CHAPTER 7- PRODUCT, SERVICES, AND BRANDING

Product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption
and that might satisfy a want or need.
Includes:
-Physical Objectives
-Services
-Events
-Persons
-Places
-Organization
-Ideas
Services are form of product that consist of activities, benefits, or satisfactions offered for a sale
that are essentially intangible and do not result in the ownership of anything.
Includes:
-Dermatologist
-Hotels
-Banking
-Foot spa services

PRODUCT, SERVICES AND EXPERIENCES

A company’s offer to the marketplace often includes both tangible goods and services. The
continuum consist of:
1. Pure tangible goods consist of physical items that can be touched and seen.
2. Tangible goods with accompanying services such as an automobile that offers
accompanying repair services.
3. Hybrid offers consist of equal parts of goods and services.
4. Services with accompanying minor goods such as airline trips with accompanying snacks.
5. Pure services such as offers by those doctor’s, teacher, and ophthalmologist.
3 LEVELS OF PRODUCT
 CORE PRODUCT is the core, problem-solving service, or core benefits that consumer are
really buying when they obtain a product or services.
 ACTUAL PRODUCT may have as many as five characteristics that are combined to deliver
core product benefits. They are:
1. Quality level
2. Features
3. Design
4. Brand Name
5. Packaging
 ARGUMENTED PRODUCT includes any additional consumer services and benefits built
around the core and actual process.
Product Classification

1. Consumer Products are those bought by final consumers for personal consumption

 Convenience Products are consumer products and services that the consumer usually
buys frequently, immediately and with a minimum of comparison and buying efforts.
 Shopping Products are consumers products that the consumer in the process of
selection and purchase, characteristically compares on such bases as suitability, quality,
price, and style. Consumers spend time and effort in gathering information about these
products.
 Specialty Products are consumer products with unique characteristics or brand
identification for which a significant group of buyers is willing to make a special purchase
effort.
 Unsought Products are consumer products that the consumer either does not know
about or knows about but does not normally think of buying. Most major new innovations
are unsought until the consumers becomes aware of them. These products require a lot of
promotional support to be successful.
2. Industrial Products are those bought by individuals and organizations for further processing
or for use in conducting a business. Purpose of purchase is the chief distinction between
industrial products and consumer products.
  Materials and parts most are sold directly to industrial users.
 Capital Items these products aid in the buyer’s production or operations, including
installations and accessory equipment.
 Supplies and Services these could be operational or repair and maintenance. Many of
these services are supplied under contract.

Marketing has broadened in recent years to cover “marketable” entities other than just products and
services.
MARKETABLE ENTITIES
 Organization Marketing consist of activities undertaken to create, maintain, or change
attitudes and behavior of target audiences toward an organization such as churches, colleges,
charities, museums, etc. A major tool to market organization is corporate image advertising.
 Person Marketing are activities undertaken to create, maintain or change attitudes or
behavior toward particular persons like politicians, entertainers, sports figure, doctors, lawyers,
etc.
 Place Marketing involves activities undertaken to create, maintain, or change attitudes
toward a particular places.
 Idea Marketing also called social marketing, is the marketing of social ideas like public
health campaigns, environmental concerns campaign and such as other campaigns as family
planning, human rights and equality, social marketing includes the design, implementation,
and control of program seeking to increase the acceptability of a social idea, or practice within
targeted groups.

INDIVIDUAL PRODUCT DECISIONS

PRODUCT PRODUCT
BRANDING PACKAGING LABELING SUPPORT
ATTRIBUTES
SERVICES
PRODUCT ATTRIBUTES
1. Product Quality is the ability of a product to perform its functions. It includes 2 dimensions:
Level and Consistency.
2. Product Features help to differentiate the product from those competitors products.
3. Product style and design is another way to add distinctiveness. It is the process of
designing a product’s style and usefulness.
 Style simply describes the appearance of a product.
 Design goes to the heart of the product. It contributes to the product’s usefulness as
well as its looks.

BRANDING
-is a brand name, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of these that identifies the maker
or seller of a product or services.

Brand Equity is the value of a brand, based on the extent to which it has high brand loyalty, name
awareness, perceived quality, strong brand associations and other assets such as patents,
trademarks, and channel relationship.

Desirable qualities of a good brand name includes:

 It should suggest something about the product’s benefits and qualities.

 It should be easy to pronounce, recognize, and remember.
 It should be distinctive.
 It should be extendible
 It should translate easily into foreign languages.
 It should be capable of registration and legal protection. Once chosen, the brand name must
be protected.

