Service Definition in Marketing

Introduction

Service may be an essential aspect of marketing as service is a significant promise that marketing any product or idea gives as prime other than product marketing. Services have many attributes and characteristics that determine the final marketing. So, how is a service defined? It may be defined as an intangible object the customer demands due to money or something else in return. It may be transportation, hospitality, healthcare, consulting, etc. While physical products are tangible, meaning they can be touched and felt, and their physical appearance meets the requirements. But, in the case of services with nothing but an intangible thing that has no physical appearance and can't be felt, they are either done in real-time or delivered at some point.

Examples of daily life services may include haircuts, legal advice by your lawyer, financial planning by a financial adviser or a C.A.

Characteristics of Services

Services generally offer four major and most typical characteristics: intangibility, inseparability, variability, and perishability. This article will discuss all these characteristics and learn how services are offered.

1. Intangibility

As discussed earlier, intangibility is an essential characteristic of services that differentiates them from products. So, we compare the tangible nature, and then the products are actual. At the same time, benefits are intangible, meaning that the services offered by the working class are neither physically present nor can they interact in real-time.

Since services are intangible and their appearance is not in the marketplace, services are more challenging to market and sell than their counterpart products, which are more easily interactive and easy to oversee. So, customers cannot see or touch the services offered in return for some currency, making it harder for them to evaluate their services' value or compare it with other options.

Service providers often rely on customer reviews, testimonials, and word of mouth to market their services.

There are many drawbacks to the property of intangibility, but at the same time, intangibility offers opportunities for differentiation and value creation. Service providers often use branding, marketing, and customer experience techniques to create an effective and engaging service system that can make them stand out from their competitors.

2. Inseparability

The most critical part of service given to the end customer or any company is its inseparability. It means how services by a specific provider can be unique. In simpler terms, services are inseparable between the customer and the provider; the assistance given by a provider is special in aspects and created and consumed simultaneously.

It is not the case with products where goods can be consumed by someone and consumed at different places, or both can be done separately. A customer who has bought some product like a car is independent to drive even without the provider's presence. This is separability here.

But, let us take an example of a salon that gives you a haircut that is typically done to you by a hairdresser or a specific salon artist, and the service is directly connected with it. So, service is inseparable for both customer and the provider.

There are many implications of inseparability for providers, which may cause particular problems for providers, like a manufacturer who can produce a product and sell it to a customer without any situation without a manufacturer. Here, the absence does not affect the business. But, the service company faced many problems. The provider and the customer in need are involved in the production, and the service cannot be given without anyone.

Also, the service providers need to manage the quality of the service delivery process and track it to ensure the last customer satisfaction, as the quality and endurance of service depend wholly upon customer satisfaction. Assistance is given after three basic processes: monitoring service quality, training service providers, and standardization of service quality. The relationship is another aspect of inseparability crucial to service satisfaction and future business growth.

3. Variability

Variability is another crucial aspect of the marketing of services. It may be called the variable nature of services and that a particular type of service is differentiable from provider to provider and depends wholly upon the service provider and the customer taking it. So, why do services vary in terms of quality and endurance? As most of the services are provided by the people and every other guy has some uniqueness in his skills, people from different skillset, races, ethnicity, and stereotypes can have additional knowledge and attitude towards work.

4. Perishability

So, what does the property of perishability mean here? Perishability is a term used to denote that services are not like products that can be stored or resold but are never stored or resold. They are done only once to have the best satisfaction of customers. Services are consumed just after you have demanded them. Let's say we are going for a haircut; we cannot tell the salon owner, "Hey buddy, please store your service and come with me and give the haircut once I need it." So it is different.

For example, if a hair salon has an empty appointment slot, that time cannot be "saved" and used for another customer later. Similarly, if a hotel room goes unused for a night, that revenue opportunity is lost forever.

Perishability creates a unique and challenging problem as service providers often need to manage capacity and resources carefully to achieve maximum satisfaction and good customer feedback due to its perishable nature. High-quality services and pricing are often challenging to manage as they are unlike products.

To address the challenge of perishability, service providers often use techniques like dynamic pricing, yield management, and capacity planning to optimize their revenue and ensure they can meet customer demand without sacrificing quality. By understanding the unique nature of their services and how they are consumed, service providers can develop effective strategies to manage the perishability of their offerings and create value for their customers.

What is service marketing?

Service marketing promotes and sells intangible products or services, such as haircuts, legal advice, or consulting services. Unlike physical products, services cannot be touched or seen before they are purchased, and they are often created and delivered by the same provider. Several unique features characterize service marketing, including intangibility, inseparability, variability, and perishability.

Service providers must understand the basic features of marketing and individual customer demands before effectively marketing their services and finding ways to address them. Strong brand relationships with customers, which can be built by giving exciting offers on weekends, holidays, or festivals, may be a good step in encouraging the customers towards their brand. Building trust may be done by ensuring the most effective services to individual customers. Happy employees make up an excellent company and help it build customer trust.

Service marketing covers all activities in promoting and selling intangible services to customers. This includes everything from market research and strategy development to service delivery and ongoing customer support.

Some of the critical areas that service marketing covers include:

• Understanding customer needs and preferences: Service marketers must deeply understand their customers' needs and preferences to develop services that meet those needs and create value for customers.
• Creating and delivering services: Service marketing involves developing high-quality services that meet customer needs and delivering them in a way that makes a positive customer experience.
• Developing pricing strategies: Service providers must develop pricing strategies that reflect the value of the service being provided and consider the unique characteristics of services, such as their intangibility and perishability.
• Building brand identity and awareness: Service marketers must create a strong brand identity and understanding to establish customer credibility and trust.
• Leveraging technology: Service marketers can use technology to improve service delivery, streamline operations, and enhance the customer experience.
• Providing ongoing customer support: Service providers must provide ongoing support to customers to ensure they are satisfied with the service and to address any issues that arise.

Who uses services marketing?

Service marketing is the most effective type of marketing for those who want their value or organization to offer the public and reach more people. The businesses using this marketing model are transportation, hospitals, entertainment, and financial services. Non-profit organizations or NGOs have been using service marketing in recent years and gaining more popularity; some have done it for crowdfunding.

Service marketing allows its customers to sell and promote its offerings to gain potential and affluent customers, and also, they are pretty different from the older or conventional marketing practices. Unlike these physical products, services are intangible means they do not need to be physically touched, or their presence is not felt.

Marketers face many challenges these years in gaining potential customers that are not very prevalent in physical products. We can take an example to understand it in a better way; the essential property of services is its intimate nature which means it cannot be separated from the service provider; so the image of the provider is the final image of its service, but that's not the case with products which can be delivered and their quality and amount derives their appearance nor the company most of the times.

Service providers are recently seen using different tailored strategies to gain customers by picturing unique features of it, which is done to overcome the challenge of the provider's image, which, when maintained, needs more cost than anything else. Strong brand identity and the credible nature of providers are some effective methods marketers use to improve sales and build up more space for these companies.

Service marketing also involves other things, such as developing pricing strategies to ensure the correct customer reflects service quality. Individual customer needs are also taken care of while advertising.