Category: Service Marketing

Abstract

Marketing a Service is a separate study that emerges as a new business Marketing technique to offer the customers with a Service well designed and implemented strategies that offer customer satisfaction. In this report, the details pertaining to Service marketing are studied and the advantages, strategies and problems are also noted. Certain characteristics of a service that are to be maintained to give positive thoughts in the customer and develop trust in them are classified. The Marketing strategies and trends differ according to various cultures because services are inherent in nature. It describes briefly, a way to start marketing service effectively. It draws the information about building customer-oriented employees to improve services offered and Moments of truth which is essential to note the response of the customers and derive the outcomes to implement new strategies. The conclusions are drawn which identify the major problems and factors that influence Marketing a Service and also to identify the patterns that necessarily improve Service Marketing.

Service Marketing

The term marketing is usually the way of communicating or promoting the advantages and then finding that the service reaches to the right person. Due to the technology growth, marketing has begun its next phase where it not only reaches the customers but also it is about taking the next right decision for the audience.

The marketing of a service, once upon a time used to refer the brand. Now a days, the service marketing is creating an experience to the customers such that they feel seamless and also to increase their brand reputation for serving the moment of needs for the consumers. The organizations will be benefited by following a proper strategical approach. These can be achieved by following few steps.

First thing is to know about the customer. With the available tech, it became easy to track the customers with social networking sites and gathering the data about their interests. Analyze their preferences and take the customer feedback and reviews to give customers the user-friendly experience. Cross-agency functional teams can also be appointed for better understanding of the customers and their needs. Addition of new technologies like AR, VR and Chat bots should be an integral part of the company and should not be treated as innovation projects. Finally, the service providers should create new patterns and experiences and allow the customers to act and take decisions on them.

Various external factors have led to changes in marketing patterns over the past few decades. With emerging global needs, the scope for international marketing reached different heights. With this global market the cultural diversity started to play a crucial role in deciding the pattern of servicing of the market. The effect of these cultural differenced on functioning of market has now become a factor of key interest for the research scholars and marketing analyzers. Various classifications of service marketing have been done depending on the marketing trends during that period to better understand the service marketing proforma.

A conclusion was made that different cultures have different marketing strategies, marketing trends and requirements. It has also been stated that the nature of the product affects the functioning of market. However, this theory couldn’t be explained on a detailed basis and hence researchers argue that a detailed approach is very much necessary and has to be found on an urgent basis to facilitate further research. It is also observed that many marketing firms provide more than one service, this has again given raise to another question on the monopolistic functioning of the market. So, it is now necessary to find out if the firms have different approaches when dealing with different cultures.

Marketing is a huge managerial discipline. The academic Marketing focuses on developing the key practices which are intended for balancing the customer orientation and also to study empirically the improper uses and effects in the organization. The shaping of customer up to the extent of service marketing practices is explained. The value and relationship are the key points of marketing a service. Services have certain characteristics like, perishability, heterogeneity, intangibility and inseparability.

The service marketing lacks the managerial practices when subjected to the customer-oriented practices. Initial data was collected by interviews. During this process, the ideas were developed and the process was continued in stages. So, themes were introduced as to note the various data with respect to the subjectivity of service marketing. The data obtained was analyzed by using a software to understand the role of marketing of service subjected to customer orientation. The observations were made, that the changes clearly made a point to the service and relationship marketing practices.

The empirical study was conducted to know the extent of service marketing practices that can affect the employees to turn into customer-oriented people. The service marketing mix will transform the employees to customer-oriented subjectivity. The marketing of a service practices is translated into an organizational practice. The important conclusion drawn is that the ideal marketing research and the ideas that tend to the managerial practice should come with hard work and dedication of the organization rather than the subjectivity of employees to be customer friendly. They should have expertise in the field and should make the customer feel positive about the service offered.

A service is one which is intangible and is offered to the customer without transferring the ownership. Marketing a service is much more challenging as the customer purchasing it often can be regarded to as buying a risk. Marketing a service requires a good experience and should be able to create a positive vibe in the customers so that the company can earn profits and will be able to come up with strategic thoughts. The service marketing also depends on the reputation of a single person. There can be no going back to bring back the trust in the customers.

The employee must maintain a good reputation to always be on the game, gain the trust, implement new ideas and methods in the way which both the company and the organization are benefitted. The service purchased is different from a product, as there cannot be exchange and also time is more valuable than money.

