Services Marketing

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Institution

Date

Service marketing

Abstract

A service is intangible and invisible, thus making it hard to describe its value clearly. The ultimate objective of marketing service is establishing a good relationship with the prospective clients, as well as building their trust. There are different characteristics of a service that forms the basis for its difference to a product, and thus demands different marketing strategies as opposed to those of a product. It is important to note that service marketing could be equated to selling oneself to the target audience. The paper intends to describe the differences in a product and a service that causes the difference in the marketing strategies of a product and those of service.

Service marketing refers to the advertisement of economic activities whereby the service provider offers quality facilities to the clients for adequate consideration. It differs from product marketing, especially because product marketing involves alignment of the economic activities with particular products for specified segments (Lovelock & Patterson, 2015).

The customization of service differs from that of a product. This implies that service is tweaked and customized based on the clients’ needs while products are designed and presented to the clients in the standard quality. Hence, the marketing plan should be oriented towards establishing the personal touch offered as well as paying attention to the clients’ wants.

Products can share ownership or even be sold and resold to another person while service is not owned by the client but rather consumes it. This implies that service is permanently linked to the provider. Hence, service marketing should be oriented towards building the brand and character of the service provider.

It is also important to consider the expiration term of service. Service is not stored but rather is consumed instantly. The provider needs to ensure that they offer high-quality services to the client especially because the client cannot return the service upon consuming it. If the client is pleased with the outcome, they are more likely to repurchase the services over and over again. Hence, offering high quality and satisfactory services for the clients plays a key role in earning their trust (Huotari & Hamari, 2017).

Service marketing involves a variety of considerations. One of them is prices. Clients tend to consider the prices of the services offered and compares them to see if it is worth the price. In most cases, the price of a service is perceived as the measurement for standard. High prices are expected to increase clients’ satisfaction. In marketing a service, the provider ought to be aware that services are intangible and hence pricing is a key consideration towards actual consumption of the service and the clients’ acknowledgment.

The place is also an important factor to consider while marketing a service. Clients are most likely to consider check the place utility before considering buying the service from a particular provider. For instance, it is less likely for a client to travel for long distances to receive hairdressing services from a particular hairdresser while they could get the same services at a nearer location from their residence. The closer the service the higher the probability of a client coming to the particular service provider (Pappas, 2019).

It is also vital for the service provider to consider promotion as a key marketing factor. The promotion aims at attracting prospective clients to a particular service provider. The main purpose of promotion is creating brand awareness amongst the target audience and establishing a proxy for service quality assessment. Promotion may be done in different ways such as commercial adverts, endorsements as well as special events. They should be presented in captivating ways that influence the client’s emotions towards a particular brand.

People are also key in service marketing. Clients always tend to judge the quality of service by looking at the first appearance of the providers. The service providers should be well-groomed in such a way that they show high levels of hygiene especially if the services offered are linked to human healthiness. The service providers should also be warm and welcoming to the clients in such a way that they are comfortable receiving the services from particular people. The means of treating the clients play a key role in determining whether the clients will repurchase the services. People’s personality matters a lot (Baker, 2016).

The procedures for delivering a service are equally important in service marketing. While services are invisible and intangible, the clients tend t pay attention to the mode of delivery. The process ensures that the standards desired by the client are met. Process mapping plays a key role in ensuring that a service is viewed as being reliable to the clients.

Physical evidence is also a factor in service marketing. While the services cannot be seen or touched, the clients always look for some physical evidence that represents the services. The physical evidence includes past provided services as references, the place from which the services are offered as well as its ambiance. These are what the clients look at while judging the service delivery procedure (Haider.et.al, 2019).

In conclusion, service marketing is different from product marketing especially because the services are different from products. These differences also translate into the marketing strategies of the services. Among the most important factors to consider in service, marketing is prices, people, place, process, promotion as well as physical evidence.

References

Baker, M. J. (2016). What is marketing?. The Marketing Book (pp. 25-42). Routledge.

Haider, A. A., Zafar, A., Khalid, A., Majid, A., Abdullah, M. A., & Sarwar, M. B. (2019). Marketing Management.

Huotari, K., & Hamari, J. (2017). A definition for gamification: anchoring gamification in the service marketing literature. Electronic Markets, 27(1), 21-31.

Lovelock, C., & Patterson, P. (2015). Services marketing. Pearson Australia.

Pappas, N. (2016). Marketing strategies, perceived risks, and consumer trust in online buying behavior. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 29, 92-103.