Services marketing - Essay Example

? SERVICES MARKETING Services marketing Introduction Marketing has become one of the most important components in business that is rife with competition. With the increase in the scope for marketing, the methods and types of marketing have also increased to a considerable level. Marketing is an aspect of business that is more in sync with the sales aspect and thus touches a higher hierarchy level. The crux behind marketing is that we need to identify the customer, earn the goodwill of the customer and also retain the customer. It is a very difficult task but if the customer satisfaction is kept as prominence for the business then it is quiet easy to know the customer. Marketing is the best way through which we get to know whether the client likes the products or services and the necessary improvements that need to be done to the business. Service marketing is the marketing of service or performances of the service seller. Service is intangible in nature and hence it cannot be measured. Similarly, service marketing is also intangible and cannot be gauged easily. The reason behind the distinction between that of the product marketing and service marketing is because of the fact that services are more heterogeneous in nature. There is no uniformity when it comes to service marketing as there are different types of services available. Crux of service depends on its uniqueness. If a better service is provided then that particular company will get to sell more of its services. Thus there is no standardization in marketing as opposed to that of the products. You need to bring this awareness into the customers as well. Literature Review Marketing Types and Characteristics There are different types of marketing needs. One of the marketing types is that of the product marketing wherein the customer’s needs toward the products are taken care of. Product marketing is easy to gauge and thus will provide a clear cut approach for marketing. The manufacturing of the product is based on the product marketing. If the demand from the customer is more then more such products will be manufactured. Service is something that is rendered as per the requirement of the service buyer. Both service buyer and service seller plays a major important role in the market of service. Service marketing is entirely different from that of the product marketing and requires a completely new approach than that of the product marketing. The four major characteristics of marketing play a major role in optimizing of the service marketing. They are intangibility, heterogeneity, intangibility and perishable nature. In view of Bruhn M. and Georgi D. (2006, p. 478), the service industry has got a value chain that it needs to follow through in the process of marketing. Once the managing of service value chain is mastered then it becomes quiet easy thereafter. A set procedure will make a huge difference. A lot of factors that can be attributed to service marketing, that makes gives it a winning edge. Services have a special angle to it as they can never be stored for future consumption. It has to be used then and there. Thus service is produced and consumed at the same time. Perishable in nature services need to be utilized when it is produced. Marketing of services needs a lot of other contributing factor. Say for instance, if you are marketing a product, only the product needs to be good. If the product is good then people will go for it without any further questioning. On the other hand service marketing needs a lot of attractive features such as the company that renders service should be well known in the market. The person who is undertaking the responsibility to deliver the service should also be good and impressive. Only then the service will be sought after. The distinct nature of service marketing It is the service industry that needs more of marketing than that of the product manufacturing. Hence service marketing is more important aspect of the business. People need to get the name of the service company registered in their mind. Only then they will opt for it and thus a lot of marketing is required in the service industry than that of the product industry. Customer experience is extremely important in case of the service industry as even a single event of mismanagement may affect the business to a considerable level. In marketing of services, experience plays a major role. People believe that one can master over a service only with practice. Once proved the potential then there is no stopping in the industry. Thus it is absolutely important to give your best. A new service offering company will find it difficult to get service orders and if they managed to do well in the first order then soon many other service buyers will opt for the service. To thrive in the service industry, one should be able to market themselves as the subject matter is invisible. The Inseparability factor adds more responsibility Inseparability of the service from the service provider is yet another important factor. A product can be separated from the manufacturer once the production is over and the next phase of sale arises whereas the service cannot be separated from the service provider. This stands evident to show how difficult it is to keep the marketing of services going on. According to Pride (2008), just because the services cannot be separated, the customers expect the service to be provided in a particular way by a particular person. Thus inseparability seems to bring in a shared responsibility between the customer as well as the provider of the services. Techniques and Innovation: While these proven methods renders great help in the service marketing industry, each company has their own secret success formulas or marketing techniques. These