M200045MS | Arpith T John

Marketing of Services
Assignment 2

Service brand selected: Ford Motor Company

Ford is an American multinational automobile manufacturer based in Dearborn, Michigan,

USA. It was founded by Henry Ford and registered on June 16, 1903. The company sells
Ford-branded automobiles and commercial vehicles, as well as luxury automobiles. Ford is
the second largest automaker in the United States and the fifth largest in the world based on
2015 vehicle production. At the end of 2010, Ford was the fifth largest automaker in Europe.

Service Marketing Triangle:

Service Marketing Triangle is a dynamic model in which three interconnected groups work
together to develop, promote and deliver services. These key players are labelled on the
points of the triangle: company, customer, supplier. Between these three points of the
triangle, there are three types of marketing that must be executed successfully for a service to
succeed: external marketing, internal marketing and interactive marketing. All of these
activities revolve around delivering and delivering on promises made to customers. For
services, all three types of marketing activities are essential for building and maintaining
relationships with customers.

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External Marketing (Making Promises):

Through these efforts, a company promises its customers what they can expect and how it
will be delivered. Traditional marketing activities such as advertising, sales, special
promotions, and pricing structures of this type of marketing, but for services, also
communicate other factors about promises made to customers. Service employees, facility
design and furnishing, and the service process itself also communicate and help set customer
expectations. Service guarantees and two-way communication are additional ways to
communicate service promises. Unless consistent and realistic promises are made across all
of these external communication vectors, a customer relationship will have a rocky start.
Also, if there is a tendency to promise too much, the relationship could also have a bad start.

External Marketing by Ford Motor:

• Safe and affordable cars for everyone.

• One of the best off-road friendly SUV.

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• Affordable service rates for the customers.

Interactive Marketing (Keeping promises):

External marketing is just the beginning for service marketers – promises made need to be
kept. Keeping promises is the second type of marketing activity captured by the triangle, and
it is the most critical from the customer's perspective. Service promises are often kept or
broken by company employees or third-party vendors, most often in real time. Sometimes
service promises are also realized through technology, as we will see shortly. Interactive
marketing occurs at the moment of truth when the customer interacts with the organization
and the service is produced and consumed. Interestingly, promises are made or broken, and
service reliability is tested every time the customer interacts with the organization.

Interactive Marketing at Ford Motor:

• Use of digital Kiosks at the showrooms to ease the check-in and service selection
process for the customers.

• The pilot program, mobile maintenance service, pick-up and drop facilities of the
customers in need is a good way to show the value the company has towards its
customers.

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Internal Marketing (Enabling promises):

This is the third step that occurs through the activation of promises. For service providers and
systems to keep their promises. They must have the skills, abilities, tools and motivation to
retain. In other words, they must be enabled. These essential services marketing activities are
now known as internal marketing. Area of promise, but unless vendors are recruited, trained,
equipped with appropriate internal tools and systems, and rewarded for good service,
promises may not be delivered. Internal marketing is also based on the assumption that
employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction are inextricably linked.

Internal Marketing at Ford Motor:

• The tagline of “Go Further” aimed at the employees to deliver more that the normal
so as to bring out the best in them.

• Unique process of global supply chain followed by Ford Motors.

• Focusing on enabling the management to analyse the market and come up with
customer focused products putting the innovation of Ford into practice.

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