demonstration of the service.

v) Persuade existing customers to continue the service and not terminate the use of the service or switch to a competing alternative.

3) Objectives Targeted at Intermediaries

i) Persuade existing intermediaries to provide an additional push for the service including point-of-sale merchandising.

ii) Convince intermediaries to produce a new or re-launched service.

Related Articles:

• nature of business meaning
• nature of international business
• scope of international marketing
• determinants of economic development
• nature of capital budgeting
• nature of international marketing

Types of Service Promotion

Service organisations can attract new customers, retain existing customers, build a business, increase brand awareness, reduce their perceived risk and finally, gain the trust of their customers through promotional campaigns. Service companies should first understand the importance of communication in an organisation with its internal and external customers. To enhance its effectiveness, companies should also learn the various tools used for internal and external communication and employ them effectively. Further, an organisation should have an idea about the likely issues that might arise during its communication with both internal and external customers. These issues may arise from various factors such as budgetary constraints, technology limitations, content quality and delivery methods. Service communications or promotions can be of two types:

• Internal communication
• External communication

Internal Communication

A company’s internal customers include its frontline personnel, its employees in different functions a departments and the management. Internal communication helps a company to enhance understanding and cooperation among the employees of a department and between employees of different departments. An open communication channel gives them the feeling that they are a part of the team and this helps the organisation retain and motivate them in the long run. It also increases transparency between the management and employees. What type of information should a company communicate to its employees? A company should communicate with:

1) Its employees about the ongoing projects and their contribution to organisational objectives.

2) It teaches employees about the importance of internal and external communication and how to communicate effectively.

3) Its employees about the organisational vision and corporate objectives.

4) Its employees learn how to solve problems and resolve issues that arise while operating on a project.

5) Its management about the progress on these projects.

6) Its employees through various communication methods like meetings, awards, newsletters, and formal and informal discussions to motivate them.

7) Employees instruct their colleagues on methods to enhance efficiency.

External Communication

A company’s external customers include its suppliers, business and individual customers, shareholders, foreign clients (if any), government and various regulatory boards, depending on the nature of the service business. An effective external communication channel helps a company to communicate with its external customers regularly. The main aim of external communication is to increase the awareness of a company’s wide range of services, company performance, and environmental policies to all the stakeholders. Further, if a company is working in collaboration with another organisation, then it needs to communicate regularly with the other organisation. For example, earlier Wipro and GE have come together to form Wipro-GE Medicals and offer healthcare services in India. These types of collaborations call for clarity in communication between the two companies on various aspects like the fundamental objectives of the company, financial policies, customer service standards, etc.

A company that communicates effectively with its external customers can reap the fruits of improved relationships with its customers. It creates a good image of the company in their minds and gives them an idea of the employee’s professionalism in the company. An organisation can adopt various types of communication to communicate with its internal and external customers. For this purpose, it can use various communication tools such as facsimile machines, writing, the internet, telephones and mobile phones, PDAs, laptops, etc.

Related Posts

What are services meaning and characteristics.

A service is an act or performance that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership…

7 Ps of Marketing Mix Meaning, Definition, Principles, Traditional

The 7 Ps of marketing mix refers to the appointment of efforts, the combination, the designing and the integration of marketing elements into a program…

Service Quality Meaning, Elements, Categories and Perspectives

High service quality is imperative for the competitiveness of the service industry. Many service quality models enable managers and practitioners to identify quality issues and…

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Service Marketing – Meaning, Importance, Types and Examples

Table of Contents

What is Service Marketing?

Service marketing is the marketing and selling of intangible products (non-physical products). Services comprise all of those personal facilities which we require from time to time like; medical care, education, renting of living spaces and vehicles, hair cut, spas, musical concerts, dance classes, etc.

However, the purpose of service marketing is to utilize the effective method of communication to create demand for service among customers like advertisement, promotional deals or offers.

For instance, Las Vegas, an American city, launched a very famous and successful service marketing campaign to attract tourists from across the US. The marketing phrase was ‘‘what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,’’ the purpose was to offer maximum freedom to tourists.

