If you want to improve your marketing approach so that you could better analyze the needs of your target market. The 7 Ps of service marketing would help you to increase the customer satisfaction level and brand awareness. They also help you to better organize your marketing plan.
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What is Service Marketing?
The focus of service marketing is to offer such intangible benefits to the customers that they can’t feel, touch, or see. Business professionals employ service marketing to establish and maintain a database of loyal customers in the long term.
Product marketing and service marketing are two different concepts. Service marketing allows customers to have personalized services and benefits relevant to their needs and requirements. The service provider would offer them in person. Usually, customers enjoy the benefits of these services immediately while buying things.
The service marketers often convince the target customers in order to increase the sale by employing the framework of the 7 Ps of service marketing. They use the framework of the four Ps of product marketing.
Why Service Marketing is Important?
The 7 Ps of service marketing are significant because they assist the company to develop a plan about its marketing strategies; whether it should offer a product/service or both. If you’re marketing your product/service, then you can sell it effectively by applying the 7Ps.
It comprises easy-to-remember best practices, and the focus of every practice is on a different aspect of business in order to amplify the sale. The company could establish a better marketing plan and increase sales by reviewing each factor of the 7Ps of service marketing.
What are the 7 Ps of Service Marketing?
The 7Ps of service marketing are as follows;
Product (Service)
The services usually fall under the category of intangible products from the company’s perspective. Since it’s an intangible thing if you’re wondering if the company could save its money and resources by focusing only on the physical element of the product like the packaging.
The focus of the company is to inform the customer about the service that the product carries and how it’s going to satisfy the needs and wants of customers. Businesses should also consider comparing their service packages with the competitors’ offers. A service package usually has four main elements;
- The physical building where the magic of service occurs
- Something extra or additional product that the customers would buy while receiving the service, like the hairspray from the hair salon
- An explicit service that provides obvious benefits like a massage for pain relief
- It could be an implicit service that offers psychological benefits like increment in confidence level after a stylish haircut
Example
The service product is deck cleaning or carpet cleaning
Price
The price strategies of the company impact how the target customers would respond to the discounts, fees, and prices. In fact, customers use price as an indicator to determine the quality of the product/service. If a company is offering higher quality products and services, then it would charge higher prices to attract a similar type of customer. Therefore, companies consider the following factors while developing the pricing strategy;
- Price package to inform customers about the services that the company offers to the customers
- The price of services that competitors are charging for it
- Material and labor cost
- Company’s overhead costs like insurance, rent, and advertising
Place
Location plays a very important role because the company wants customers to visit its place or store in order to sell its products/services. Customers usually buy services in proximity to their residence. However, if a company wants to increase its sale, then it should build a store or place near its target customer market.
Place (distribution) means an area where the company displays its ads and name. Some of the factors that the company should keep in mind when it comes to location and place are as follows;
- The location of competitors’ business
- Online advertisement of local businesses
- The access of customers to the company through driving or walking
- The typical shopping schedule of customers
Example
Banking services offer online/offline platforms to execute various functions like paying bills, transferring money, making a deposit, or other types of transactions.
Promotion
The focus of promotions is to inform potential customers about the brand and the quality of its products and services. Businesses and companies often provide services relevant to their competitors. Marketing and promotion would help you to distinguish yourself from the competitors.
Therefore, companies launch marketing and advertisement campaigns frequently to target the needs and wants of potential customers. The advertisement campaign should comprise of following elements;
- Social media advertisement
- Acquiring endorsement from the influential figures
- Livestreaming
- Contests
People
It’s those people who work for the company and provide customer service. They can impact the service and customer satisfaction level because they offer them services. Customers usually attach services with those people who directly provide them. Better customer services would inspire customers to visit the company repetitively for additional. They prefer the company’s products/services to their friends and relatives. Businesses and companies employ various strategies to improve the customer service level like;
- Providing important instructions to the staff about their interests, career, and repetitive customers
- Developing a protocol for the sale of product/service to the customers in order to make them feel comfortable, especially when sales staff recommend products/services to the customers
- Develop a script for the sales personals, so that they remain consistent with their service offer
- Training sales staff how to answer their questions, greet them, and how resolve their issues relevant to the product or service
Process
Companies launch training and development programs for their employees as a set of processes so that they could perform better service to customers. The process makes sure that the employees have the capability to offer customer service efficiently and be consistent with the quality standards.
Companies employ process mapping techniques to train their staff on what actions to perform when it comes to delivering the service. The process mapping should be consistent because of the following;
- Revising process regular to strengthen company’s existing steps and add the new ones
- Flowchart and transition from one step to another
- When and where action happening detail
- Symbols at various steps of the process and it make it easier for the employees to follows
Physical Evidence
The physical aspect of the company makes it easier for the customers to determine the quality of the product/service that the company is offering. Physical evidence comprises tangible elements, service providing place, or something physical as proof of shopping.
If the service is intangible, then the company offers customers a brochure or a receipt to attach a tangible symbol to the service. Customers receive physical evidence in the following ways;
- Any product brand that customers buy it
- Clothes of staff and employees
- Cleanliness of business or company’s building
- Decoration and color scheme of the service providing facility
- The comfort level of waiting areas
Example
You visit a bakery and they offer you fresh products, and they taste great. You observe dirty floors, spider webs on the ceiling, and flies scattered everywhere. However, the sample product tastes great, but you would like to buy it from some other place that is clean.