techniques will give them a winning edge over the other companies. For instance, some companies provide sponsorships to certain popular area in order to get better advertising for their products. Internal marketing techniques are also followed such as awarding bonuses for successful marketing efforts. According to some of the famous proponents Schultz M., Doerr J. & Doerr, J. E. (2009, p. 332), providing meaningful and fruitful insights to the customers about the service that you are willing to provide will bring a positive response. Marketing when done in the right way will create trust effect between the customer and service provider. Learning new technology and keeping oneself updated with all the current news regarding the technical aspects of service marketing will prove to be of great benefit. A winning edge will be derived from these proactive learning and knowing the nuance of technical stuffs will help you get more projects for the company. The service buyers will definitely look upon to the fact whether a service firm is up to date with the latest advancement in the service industry. Hence it is absolutely necessary to train the resource of the service firms in this regard to yield better results. Service marketing requires a lot of innovativeness on the part of the seller to stand out from the rest of them in the crowd. New concepts and new ideas will garner interest and will earn you a lot of business. In the product industry, it is enough if you could manufacture good quality product and keep maintaining the standards whereas in the service industry, even though you delivered the best work in the first order, the quality of the work needs to keep increasing and not stagnant at any point of time. If you prove to be stagnant, then others who show novelty will gain the business. Ways to get better in service marketing All the major problems in relation to the concept of service marketing can be addressed effectively with a clear-cut solution that can be derived through complete analysis. Let us see some of the solutions available in order to get better at service marketing. Getting to these factors will take you into a world of better ideas that can be implemented for sustainable results. Traditional and contemporary marketing concepts Follow a known and proven method of selling the service or marketing the service of a company in order to get the best results and to achieve the goal of success. There are some traditional concepts of marketing that could be applied at any scenario and it would work out. These have a proven record of success and is ideal for both product as well as service industry. The 4 P of marketing includes product, place, price and promotion. These 4 are the most important and first hand marketing areas that should be taken care of. Service offering is also a kind of product that is provided to the customer. The following qualities influence the customer’s preference over a particular service firm. Product: When it comes to marketing of services as a product form certain aspects need to be taken in to consideration. The features that are associated with a particular service, quality level of the service, packaging or any value added service that comes along with the core services, branding of the services and any assurance that the service delivered is of good quality. Place: The place of where the service marketing is carried on also matters to a greater extent. Exposure level of the service companies will be more in certain region. Say for instance, in the outsourcing of work, some of the developing nations have a better exposure to the outsourcing service work. Hence there need not be too much of marketing needed or in other words marketing of service need not be from the scratch. Delivery of service requirement will also change from region to region hence care should be taken in marketing services in new zones. In order to market services in a different country, one need to make a complete study on the country including political, legal, economical and social viabilities of the region. Promotion: Advertising or promoting of the product is very much essential for it to find a wining place in the market. Promotion can be made through electronic means or that of public means through direct marketing. Sales people play a crucial role in the process of advertising. Price: Price factor is the most important factor in the service industry and gives a winning edge over other service provider. If you are able to convince the customers that you are providing the best of services for a much cheaper price then you are sure to get the order. Service buyers will be enticed on the ideas of less pay for better quality. There should be flexibility in the pricing level and the differentiation needs to be highlighted. The characteristics seen above are common for both service and product industry. There are some additional three characteristics in service marketing. Let us have a glimpse of the other characteristics. People, physical evidence and process are the three extra factors that are part of the service marketing. People: Service marketing is based on the people power. All of the people who are involved either directly or through indirect means create a substantial influence in the marketing of services. Hence people or customer relationship forms the crux of the whole idea of success in the service industry. If the service firm has a clear cut internal process then this should not be an issue as in the process system each and every document pertaining to the work needs to be preserved. Keep enhancing the service sector knowledge of the resources in order to meet up with the growing client demands. Through this action of proactive frontage the company will have a winning edge over other