Service Marketing , Product Marketing, Differences between Services and , Characteristics of Services, Services Markets Segmentation

 

Service Marketing

Definition: Service marketing refers to the application of a different set of tactics or strategies to anticipate the consumer’s need for an intangible product. And meet their requirements accordingly, to create maximum value for them from their purchase.

Product Marketing

The entire process, right from the market analysis, to delivering the product to the customer and receiving feedback, is called product marketing. The process is aimed at finding out the right market for its product and its placement in such a way that it gets a good customer response. It entails the promotion and sale of a product to its target audience, i.e. prospective and existing buyers.

Various activities involved in product marketing involve analysis of the market, identification of consumer demand, designing and development of the product, pricing, pitching of a new product, communicating, advertising, positioning, distributing, selling, review, and feedback.

Example: Marketing for tangible goods like books, handbags, laptops, and mobiles. etc. 

 Service Marketing

When a person or business entity promotes services it offers to its customers or clients, it is known as service marketing. It is aimed at providing solutions to the problems or difficulties of the clients. It includes both business-to-business and business-to-consumer marketing.

A service is an act of performing something for someone in exchange for adequate consideration. It is intangible, consumed at the time of its production, and can’t be inventoried and resold. Each service offering is unique in itself because it cannot be repeated exactly alike, even if the service is rendered by the same person.

Example: of services, beauty parlors or salons, spas, coaching centers, health, telecommunication, etc.

Differences between Services and Products

1. Perishability- services cannot be stored for later use or sale since they can only be used during that particular time when they are offered. On the other hand, it can be seen that products are perishable. For example, fresh farm and other food products are perishable and these can also be stored for later use or sale. 
2. Products are tangible – they are physical in nature such that they can be touched, smelled, felt, and even seen. Services are intangible and they can only be felt not seen.
3. Need and Relationship– a product is specifically designed to satisfy the needs and wants of the customers and can be carried away. However, with a service, satisfaction is obtained but nothing is carried away. 
4.   Quality- The quality of products can be compared since these are physical features that can be held. However, it may be difficult to compare the quality of the services rendered by different service providers.
5. Shelf line:- service has a shorter shelf line compared to a product. A product can be sold at a later date if it fails to sell in a given period. 

Characteristics of Services

Lack of ownership may be one of the most obvious ones of characteristics of service. It refers to the fact that you cannot own and store services like you can a product. This characteristic is strongly linked to several other characteristics of services, such as intangibility, perishability, and inseparability.

Inseparability 

Characteristics of services include inseparability, which means that services are produced and consumed at the same time. This also entails that services cannot be separated from their providers. Contrary to services, physical goods are produced, then stored, later sold, and even later consumed. Services are first sold, then produced, and consumed at exactly the same time.  

Intangibility

When thinking about the characteristics of services, intangibility may come to your mind first. Service intangibility means that services cannot be seen, tasted, felt, heard, or smelled before they are bought. You cannot try them out. For instance, airline passengers have nothing but a ticket and a promise that they will arrive at a certain time at a certain destination. But there is nothing that can be touched.

 

Variability 

Variability also belongs to the important characteristics of services. It refers to the fact that the quality of services can vary greatly, depending on who provides them and when, where, and how. Because of the labor-intensive nature of services, there is a great deal of difference in the quality of service provided by various providers, or even by the same providers at different times.

Perishability

Perishability means that services cannot be stored for later sale or use. In other words, services cannot be inventoried. This is one of the most significant characteristics of services, since it may have a major impact on financial results. Doctors or dentists often charge patients for missed appointments because the service value has been foregone. The value existed only at that particular point and disappeared when the patient did not come. 

Services Markets Segmentation

Market segmentation is the process of aggregating customers with similar needs, wants, of buying behavior. Market targeting involves evaluating the attractiveness of the segments and selecting the ones the firm will serve. In other words, segmentation is the analysis conducted about customers and targeting is the managerial decision about whom to serve. Both of these are required for effective market positioning, which involves establishing the competitive position for the service in the mind of the customer and creating or adapting the service mix to fit the position. 

Demographics and socio-economic segmentation

Demographic segmentation includes a number of factors including sex, age, family size, etc. Socio-economic variables may also be considered here, including income education, social class, and ethnic origins. Many retail stores target different customer groups.

 

An interesting example of market segmentation is seen in the banking patterns of consumers based on the lifecycle of the household. 

Usage segmentation

The Usage segmentation focuses on the type and extent of usage patterns. Consumers are typically divided into heavy users, medium users, occasional users, or non-users of the service being considered. 

Promotional response segmentation

It considers how customers respond to a particular form of promotional activity. This may include responding to advertising, sales promotions, in-store displays, and exhibitions. Users of mail-order catalogs tend to be good users of credit cards and will have a higher response rate to other direct mail offerings. 

Marketing Mix or  7Ps 

1. Product: The genuine product being sold to the customer, whether it is a physical item or an intangible service. Additionally included in this P are critical ideas about the product’s look, name, packing, etc.
2. Price: The 2nd P covers any issues related to pricing that is identified with the item. Above all else, overall revenue, and in addition to the estimating of the opposition, manages what the cost of the product will be.
3. Promotion: The expense can soar in correlation to the genuine generation costs, so extraordinary consideration must be taken when choosing how to convey, communicate and offer the products to consumers.
4. Place: The last P of the unique marketing mix, place, manages inquiries of distribution channel, and getting the product to the purchaser. Value-based, practical, and logistical issues are investigated here, and choices made right now incorporate what stores to discover the item in, and whether a sales force is required, in addition to everything else.
5. People: The first P of the expanded marketing mix is concerned with the individuals that are working for the organization. It is imperative to enroll and train the right individuals, on the grounds that this is who the customers will be dealing with.
6. Physical Evidence/Layout: How an item is introduced to the client, including its surroundings is vital. Particularly vital to block and mortar stores that offer an item, they must be inviting, simple to explore, and if the item being sold is on the pricy side, fancier than different spots.
7. Process: The last P methodology manages customer service, and an organization’s capacity to offer service, handle protests, and anticipate any issues before they really happen.