Features of Service Marketing

Different service providing companies offer different services both to businesses and customers as well. However, when we talk about service as a facility, then it has various features that are different from the products. Some of the features of the service are as follows;

• Intangibility. Tangible products are physical. Intangible, on the other hand, do not have any physical existence, texture or color that you could see with your naked eyes. Therefore, it is difficult for marketers to convince people of its utility which they cannot see.
• Inseparability. Unlike any physical product that you receive it from the seller, then consume it later. Services work completely differently. The customer receives the service and consumes it at the same time. You cannot separate its receiving and consumption. For instance, a barber is providing the service of hair cut and the customer is consuming it at the same time. Online doctors and lawyers provide legal and medicinal services to their clients.
• Perishability. You can store physical products and save it for sometime later. But you can’t store services for later, they perish with time. For instance, you have booked an airplane seat for today; you cannot use the same seat for tomorrow or any other day. If you miss the opportunity of using it, then it will perish.
• Variability. When service providers are different people, then their services may vary from person to person. For instance, you are receiving a dance, acting, music or any other kind of training, then the training method and content material will be different, and vary from trainer to trainer.
• Change Demand. Demand of service industry changes with the season, winter services would be different from the summer services. There are different sport seasons, the service demand of cricket season would be different than the service demand of football season.
• Services Pricing. You cannot have standards for the pricing of services. There are usually different prices for different seasons like; the prices of hotel rooms would be higher in the crowded season than the normal days. When the demand of service goes up, then the price of the services also go up.

Service Marketing Triangle

The service marketing triangle also goes by the name of the service triangle; it involves the relationship between service, service provider and the consumer of the service. Building and maintaining a relationship is very significant to the life of every business; service industry is not an exception. However, the service triangle has three types of service marketing which usually happens within it, they are as follows;

Internal marketing

Internal marketing in the service triangle is used for those companies and organizations that motivate their employees. They give parties to their employees to keep their spirit up. The purpose is to keep them satisfied when they are satisfied, then they can use their creative abilities better for the satisfaction of customers .

Such companies also decentralize the power into their employees, so that they would be able to decide on their own. Empowering them with decision-making would increase their loyalty, and they would take responsibility for their actions.

External marketing

External marketing is a very general type of marketing that companies usually perform to increase their sale and brand awareness. It involves all of such activities which companies usually employ towards their customers. Sale promotion , personal selling, direct sale, offers, and direct marketing fall in the category of external marketing.

Interactive Marketing

Interactive marketing involves interaction between the employees of your company and customers. It occurs at the retail stalls, customer service counter of bank, hotels, restaurants and all those places employees and customers get in contact with one another.

Interaction marketing influences the decision-making of buyers, because the customer needs help to make the choice, and the employees of your company help him to do so. If the representative provides positive and valuable information about what customers are looking for, then it would also increase the conversion rate.

Services Marketing Mix

Service marketing mix comprises of 7ps of marketing, out of which four of them belong to the product mix (product, price, promotion, and place). The rest (people, process, and physical evidence) combines with the product mix and makes the service marketing mix of total of 7ps, which are as follows;

Service product is also like any other physical product of product mix, but it is intangible and you cannot measure its utility.

Education, health care and tourism are very good examples of a service products. You can’t own the service products. The service provider must design the service product with care.

Pricing of the service product is a bit technical process because it involves other expenses which aren’t directly the part of the service product.

In the hotel industry, if you charge customers only for the food they eat. Then who’d pay for the salaries of service providers like cook, waiter, and cleaner, hotels rents, and other indirect expenses to run the business. You can’t serve food to your customers if you don’t incur such expenses. Therefore, you have to include all of those service expenses in a proper portion to keep your business running.

Place is the location point where you offer your services to your customers. There are many things to consider before selecting a location point because you have to keep in mind the traffic of people if you’re going to start public business like hotels, restaurants, petrol, and gas station.

If you want to start a software house or any other tech companies, then you should choose a place where there are other tech companies are already there. Having a place in the competitive market would keep you up to date, rather than in the village where you don’t know anything.