For a good service, there must be traditional marketing opted. The service offered is to be clearly mentioned for its advantages and to be well identified. The Price of the service offered should give worth as well as bring profits to both the consumer and the company. The place of the service offered should be particularly mentioned. The promotions for the service should be done properly and the uses and advantages should reach the customer effectively. These are the 4 P’s considered while marketing a product. In addition to this there are other factors such as: People should be satisfied as their review helps in improving the service as well as it increases customers. Physical evidence comes into role as the user experience and ambiance creates positive thoughts for the service. The Process is also a consideration as it decides the best service that can be offered subjected to time and skills. These factors totally are to be implemented for a satisfied marketing of a service.

Moments of truth needs a special importance as it is necessary for any company to keep in mind the facts with the customer. This plays crucial role as it determines the customers’ perception relating to the brand. The promises made and the expectations achieved constitute the critical components which determine the success of the business. The positive replies are termed as moments of magic where as the negative outcomes are treated as moment of misery. So, while marketing a service, the company needs to face all the positive and negative expressions and try to outcome the defects.

Conclusion

In the view of service marketing, it can be concluded that Marketing a service is more difficult than that of a product. The customers and the Companies are to be profited simultaneously. The companies should make strategic ideas from time to time to avoid the negative thoughts from the consumers. A service marketing must maintain some rules and factors mentioned to clearly identify the patterns and change accordingly. A service is intangible property offered by a company, so it should see that the trust is built in the consumers. So, marketing a service requires expertise, experience and making timely decisions.

References

1. Allam K. Abu Farha, Paul Sergius Koku, Sam O. Al-Kwifi, Zafar U. Ahmed, Journal of Services Marketing. ISSN: 0887-6045. Publication date: 12 December 2019
2. Laura Lake, how to market a new service effectively, May 2019. Retrieved from, https://www.thebalancesmb.com/learn-how-to-market-a-service-effectively-2296133
3. Skålén, Service Marketing – Building customer-oriented employees, Journal of Marketing Management. Sep2009, Vol. 25 Issue 7-8, p795-809. 15p. 1 Chart.
4. Brian Wong, The Future of Marketing is Marketing as a Service. Oct 2017. Retrieved from, https://www.forbes.com/sites/onmarketing/2017/10/17/future-of-marketing-is-marketing-as-a-service/#7b9a6f639946
5. Prachi Juneja, Service Marketing-Moment of truth, Management Study Guide Content Team. https://www.managementstudyguide.com/moment-of-truth-services-marketing.htm

Service marketing is about connections, significantly more so than different kinds of marketing. Compelling service marketing is significant because, without it, service providers would not draw in and hold clients. Service marketing falls into two classifications: business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C). As a service marketer, there are a couple of interesting points on the off chance that you need to cause your business to flourish. Above all else, ensure you realize how to institutionalize your services and exhibit this institutionalization. With services, it tends to be progressively hard to give a streamlined, reliable product than it is with unmistakable merchandise (Kramer, 2018).

Then again, not all services ought to be institutionalized. Numerous clients take a stab at a customized understanding, for example, while contracting an inside fashioner. Likewise, center around building an enduring relationship with your customers so they return and advance your services. Personalization can go far toward client reliability. Guarantee successful correspondence at all the service’s touchpoints. These are the purposes of collaboration between the service supplier and the consumer, for example, their first gathering and following the consumer buys the service. These can incorporate postcards, messages, and communications with salespeople.

Marketing is frequently characterized by products and services. Service marketing intends to offer types of assistance to individuals who are needing services. Both product marketing and service marketing incorporate similar standards and issues. The greater part of the marketing executives and top-level managers concentrate on the products simply because mechanical products decide the way of life and it is accepted that services can likewise be promoted similarly as products. In any case, during the most recent three decades, the circumstance was completely changed. Previously, the modern segment, just as the service segment, had a fast development and the services chose the nature of expectations for everyday comforts. Monetary improvement and social-cultural changes additionally assisted the service segment with growing quickly. Products can, for the most part, fulfill the physical needs just yet services satisfy the social and mental needs of the individuals (Leonard, 2019).

The term ‘service’ is somewhat broad and it comprises a wide assortment of services. Services might be business services that incorporate promoting, banking, and protection. They might be proficient services, for example, clinical guiding, legitimate directing, amusement, instruction, and expressive arts, which help to meet the enthusiastic needs of individuals. A definitive point of both product and service marketing is to offer fulfillment to purchasers. To be successful in the marketing of services, the administration ought to recognize clients’ essential needs well ahead of time. At that point, it should discover available resources to separate its products and services from those of its rivals.

