Services Marketing

Chapter 12 : Promotion and Communication of Services

Importance of Communication and its Types

Internal Communication
External Communication

Communication Issues for Service Marketers
Objectives of Promotions

Elements of the Promotion Mix

Personal Selling
Advertising
Sales Promotion
Publicity and Public Relations
Direct Marketing

Promotional Strategies for Services

How to Design a Service Promotion

Which Services to Promote
Who would be the Target Customer
What would be the Value Added to the Product/Brand
Is the Timing Right for Promotion and how long should a Promotional Campaign be Run
Who is Benefited from the Promotions
How to Differentiate a Promotional Campaign

Strategies for Effective Promotion

Chapter Summary

Service organizations can retain existing customers, attract new customers, increase brand awareness, build business, reduce their perceived risk and finally, gain the trust of their customers through promotional campaigns. Service companies should first understand the importance of communication in an organization with its internal and external customers.

It should also learn the various tools used for internal and external communication and employ them effectively. Further, an organization should have an idea about the likely issues that might arise in its communication with internal or external customers. These issues might be due to technology, budgetary constraints, content and delivery.

Further, an organization should understand and clearly formulate the objectives for promotion. These objectives may be targeted at customers, intermediaries, employees or competitors. After deciding on the objectives for promotion, an organization should understand the elements of the promotion mix and use them in the right proportion. The complete communication programs of an organization constitute promotional mix.

These are personal selling, advertising, sales promotion, publicity, public relations, and direct marketing. A service company should also have a knowledge about the basic differences between packaged goods and service industries to design effective promotional techniques. The service personnel play a more important role in service delivery when compared to packaged goods.

The delivery location is also important in services and finally, a service customer acts as a co-producer unlike in packaged goods industry. Keeping these differences in mind, a service company can opt for any of the promotional techniques like sampling, premiums, prize promotions, price/quantity promotions, refunds and future discounts, and coupons.

While designing a specific promotion campaign, a service organization should be able to answer questions like which services are to be promoted, who are the target customers, what value is being added to the service, when should the campaing be launched, how far it should be extended, who are the beneficiaries of the campaign and finally, how can a service firm differentiate its promotion from those of competitors.

Answering the above questions will help a service organization design a service promotional campaign. However, some promotional campaigns still fail as they consume a lot of time and resources and might prove ineffective. Therefore, guidelines are provided for effective promotional campaign.

An organization requires to plan effectively, should have focused objectives, the campaign launch should be perfectly timed, and it should add value by tie-ups and promotional overlays. Further, an organization should motivate its customers, intermediaries and employees, involved in the sales and marketing departments of an organization through its promotional campaigns. Finally, it should develop a well-differentiated campaign from its competitors and regularly assess the success of a campaign.

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