service firms. Physical evidence Documentation: Service is intangible and hence cannot be measured or tested. Hence it is best to have each and everything associated with the service transaction. Communication is also crucial in service industry. Without a proper communication, things may go bizarre in the service offerings. This way you could avoid any of the miss-happening. Be sure that keeping a track of each and every transaction. Emails can be stored in the back ups and archived which will come in handy in case of sudden requirements. Process: Process is a blessing to the service industry and is definitely a winning point in the marketing of a service. It determines the internal procedures and also the flow of activity in a proper streamlined manner. Process certification from a reputed auditing firm will add more validation to the particular service firm and helps in getting customers. Many customers believe that if there is a process set up then the service will be good. A well ser process will make the service seller accountable to all the business transaction. Also a process has proven to be successful in running the business and will be a value addition. If clear and streamlined process is followed then there will lesser chance for any error to occur internally. Documentation is an essential part of processes and once documented all your records will be kept safe for future references. By following and implementing these 7 P areas in the marketing service, better results could be derived in a shorter span of time. These prime areas are expected to keep evolving as the market demand increases. Add some creative tinge to the service marketing to get noticed quickly and effectively. Innovation is also key area that makes your service sell better in the highly competitive area. By innovating you will be able to provide better service at a better price than the competitors. No customer will want to avoid a power package of best service at cheap cost. You could also contribute something innovative to your industry as a whole in the form of techniques and products to get the maximum advertising. As per Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development that analyzes on such crucial aspect on a regular basis, Innovation increased the productivity in certain areas of service sectors immediately while innovation in certain other parts of service sectors took some time to yield results. Thus it puts on the onus on both the user as well as the provider of the services. It is an entirely new angle to the area of service marketing. Different service marketing efforts for different companies Marketing techniques in the service industry are plenty in number and if applied properly will bring in a greater benefit. Not all techniques will be successful in all business types. Businesses and firm are of different sizes. There are both giants’ service suppliers as well as small and medium business service providers are available in the market. While the 7P concepts can be applied to all of these small scale and big scale companies there are some areas that need to be customized according to the size of the company. Marketing efforts can also differ in both of this service industry. A small scale service company has limited operation and thus there are some restrictions to the marketing. They will not be able to go international due to lack of capital and needs to concentrate in the local level in the initial stage. At a later stage after the business plans change and expands, the service marketing can also be changed. On the whole, the service industry is one of the thriving areas that will open up big time in the coming years. If proper and calculated efforts are taken to market products or services along with other winning formula included, a service can be marketed effectively. To sum up all the points discussed in the paper, service marketing can be performed in a successful manner provided the firms enhances it customer relationship, innovativeness and addition of technological aspects in their business. Also, a company should be in a position to analyze its own position according to the market standing and should be able to turn out well trained resources. Providing the best of service in a low cost will make a service firm stand out from the rest of the competitors and if things are put in an organized manner through setting up of processes then it will be more streamlined and better results will be derived. Apply both traditional as well as conceptual concepts related to service marketing and great results will be turned out. Also, setting up of internal process and managing internal workflow will prove to be of great help. On following some of these crucial points successful and long lasting service marketing can be carried on. References Pride, W & Ferrell, C 2010, Marketing, 2010, Southern-Western, Cengage Learning, Ohio Bruhn, M & Georgi, D 2006, Service Marketing Managing the service value chain, US Schultz M, Doerr J, Doerr, J E 2009, Professional services marketing, The Wellesley Hills Group, New Jersey Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2001, Innovation and productivity in services, OECD Publication Service, Paris Introduction to Marketing Services, Retrieved August 9, 2011, from http://www.scribd.com/doc/18745048/servicesmarketingnotes/ Marketing mix for services, 2007, Retrieved August 10, 2011, from http://varsitylecture.com/2007/10/24/marketing-mix-for-services-2/ Leduc B, Five Successful Marketing Techniques, Retrieved August 9, 2011, from http://www.businessknowhow.com/marketing/5marktech.htm Greenstreet, K 2009, How to Choose the Best Marketing Techniques, Retrieved August 10, 2011, from http://www.passionforbusiness.com/articles/choose-best-marketing-techniques.htm Read More