Service marketing is workmanship. The limit of a service supplier is of prime significance since it can draw in the customers to acquire the services. It likewise requires amazing advertising. The organization, which keeps up a decent compatibility with the customer, is constantly a victor. At present, the administrative offices of governments assume a significant job at each intersection. Therefore, the service providers need to set up great compatibility and live contact with them to set the customer’s expectations satisfied in time.

References

1. Leonard, K. (2019). Importance of Service Marketing. Chron Articles
2. Kramer, L. (November 08, 2018). The Importance of Service Marketing [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://bizfluent.com/facts-6805212-importance-service-marketing.html

Executive Summary:

The rapid development of the social economy, the market competition is increasingly fierce, people’s consumption demand is also higher and higher, the purchase of goods not only requires qualified quality, pay more attention to the purchase and use of the process of service in place. Therefore, in the whole marketing process, we should always put the needs and satisfaction of customers in the first place, develop effective marketing measures to expand the consumer group of products and improve the sales performance of products. Service marketing plays an important role in marketing.

Due to the rapid development of market economy globalization, the status of the service industry in the economy is gradually rising, and people’s service awareness of products has been greatly improved compared with the past. As an important means of marketing, service marketing aims to improve customer satisfaction with comprehensive services according to the different needs of customers, so as to improve the economic benefits of enterprises.

1. Introduction:

1.1 Statement of the problem:

Research title: The market of service

Service marketing is a series of activities taken in the marketing process under the premise of fully understanding and satisfying consumer needs. Service as a marketing mix element. With the development of science and technology and the remarkable improvement of social productivity, industrial upgrading and specialized development of production are accelerating day by day. On the one hand, it is increasing that the service content of products, namely the service intensity of products. On the other hand, with the improvement of labor productivity, the market turns to the buyer’s market, which is mean the customers are more concerned about service. As the income level of consumers increases, their consumption demand gradually changes, and the level of demand increases accordingly and expands in the direction of diversification.

the market competition is increasingly fierce, people’s consumption demand is also higher and higher, the purchase of goods not only requires qualified quality, pay more attention to the purchase and use of the process of service in place. Our group would like to analyze the influence of the market of service on us through investigation.

1.2 Research Questions

How does the market of service influence business?

How does the market of service affect customers when they experience it?

1.3 Objectives

To determine the effects of the market of service

To recommend ways/methods to use the market of service to do business

1.4 Scope of Study

The study focuses on the market of service and the effect of Service marketing. Cannabis has been used for centuries for industrial, medical, and recreational purposes. After this study it will help people to be aware of sercice marketing, and having an idea about effects, and people should know how the service marketing use that service marketing could bring to us.

1.5 Sources and methods

The proposed methodology for collecting data for the research of the study of the market of service would be acquired from a combination of qualitative and quantitative secondary research data. This research using the qualitative data will be obtained through textual, visual, or oral data that is mostly from Libraries and other sources and articles from google Scholar. These methods will help this research address the research objectives and provide a more elaborate interpretation and also help analyze the effectiveness of market of service.

On the other hand, the primary strategy for the quantitative data will be obtained from surveys and questionnaires which are typically numbers in an ordered and meaningful way. The surveys and questionnaires will be distributed to students from Hanson College and from other campuses with its primary purpose to acquire information and opinions of the market of service by using a special example. The data collected from surveys and questionnaires will be gathered and analyzed in order to help support and understand the research objectives. The quantitative data will be assessed and evaluated in the overall study of the research objectives that will conclude to accept or reject the hypothesis of the study of market of service.

2. Finding and Discussion:

The findings of the study will be presented in two categories.

1. The research from social networking and critical thinking
2. Data collected from surveys and questionnaires(base on wonderland example)

2.1.The research from social networking and critical thinking

The specification of service:

Different enterprises have their own unique understanding of service marketing, but the service concept is much the same. In different development periods of the enterprise, in order to improve the market competitiveness, in the operation process should always follow the customer-centered service purpose, all customer-oriented, everywhere for customers think, so as to obtain good customer evaluation and affirmation. For example, Canada’s wonderland changed from a ‘theme park’ to a ‘scream park’ during Halloween. In the evening guests can experience the excitement of their favorite rides and specially designed haunted attractions and performances to create a scary Halloween atmosphere.(Canadian Wonderland) We should constantly innovate service marketing methods, according to different service groups, take different service means to absorb customers, through specification of marketing services, improve service quality, expand the service target group, so as to reduce the marketing input of enterprises, reduce the operating costs of enterprises, and bring more benefits to enterprises.

