Marketing Communication in

Service Industry
 Provider GAP 4
CUSTOMER

Service Delivery External

COMPANY Communications
GAP 4 to Customers
Key Factors Leading to Provider Gap 4
 Communications and the
Services Marketing Triangle
Company

Internal Marketing External Marketing

Vertical Communications Communication
Horizontal Communications Advertising
Sales Promotion
Public Relations
Direct Marketing

Employees Interactive Marketing Customers

Personal Selling
Customer Service Center
Service Encounters
Servicescapes
 The role of marketing
Communication
❖ Position & Differentiate the service
❖ Promote the contribution of Service personnel &
Backstage Operation.
❖ Add Value through Communication content.
❖ Facilitate customer Involvement in service
production.
❖ Stimulate or Dampen demand to match capacity.
 Integrated Services
Communications
• Integrated Services Communications
– a strategy that carefully integrates all external and internal
communication channels to present a consistent message to customers
• This means coordination across:
– sales and service people
– print
– Internet
– other forms of tangible communication including the servicescape
• How is this done in services?
– advertising
– sales presentations ▪ public relations
– service encounters with employees ▪ pricing
– servicescape and other tangibles ▪ service guarantees
– Internet and web presence ▪ customer education
 Key Reasons for service
communication problems

❑ Service Intangibility.
❑ Inadequate Management of Service
Promises.
❑ Inadequate Management of Customer
Expectation.
❑ Inadequate Customer Education.
❑ Inadequate Internal Marketing
Communication
Five Major Approaches to Overcome
Service Communication Channels
 Strategies to match service
promises with delivery

❑ Address Service Intangibility.

❑ Manage service promises.
❑ Manage customer expectation.
❑ Improve customer Education.
❑ Manage Internal Marketing
Communication.
1.)Approaches for Addressing
Service Intangibility

✔ Advertising & other communication

strategies that clearly communicate
service attributes and benefits to
consumers.
✔ Strategies designed to encourage
word-of-mouth communication.
 Strategies for Addressing Service
Intangibility

✔ Use narrative to
demonstrate the service ✔ Use buzz or viral marketing
experience ✔ Leverage social media
✔ Present vivid(powerful) ✔ Aim messages to
information influencers
✔ Use interactive imagery ✔ Create advertising that
✔ Focus on the tangibles generates talk because it is
✔ Use brand icons to make humorous, compelling, or
the service tangible unique.
✔ Use association, physical ✔ Feature satisfied
representation, customers in the
documentation, and communication.
visualization ✔ Generate word-of-mouth
✔ Feature service employees through employee
in communication relationships.
Interactive Imagery: Travelers
Focusing on Tangibles Associated with the
Service: The Sierra Club
Use brand icons to make the service
tangible
Services Advertising Strategies Matched
with Properties of Intangibility
 (2) Approaches for Managing Service
Promises

❑ Create a strong service brand.

❑ Coordinate external communication.

14-19
Service Branding Model

14-20
 Coordinate external
communication

One of the most important yet challenging

aspects of managing brand image involves
coordinating all the external communication
vehicles that send information to customers.
This task has become far more challenging
in recent years because a notable trend is
the proliferation of new media.
Not only are traditional communication
vehicles but many form of new media are now
available. Traditional forms includes-
❑ Advertising
❑ Sales promotion
❑ Public Relations
❑ Direct marketing
❑ Personal selling

New media includes-

❑ Social Media
❑ Digital Signage
❑ Blogs
❑ Mobile advertising
❑ Internet adverting etc.
Advertising
 Advertising

“Advertising is simply a way of selling

something in the most effective method
possible .Good advertising creates sales &
not just attention.”
- John E. Kennedy
“Advertising is a paid ,
mediated form of
communication from an
identified source , designed
to persuade the receiver to
 Advertising Objectives

Informative Persuasive
advertising advertising

Reminder Reinforcement
advertising advertising
 A. Informative

Objective of advertising is to inform its targeted

audience/customers about introduction of new product, update or
changes in existing products or product related changes,
information regarding new offers and schemes. Informative
advertising seeks to develop initial demand for a product. The
promotion of any new market entry tends to pursue this objective
because marketing success at this stage often depends simply on
announcing product availability. Thus, informative advertising is
common in the introductory stage of the product life cycle.
 B. Persuasive