Figure 7-12: MAJOR BRANDING DECISIONS (PEARSON TECHNOLOGY CENTRE, 2004)

BRAND NAME
BRAND SPONSOR BRAND STRATEGY
SELECTION
A company has four choices when it comes to brand strategy. It can:

1. Introduce line extensions- Existing brand names are extended to new forms, sizes, and
flavors of an existing product category.
2. Introduce brand extensions- Existing brand names are extended to new or modified product
categories.
3. Introduce multibrands- new brand names are introduced in the same product category.
4. Introduce new brand- new brand names in new product categories.

PACKAGING

-is the activity of designing and producing the container or wrapper for a product.

LABELING

-is also a part of packaging and consists of printed information appearing on or with the
package. Labeling performs several functions:

1. It identifies the product or brand.

2. It might describe several things about the product
3. It might promote the product through attractive graphics.

PRODUCT SUPPORT SERVICES

-are the services that augment actual products

PRODUCT DECISION AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

-when making product decisions, companies must observe and take into account public
policy and regulations. Areas of concern would include: acquiring or dropping products, patent
protections, product quality and safety, and product warranties.

PRODUCT LINE DECISIONS

-A product line is a group of products that are closely related because they function in
similar manner. They are sold to the same customers group. They are marketed through the same
types of outlets. They fall within given price ranges.

Product line length- is the number of items in the product line. Product line is influenced by
company objectives. Product lines tend to lengthen over time. As a new products are added to the
line, costs begins to rise up. The line can be lengthened by:
  Product line stretching which is increasing the product line by lengthening it beyond
its current range
a. Downward stretch –this occurs when the company moves from the high end of the
market to lower end.
b. Upward stretch –is done when companies at the lower end of the market want to
enter the higher end.
c. Two-way stretch –it occurs when companies in the middle range of the market may
decide to stretch their line in both directions.
 Product-line filling –is increasing the product line by adding more items within the
present range of the line. Reasons to use this strategy includes:
a. Extra profit
b. Attempting to satisfy dealers
c. Trying to use excess capacity
d. Trying to be the leading full-line company
e. Trying to plug holes to keep out competition; caution is required, however, or
cannibalization and customer confusion can occur.

PRODUCT MIX DECISIONS

-A Product mix or product assortment consists of all the product lines and items that
a particular seller offers for a sale.

SERVICES MARKETING

NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF A SERVICE

A Company must consider four service characteristics when designing marketing programs:

1. Service intangibility which cannot be stored for later sale. Services cannot be seen, tasted,
felt, heard, or smelled before they are bought.
2. Service inseparability which are produced and consumed at the same time and cannot be
separated from their providers, whether the providers are people or machines. Both the
provider and the consumer affect the service outcome.
a. Provider customer interaction is a special feature of services marketing.
3. Service variability –whose quality may vary greatly depending on who provides them and
when, where, and how.
4. Service perishability –which cannot be stored for later sale or use. Services perishability is
not a problem when demand is steady. It is however, when demand fluctuates.
MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR SERVICE FIRMS
Successful service companies focus their attention on both their customers and their employees.
They understand the service-profit chain. The chain has five links:

1. Internal service quality

2. Satisfied and productive service employees
3. Greater service value
4. Satisfied and loyal customers
5. Healthy service profits and growth

THE SERVICE-PROFIT CHAIN (PEARSON TECHNOLOGY CENTRE, 2004)

COMPANY

INTERNAL

MARKETING EXTERNAL

MARKETING

EMPLOYEES INTERNAL CUSTOMERS

MARKETING
 Successful service marketing requires internal marketing and interactive marketing.

INTERNAL MARKETING is marketing by a service firm to train and effectively motive its
customer-contact employees and all the supporting service people to work as a team to provide
customer satisfaction.

INTERACTIVE MARKETING is marketing by a service firm that recognizes that perceived

service quality depends heavily on the quality of buyer-seller interaction.

3 major marketing tasks:

1. Competitive differentiation –this can occurs by differentiating the offer, the delivery, and
their images.
2. Service quality –by consistently delivering higher quality than the competition, the firm can
make progress in customer retention. To have a good service system, the organization must:
a. Empower front-line employees, for example giving them the authority, responsibility, and
incentives, to make it work.
b. Be customer obsessed by have top management commit to quality.
c. Set high service quality standards
d. Watch service performance closely
3. Service productivity. Increase productivity by training employees better. Work on quality as
well as quantity of service. Use technology to help.