Diversified service strategies:

In the current market, the needs of customers are diversified, hierarchical and personalized. It is necessary to help develop feasible and effective marketing countermeasures and provide detailed and timely product, marketing and service introduction to consumers and potential customers through various channels to attract more consumers. In Canada, we can always listen the advertisement of Canada’s Wonderland. In order to provide their diversified service, while creating a park for adults and thrill seekers, Wonderland also offers a camp spooky specifically for children. Wonderland is always conceived for children, in the children’s theme park, the height of various facilities designed for children. Create small theme parks for specific groups of people. Also, according to the website of Canada’s Wonderland, the park offers a variety of rides at the moment of opening, from leisurely facilities to exciting rides, opening water parks in summer, and launching Halloween-themed activities on Halloween. They have a rigorous work style that will leave a deep and exciting impression on the adults and allow the children to record the wonderful moments when they visit the park. In addition, strange tourists in play at the same time, can listen to the sound of music, give its full sense of experience. Understand the personalized needs of customers in time, do not stick to a certain form of service, to provide a variety of comprehensive and thoughtful service, so that customers really feel that the enterprise for customers want. Service marketing plays an important role in marketing. With the continuous development of market economy, people’s consumption ability has been improved. The marketing method that only relies on product quality to win cannot meet the needs of modern consumers. In the process of product marketing, enterprises should always pay attention to whether the customer’s self-value can be fully reflected, to customer demand as the center, with product quality and perfect service to win consumer recognition.

Innovate service marketing strategies:

The development of enterprises cannot be separated from innovation, which is not only reflected in product innovation, but also reflected in marketing services. In recent years, people have higher and higher requirements on the quality of goods and services, which requires enterprises in the process of service marketing, to adapt to the diversified needs of customers seeking new and different services, strengthen the technical content of goods and product quality, adopt strange, special and new service strategies, and constantly innovate service methods .Canada’s wonderland illustrated that exhilarating cliff-jumping water park attractions and children’s airplane flight experience mountain bay cliffs and soaring over the beagle resort airport at Vaughn location, which will be shown on 2020.(Canada’s Wonderland) Guests can experience the joy of jumping off cliffs from a variety of heights, as well as the ultimate challenge of conquering the 7.5-meter (25-foot) highest peak. (Canada’s Wonderland) The Beagle Brigade airport will fly into Planet Snoopy next year to bring smiles to children and parents. Norm Pirtovshek, general manager of wonderland Canada, said: ‘we are committed to finding new ways to provide interesting, immersive and memorable experiences to guests of all ages.’

2.2. Oral Questionnaire with data conclusion

We collected the data by taking 50 samples(In-person) from our campus to collect the data

1. What is your age?

30% of 16-20

30% of 21-25

20% of 25-30

20% of 30+

2. Have you ever enjoyed any services of marketing?

95% of Yes

0% of No

5% of Not Sure

3. Do you agree that Canada Wonderland is an example of doing business with service marketing? (Open children’s theme parks and develop new programs and activities every year)

90% of Yes

10% of No

4. If you are a customer of Canada wonderland do you think you will attract to go to Canada wonderland because they provide great service marketing?

60% of go to Wonderland 2 times or more

25% of the first time to go to Wonderland

15% don’t want to go to Wonderland

5. Which of the following do you think will most likely impact when using service marketing on the long term?

20% of Negatively

80% of Positively

Through the small oral questionnaire survey on campus, we can summarize and find that service marketing plays an important role in the development of business. Service marketing has a positive influence and role in the development of business, which can attract consumers’ attention and attract them to participate in and consume. In addition, we suggest that we should collect opinions and feedback from more consumers so that magnetic energy can keep our business growing.

3. Conclusion and Recommendation:

Service marketing plays an important role in enterprise marketing. It is necessary to pay close attention to market changes, strengthen service marketing strategies, constantly summarize the experience, and innovate and optimize. Enterprises should follow the principle of customer first, guide consumers to purchase the products they need, meet their consumption needs, expand and stabilize consumer groups, give play to the role of public praise, and promote the long-term development of enterprises in the fierce competition environment.

4. Reference:

1. Amusement Park in Toronto, Ontario. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.canadaswonderland.com/.

Introduction

It is globally accepted that services make up the largest section of many economies not only in the developed nations but also in developing nations. From statistics, service sectors make up close to 80 percent of all employment opportunities in the western nations while agriculture, mining and manufacturing record a decline in growth concerning employment. This is true based on the rate at which technological advancements, globalization, and changes in consumer preferences are taking place. In the same line, the tee service industry is growing at a rapid rate with changes in wealth of the affluent nations and those in middle levels of development.

