Download MKT 346 Chap 7 Concepts - Cal State LA

Chapter 7:
Promoting Services
and Educating Customers
MKT 346: Marketing of Services
Dr. Houston
Specific Roles of Marketing Communications
Position and differentiate service
Help customer evaluate offerings
Highlight differences that matter
Promote contribution of personnel
Promote contribution of backstage operations
Add value through communication content
Facilitate customer involvement in production
Stimulate or curb demand to match capacity
Overcoming the
Four Problems of Intangibility
Generality
NonSearchability
Abstractness
Mental
Impalpability
• Consumers already know that certain items
comprise a class of objects, persons, or
events
• Services cannot be searched or inspected
before purchase
• Services do not have a one-to-one
correspondence with physical objects
• Hard to understand benefits of complex,
multi-dimensional services
Overcoming Problems of Intangibility
Use tangible cues in advertising
Use metaphors to communicate benefits
Checklist for Marketing Communications Planning:
The Five W’s Model
Who is our target audience?
What do we need to communicate and achieve?
How should we communicate this?
Where should we communicate this?
When do communications need to take place?
Target Audiences:
Three Broad Categories
Prospects
Users
Employees
Common Educational and Promotional
Objectives in Service Settings (Table 6.2)
 Create memorable images of specific companies and brands
 Build awareness/interest for unfamiliar service and brand
 Compare service favorably with competitors’ offerings
 Build preference by communicating brand strengths and benefits
 Reposition service relative to competition
 Reduce uncertainty/perceived risk by providing info and advice
Common Educational and Promotional
Objectives in Service Settings (Table 6.2)
 Provide reassurance (e.g., promote service guarantees)
 Encourage trial by offering promotional incentives
 Familiarize customers with service processes before use
 Teach customers how to use a service to best advantage
 Stimulate demand in off-peak, discourage during peak
 Recognize and reward valued customers and employees
Marketing Communications Mix
for Services (Fig. 7.10a)
Sources of Messages Received by
Target Audience (Fig. 7.10b)
Moving from Impersonal
to Personal Communications
Technology
Impersonal
Communications
Personal
Communications
Messages through Service Delivery Channels
Customer service employees
Service outlets
Self-service delivery points
Messages Originating
from Outside the Organization
Word of Mouth (WOM)
Blogs
Media Coverage
Ethical Issues in Communication
 Advertising, selling, and sales promotion all lend themselves
easily to misuse
 Communication messages often include promises about
benefits and quality of service delivery that don’t happen
 Why were their expectations not met?
Poor internal communications between operations and
marketing personnel concerning level of service
performance
Over promise to get sales
Deceptive promotions
 Unwanted intrusion by aggressive marketers into people’s
personal lives
Strategies for Corporate Design
Unified and distinctive visual appearance for all
tangible elements
Provide recognition and strengthen brand image
Especially useful in competitive markets to stand
out from the crowd and be instantly recognizable
Strategies for Corporate Design
How to stand out and be different?
Use colors in corporate design
Use names as central element
Use trademarked symbol as logo rather than name
Create tangible recognizable symbols
MKT 346 Key Concepts: Chapter 7
 Specific roles of marketing communications
 Challenges and opportunities in communicating services
 The five Ws of service communication planning
 Marketing communications originate from within the organization
through marketing and production channels
 Marketing channels: advertising, public relations, direct marketing,
sales promotion, personal selling, tradeshows, internet
 Production channels: front-line employees and call center staff,
service outlets, self-service delivery points
 Marketing communications originating from outside organization:
word of mouth, blogs and online ratings, media editorial
 Corporate design strategies are part of communication mix