Services Marketing

Marketing that is founded on value and relationship and which may be used to market both goods and services is known as services marketing. However it can be noted that marketing a service-base business is different from marketing a product-base business. A service is the action of doing something for someone or something. It is largely intangible (i.e. not material). A product is tangible (i.e. material) since it can be touched and owned. A service tends to be an experience that is consumed at the point where it is purchased, and cannot be owned since is quickly perishes. Marketers generally talk about the nature of a service as

• Inseparable - from the point where it is consumed, and from the provider of the service.
• Intangible - and cannot have a real, physical presence as does a product. For example, motor insurance may have a certificate, but the financial service itself cannot be touched.
• Perishable - in that once it has occurred it cannot be repeated in exactly the same way.
• Variability- since the human involvement of service provision means that no two services will be completely identical.
• Right of ownership - is not taken to the service, since consumers merely experience it. A firm cannot sell it on once it has been consumed, and do not take ownership of it.

Hence in service marketing it is important to note the determinants of service quality which are:

• Reliability -delivering on promises
• Responsiveness -willing to help
• Assurance -inspiring trust and confidence
• Empathy -individualizing customers
• Tangibles - physical representation

The main differences between services marketing and regular marketing is that instead of the traditional "4 P's," Product, Price, Place, Promotion, there are three more "P's" namely People, Physical evidence, and Process. Service Marketing has been relatively gaining importance in the overall scope of marketing as developed economies move further away from industrial importance to service oriented economies.