As nations become wealthier and more developed, the need for quality service delivery systems continues to rise. Ideally, the most developed nations have moved from quality service economies to experience economies and this means that in the developed nations, the main focus of service marketing is to create and achieve desired customer experiences to ensure high customer satisfaction that has a direct bearing on loyalty and customer commitment. This work aims to explore the existing evidence-based research findings on service marketing to create a better understanding of the service industry. This is driven by the notion that the service industry is characterized by an inherent and intimate interconnection of nature, operations, marketing, technology, and human issues.

Service marketing research review

Kostis Indounas (2018) carried out research in which he investigated the “Market structure and pricing objectives in the services sector”. The main focus of this work was to assess the pricing objectives that are deployed by the service companies in the process of setting prices for their services. Besides, the researcher investigated the impact of the prevailing market structures on the pricing objectives. Pricing objectives according to the researcher include customer-related objectives, sales-related objectives and profit-related objectives (Indounas, 2018). The study was conducted by use of data from 184 service companies primarily in the logistic, financial, information technology and airline sectors which are the most conspicuous service companies in many countries.

From the study, the researcher found that companies from which data was collected have a pattern of pricing objectives and their main focus is to retain their existing customers and to attract new customers into their company. This is to ensure that the companies remain relevant in the market, not for the short term but long term. This did not indicate that the companies do not consider the financial aspects within their objectives. The study also found out that market structures impact on the pricing objectives such that different market structures attract different pricing objectives.

Maria-Eugenia Ruiz-Molina, Martina Gallarza andIrene Gil-Saura in their study on “A review of value drivers in service settings” (2018) noted that perceived value and customer loyalty are researched together in many studies in service marketing. This is done by use of SEM models. The research aimed at exploring the literature available on the multiple dimensions of illustrating the value of perceived value by customers and the role played by this value in contributing to customer loyalty. This is because customer loyalty in the service sector is derived from the perceived value that a consumer attaches to the service itself and the service provider as an individual.

The study was conducted by surveying approximately 460 Spanish consumers who were interrogated at the exit of a store that offered grocery and home furnishing in seven of its retail chains. The responses were analyzed by an ACHAID analysis on loyalty which was expressed in nine main dimensions. The dimensions from which the consumers expressed their value were “efficiency, service quality, product quality, and emotional value, value for money, social value, aesthetic value, escapism and ethics” (Maria-Eugenia Ruiz-Molina, 2018). The study found that efficiency is what customers prioritize in the grocery service delivery but it is not being prioritized in the home furnishing section of service delivery. On the contrary, product quality, emotional value, and aesthetics are great drivers of perceived values by customers in areas of service accessed by most loyal customers.

The research concluded that retailers must make sure that they identify the dimensions of service that are likely to drive values by customers to be able to understand how they can enhance customer loyalty. This is because customer loyalty is not only driven by the intangible and tangible elements of service delivery but also by the functional and emotional elements of the service (Maria-Eugenia Ruiz-Molina, 2018).

In a different study, Vai Shiem Leong, Sally Hibbert and Christine Ennew (2018) investigated the need for “Communicating value to enhance service visualization”. In the study, the researchers aimed at examining the impacts of improved imagination of intangible service value which is achieved by integrating the means-ends aspects in advertisements (Vai Shiem Leong, 2018). The research focused on banking advertisements and how the messages used in those advertisements help consumers to derive salient values that they desire. This is to assess the stimulation of individualized significance of the messages contained in financial advertisements.

Advertisements are believed to create a cognitive connection by consumers of the clarity of the benefits of the intangible service in question. Effective advertisement of service should be able to adequately create a clear picture of the benefits embedded in the service being advertised. The study found out that effective service advertisement results in greater cognitive connectivity that has a positive implication on the tangibility of the service. Advertisements should be designed to communicate and stimulate the visualization of the perceived benefits and their capacity to meet consumer needs.

Deon Nel, Gené van Heerden, Anthony Chan, Mehdi Ghazisaeedi, Wade Halvorson and Peter Steyn authored a publication in 2011 entitled “Eleven years of scholarly research in the Journal of Services Marketing”. The research paper aimed at analyzing the academic contents of the articles published in the journal of service marketing between 1998 and 2008. This was to facilitate the identification of trends in service marketing in ten years.