When you’re offering some service, then you aren’t the only one in the market who’s providing such services. Then you need a strong promotional strategy to stand out from the crowd.

Service industry and products are very fragile, because if you don’t protect your service product with the brand and copyrights. Then competitors will copy it.

People include all of those personnel who are working within your company, and those people define the service of your organization.

Doctors and nurses of the hospital; employees of the banks; and teachers of the school are few examples of the people who work in the service industry. Such people can make or break your company.

Many companies invest in their people by providing them training regularly to keep their skills up to date. They also provide their employees with various facilities to keep them satisfied because satisfied employees can perform better.  

The process is the way through which you deliver your service to your customers. McDonald’s and FedEx are two very famous service-providing companies because people have complete confidence and trust in their delivery process.

The service delivery process of your company should be cautious, because if it destroys the quality of the service, then it won’t be any use of it.

Physical Evidence

As we know that the nature of service is intangible if you add some tangible element to your service to make the experience of the customers better. Then it would enhance the value of service.

A well-furnished hotel with good lighting, furniture, and a clean atmosphere would attract the customers more than an ordinary hotel with no service facility at all.

The service quality of a private and a government hospital differs because of the building, staff, equipment, and clean atmosphere.  

Types of Service Marketing Strategies

Having said that service is something which you can’t see or touch, therefore, when it comes to marketing of services, then its marketing strategy would be completely different. However, launching a service marketing campaign, then you have to add more explanation and more relevant information about the service. It is because customers can’t see or touch your service, you have to provide them a simulation experience.

Anyways, service marketing strategies are as follows;

Word of mouth is a very good service marketing strategy. It is because when a happy customer would share his experience with his friends and social circle, then it’s highly likely that they’d come to experience your service.

Some companies even offer different free service for every new subscription or referral their customers would bring. That’s how they promote referral marketing to increase the sale of their service.

Educating Customers

It is better if you educate your customers about the service that you’re planning to launch. The more aware your customers are, the more chances are they would demand your service. More demand means more sales.

You can start by writing a pro-article about your service in the newspaper, or you can arrange meetups, seminars, and talk shows about your service. One thing to keep in mind that when you’re at the educational marketing stage, that it’s better if you focus on the benefits and the utility of the service, instead of talking about the price.

For instance, if you’re running a business of dogs and cats grooming, then you should arrange shows and write an article about the effects and dangers of flea and pet tickets. How your grooming service can take care of pets of people.

Social Media

We live in the time of social media where almost everyone is using different social media platforms. Facebook is at the top of the list of social media, which offers a great opportunity to the local small businesses to market their services.

The interesting thing about Facebook that it offers some of its basic advertising tools for free, and if you want the paid method, then it offers you to plan your package depending on your budget. Facebook also allows its users to make free business pages, where people can leave reviews. People can also Like, comment, and share your posts from your page.

Demonstration

People are usually hesitant and shy about using new products, especially if they don’t have the information of heard of it before. But if you offer them free demonstration and utility of the product, and then they’re like to buy it.

For instance, if you’re planning to start yoga classes, then you should start with a one-day free session. So the people could feel the impact of meditation on the human body and soul. If they like the impact of it, then they’ll take your training.

Service Marketing Examples

Healthcare industry.

Doctors, nurses, surgeons, and other hospital staff are a very good example of service marketing. They sell their health service by seeing and looking after their patients.

Hospitality Industry

Hotels and restaurants fall in the category of hospitality industry, where they offer cooking, rooms, massage, and other services to their clients.

Professional Services

Accountants, lawyers, teachers, writers, mason, carpenter, chef, electrician, and plumber also some of the examples of service providing professions, where they offer multiple services to their clients vary from profession to profession.

There are different marketing strategies for different services, therefore, you have to be very careful about your niche and then apply the relevant strategy.

If you are already in the service industry and running a business, then you should keep your employees motivated and satisfied because it is a creative field. Motivated and mentally satisfied people can perform better in the creative line of work.

About The Author

Ahsan Ali Shaw