Content analysis of the publications within the specified time frame was conducted and a total of 417 articles met the inclusion criteria. Topics by researchers during this period revolved around “service quality and customer satisfaction; service encounters and experience; service design and delivery; customer retention and relationship marketing; internal marketing and support services; service recovery; reverse marketing; modeling and measurement; technology infusion; customer acquisition, advertising, and communication; and lastly strategy, performance, and management” (Deon Nel, 2011). The journal, however, classifies topics in service marketing into “customer policy and service; marketing of services; marketing planning; and service marketing abroad and service quality” (Deon Nel, 2011).

The research found that the majority of research on service marketing is conducted by use of empirical data and the use of adult non-students participants in the samples has been increasing over time. Correlations and regressions have risen in popularity in data analysis and this makes the articles published in the journal of service marketing to be credible sources for use in a literature review. It is concluded that the journal is essentially useful for scholars interested in studying service marketing.

“Promoting customers’ involvement with service brands: evidence from coffee shop customers” is the tile of research that was conducted by Soon-Ho Kim and Seonjeong (Ally) Lee in 2017. In their study, they investigated the ways through which brand loyalty can be maximized by involving the customers. The hypothesis was derived from the principles of involvement theory and the symbolic interaction theory.

The researchers conducted their research by assessing brand loyalty against the provisions of involvement and symbolic interaction theories. The study found that customer-brand identification and service value greatly influences brand loyalty because customers’ involvement in brand decisions creates satisfaction in them making them become loyal consumers (Soon-Ho Kim, 2017).

Lastly, Angela Dobele, Jane Fry, Sharyn Rundle-Thiele and Tim Fry (2017) sought to investigate the kind of information that mothers rely on in their search for a baby health caretaker. In their article titled “Caring for baby: what sources of information do mothers use and trust?” the researchers suggest that there exists a wide array of information channels that service customers access. Not all information accessed is trustworthy and to provide effective information, the service providers must change their behavior. In their study, 472 mothers were recruited in the online survey to contribute to the empirical exploration of the kind of information that those mothers use and trust in their search for a person to care of their babies (Angela Dobele, 2017).

The research found that the more educated a mother is, the more likely it is for them as consumers to trust a health professional as opposed to trusting the family. Magazines were found to be least trusted as sources of health information by mothers (Angela Dobele, 2017). This implies service marketing in magazines may fail to be trusted as compared to the advertisement in other sources such as the television. The research, however, focused on health service marketing and may therefore not be used to generalize on what information source is reliable than the other.

Conclusion

The service sector can be described as one offering many opportunities for business owners and scholars. The field is however faced with a broad array of challenges. The review has highlighted an overview of some themes and concepts in service marketing that are common in the majority of the service companies. The dynamic and ever-evolving nature of the service sector presents researchers with so many areas of study that have not been fully explored and this makes it impossible to draw generalized conclusions from the review. However, the review outlines service marketing as an exciting area of study that presents researchers with an extensive and open opportunity for future research. There are so much art and science embedded in service marketing that is yet to be discovered and published.

Reference

1. Angela Dobele, J. F.-T. (2017). Caring for baby: what sources of information do mothers use and trust? AJournal of Services Marketing, Vol. 31 No. 7, pp. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-02-2015-0104, 677-689.
2. Deon Nel, G. v. (2011). Eleven years of scholarly research in theJournal of Services Marketing. Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 25 Iss: 1 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/08876041111107014, 4-13.
3. Indounas, K. (2018). Market structure and pricing objectives in the services sector. Journal of Services Marketing ISSN: 0887-6045 Vol. 32 No. 7 https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-03-2018-0087, 792-804.
4. Maria-Eugenia Ruiz-Molina, M. G.-S. (2018). A review of value drivers in service settings. Journal of Services Marketing Vol. 32 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-11-2017-0399, 850-867.
5. Soon-Ho Kim, S. (. (2017). Promoting customers’ involvement with service brands: evidence from coffee shop customers. Journal of Services Marketing Vol. 31 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-03-2016-0133, 733-744.
6. Vai Shiem Leong, S. H. (2018). Communicating value to enhance service visualization. Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 32 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-04-2017-0114, 645-656.

Evolution of Service Marketing

As an academic field, service marketing has been in existence from few past decades. Fisk, Brown and Bitner (1993) studied the service marketing literature from its nascent stage in 1953 to its maturity in 1993.They divided this evolution into three stages-

• Crawling Out (1953–1979)- In the first stage, researchers studied and discussed whether this discipline deserves a separate place in literature (Swartz, Bowen & Brown., 1992). The researchers started debating how good and services differ from each other in this this stage.
• Scurrying About (1980–1985)- Later in the stage of ‘Scurrying About’, the focus was on inference of the difference between goods and services. In his attempt to classify services into different types, Lovelock (1983) noted that there is “too much emphasis on drawing distinctions between goods marketing and services marketing and not enough on developing good insights for marketing practices in the service sector”.
• Walking Erect (1986–1993- The ‘Walking Erect’ stage established the existence of services marketing as a distinct field. During the last decade of 20th century, the focus of the literature shifted to various aspects of services such as service quality, service experience, managing demand and supply gap in services, increasing tangibility of intangible service processes, role of technology in service processes etc. (Anuradha malik, 2017)

What is service marketing?

Put in the simplest terms services are deeds, processes, and performance provided or coproduced by one entity or person for another entity or person. Defining it “all economic activities whose output is not a physical product or construction, is generally consumed at the time it is produced, and provides added value in forms (such as convenience, amusement, timelines, comfort, or health) that are essentially intangible concerns of its first purchaser.”

A business that offers a set of different and various services to customers, whether it is in hospitality, travel, healthcare or professional services like a lawyer, engineer, architect etc., is part of the service industry and offers its skills and technology to the end-users or other businesses. If the business directly interacts with the consumer, then it falls under the business-to-consumer (B2C) service category; whereas, if the business offers its services to other businesses, it falls under the business-to-business (B2B) services. Whatever the kind of services your business offers, you need a marketing plan to promote it and create the right service marketing mix to communicate your offerings to your audience. This course can help get started on creating a marketing plan for your business.

Any method that can communicate a service’s appeal and benefits to customers is a valid approach, including informational content, promotional deals, advertisements, and many other kinds of marketing materials.

While product marketing involves tangible goods that can be seen, heard, felt, smelt or tasted by the consumers, service marketing highlights on performance, process, customer value and benefits to the end-users. So, whether you are a service executive in a large firm or the owner of a small services company, it is imperative for you to understand the various aspects of service marketing and creating the right mix of promotional tools and methods. We will be touching upon these various factors and more in our discussion here. (Richa, 2014)

Key Characteristics of Services

Grönroos (1991) highlighted that instead of creating perfect definition of services, researchers should focus on examining the characteristics of services. Some main characteristics of services are intangibility, heterogeneity, lack of ownership, inseparability, perishability, shorter supply chains etc. The most widely discussed characteristics in literature are intangibility, heterogeneity, inseparability and perishability, and are known as IHIP characteristics (Parry, Newnes & Huang, 2011).

Intangible: The term was first used in literature by Regan (1963). Services are not physical products. You cannot touch, see, touch or smell services. Since services are intangible in nature, it is difficult to gather information about them or compare various alternatives. The intangibility level varies from service to service. Heterogeneous: It is difficult to standardize services. Even if the same person is performing the service again and again, the service output tends to be heterogeneous in nature. Companies try to make their services more homogeneous and consistent by using standardized processes or through technological innovations. Inseparable: Services cannot be separated from source. Therefore, the role of service provider is very crucial in-service delivery. For example- In a hospital, the doctor is a part of the consultation service that is being provided to the patients. In contrast, goods are manufactured and distributed to whole-sellers/ retailers or other middlemen who then later on sell goods to consumers. Perishable: Usually, services are produced and consumed at the same time. A provider cannot manufacture their services and store them like goods. So, we cannot have an inventory of services. For example- A haircut or seat in airline cannot be stored. Perishability becomes a challenge for the service providers since it is difficult to regulate supply with changes in demand. Other Characteristics: There is lack of ownership in services. Payment for service doesn’t entitle a consumer to own a service. So, a consumer can use and can have access to a service but cannot own it. Services cannot be returned like goods. For example- If a consumer buys a defective TV set, he can return or exchange it, but he cannot return a haircut or a operation by a doctor. Usually, services are provided directly to the consumers and middlemen are generally not present in supply chain of services. Even when middlemen are involved, the supply chain is often limited to one or two intermediaries. (Anuradha malik, 2017)

Elements of Service Marketing Mix

Product – Unlike a product, a service is intangible and cannot be measured in terms of look, feel and other qualities present in a commodity. However, it can be customized to suit the user requirements and give a personal touch. However, the service product is heterogeneous and perishable in nature just like a normal product and needs to be designed with the utmost care to increase customer satisfaction. Master positioning your B2B services with this course. A product is something which satisfies the needs and wants of the customer. It is the actual item which is held for sale in the market. Product mix constitutes the combination of all the services for sale in the market.

For example, the product mix of a saloon will be a combination haircut service, manicure and pedicure service, facial, shaving etc.

The life cycle of services is same as that of a product as it starts from the day it was first thought until the time it is finally removed from the market.

Pricing – The pricing strategy for services is difficult to achieve unlike in products, wherein the final price depends on the raw materials, cost of production and distribution etc. However, in service pricing, you cannot measure the cost of the services you offer that easily. For example, in the education industry, how would you set the price of the quality of education imparted? Or if you are in the food and hospitality industry, how would you charge the customers for the care shown by the host or hostess, the ambience in the restaurant or the fine taste of your delicacies? Therefore, pricing plays a crucial role in the services marketing mix for your business. Learn how to price your service with confidence in this course.

Price is the amount which the customer pays for the product. But unlike goods pricing, pricing of services are a bit different and a bit difficult. Price of a service include the actual costs of goods used (if any), process costs (labour costs + overheads) and profits.

Just like goods, businesses can decide from one of these practices for pricing

• Penetration Pricing (low price kept to capture market share)
• Skimming Pricing (high price initially then lowering of price)
• Competition Pricing (pricing at par of competition)

Pricing decides the position of the product among the competition.

Place – The place where you choose to conduct your service business can make or break your organizational growth. You need to understand how visible your setup would be to potential customers and how frequently it would be visited by consumers. For example, would you set up a fast-food centre near a college or office hub, where students and professionals can quickly grab a bite or next to a big restaurant in a classy neighbourhood?

Place mix is deciding where and how the services will be available to the customers at the right time and at the right place to result in maximum advantage to the business.

Unlike goods, services cannot be separated from its provider and are provided where its provider is. But the same services can be performed by different providers (E.g. different franchise of the same saloon provide same services).

Promotion – The service industry usually has stiff competition across different verticals and your business would need a lot of promotions to pass on the right message to potential customers. While advertising, online and direct marketing are the best ways to promote your service you need to have a good mix of communication channels to address a larger audience.

A business has to convey about its offering and its USP to the customer. It is what keeps it alive in this competitive environment. The promotion mix decides the marketing communication techniques, strategies, and mediums used. The medium includes:

• Advertising
• Branding
• Personal Selling
• Sales Promotion
• Public Relations
• Direct Marketing, and
• Social Media Outreach

People – Your business is not just built on your goals, company vision and principles but also depends heavily on your employees. It is the people who work for you who are responsible in creating happy and returning customers. People in your organization are the epicentre of the quality of your services and need to have the best of talents to gain customer loyalty and trust.

Services are inseparable from the provider. These providers form the people of the service marketing mix. For example, the chef in the restaurant, a banker in the bank, an air hostess in the flight, etc.

Companies spend much time in selecting and training their staff and every other person who represents the company to the customer.

Process – How efficiently your services are delivered to the customer is an important aspect of your service blueprint and you need to emphasize on setting up a process for doing so. You need to ask yourself “Do I want to have a process in place that is quick, reliable and easy to monitor or one that is sluggish but necessarily passes through several layers of hierarchy?” In today’s competitive world, companies are always in the race to deliver services quickly, efficiently and with the highest quality.

The actual mechanism involved in delivering a service is the process. It’s the route of the actual product from the provider to the user. For example, a bank has a definite process for its every operation (to deposit a cheque, to withdraw money, to change your address, etc.).

Since services are diverse, processes involved in carrying out those services are also diverse. Process can be involved in planning and/or in the execution. But it is always involved in carrying out a service.

Process results in uniformity. Hence the process is essential of the services marketing mix.

Physical Evidence – While offering your services, you can either do it without adding a personal touch or by differentiating your offerings by adding an element of delight to the customer. For example, would you prefer to visit a bookstore that only has a stack of books with a cashier nearby or one that also has a place to sit, where you can browse through the book you are interested in and enjoy the light music in the backdrop while you make a choice? The ambiance of a bookstore or restaurant, the music, the friendly face of your travel host etc. are all part of the physical evidence of a service and they are an important element of the service marketing mix.

The services sector has various kinds of businesses catering to the needs of individual consumers or bigger enterprises and larger businesses. Whatever industry domain you conduct your business in ensure to create the right service marketing mix for better customer satisfaction. This in-depth course can help you map out the proper marketing mix for your company.

Services are intangible. But they are often provided along with many tangible elements. Physical evidence includes the environment/place where the service is provided and any tangible elements that facilitate the performance or communication of the service. It’s the tangible part that is more or less complementary to the service. For example, a physical evidence mix of a premium saloon will include the staff’s uniform, a good ambiance created by playing nice music and spraying good room freshener, etc.