Objective of advertising is to increase demand for

existing product by persuading new customer for first
time purchase and existing customers for repurchases.
Persuasive advertising attempts to increase demand for
an existing product. Persuasive advertising is a
competitive type of promotion suited to the growth
stage and the early part of the maturity stage of the
product life cycle.
 C. Reminder

The objective of advertising is to remind

customers about existence of product, and
ongoing promotional activities. Reminder
advertising strives to reinforce previous
promotional activity by keeping the name of a
product before the public. It is common in the
latter part of the maturity stage and throughout
the decline stage of the product life cycle.
 D. Reinforcement

To reinforce the communication in the minds

of the consumer.
 Sales Promotion in Services

Marketing activities—other
than personal selling,
advertising, and public
relations—that stimulate
consumer buying and dealer
effectiveness
Uses of Sales Promotion
Immediate purchases

Increase trial

Boost consumer inventory

Encourage repurchase

Increase ad effectiveness

Encourage brand switching

Encourage brand loyalty

 Objectives
1. To increase sales by publicity through the media which are
complementary to press and poster advertising.
2. To disseminate information through salesmen, dealers etc., so
as to ensure the product getting into satisfactory use by the
ultimate consumers.
3. To stimulate customers to make purchases at the point of
purchase.
4. To prompt existing customers to buy more.
5. To introduce new products.
6. To attract new customers.
7. To meet competition from others effectively.
8. To check seasonal decline in the volume of sales.
 (3) Approaches for Managing Customer
Expectations

❑ Make realistic promises

❑ Offer service guarantees

❑ Offer choices

❑ Create tiered-value service offerings

❑ Communicate the criteria and levels of

service effectiveness
 (4) Approaches for Managing Customer
Education

❑ Prepare customers for the service process

❑ Confirm performance to standards and

expectations

❑ Clarify expectations after the sale

 (5) Approaches for Managing Internal
Marketing Communication

❑ Create effective vertical communications

❑ Create effective horizontal communications
❑ Sell the brand inside the company
❑ Create effective upward communication
❑ Align back-office and support personnel with
external customers through interaction or
measurement
❑ Create cross-functional teams
DHL’s Outdoor Advertising
DHL’s Print Advertising
DHL’s Print Advertising Links to Employees
 “Relax, It’s FedEx” Campaign

• Campaign objective:
– demonstrate that FedEx’s portfolio of services will
help businesses meet their needs more effectively
• Aimed at all businesses:
– from small businesses to corporate customers
• Integrated marketing communications campaign
involves TV, print, and radio ads
– the message: the reliability that customers have
come to expect is now more certain than ever, so they
can “relax”
FedEx Print Advertisements
Ad copy:

Keeping costs down is the most

important thing.
Right after the 107 other things.
Give your customers what they want, when
they want it with FedEx Ground and the vast
FedEx® transportation portfolio. It's a
variety of services that is sure to meet your
variety of transportation needs. Like giving
you product visibility throughout the delivery
process via FedEx InSight® so you can
increase customer expectations and
customer service all while keeping costs
down. To find out everything we can do for
you call 1.800.Go.FedEx
(1.800.463.3339).

distribution.fedex.com/01

Relax, it's FedEx.

FedEx Print Advertisements
Ad copy:

Make your customers happy, even

when they're not.
Turn dissatisfied customers into
customers who come back. FedEx Ground
and the FedEx® transportation portfolio
can give you a returns process that's easy
for your customers and cost effective for
you. Giving the customer what they want,
when they want is a must. No matter how
many tries it takes. To find out what we
can do for you call 1.800.Go.FedEx
(1.800.463.3339).

retail.fedex.com/03

Relax, it's FedEx.

 Sports Sponsorship
• Does not tie in directly with the “Relax, It’s
FedEx” campaign, but increases brand
awareness
 FedEx: Internal
Communications
• Service employees must be well versed in what
ads are promising
• Knowledge of services offered across the
organization
– call centers
– web design
– e-mail response mechanisms
– InSight (new service offered)
• Cross-functional communication
– operations
– public relations/marketing
 FedEx: Metrics for IMC
Campaign

FedEx must be able to evaluate the

effectiveness of integrated marketing
communication campaign
– customer surveys and focus groups about
brand awareness
– number of telephone inquiries
– number of website hits and click-throughs
– number of shipments by customer segment
– growth in sales since campaign inception
 FedEx: IMC Campaign
Effectiveness

• Consistency of message
• Use narratives to demonstrate service
experience
• Presents vivid information
• Promises what is possible
• Encourages word-of-mouth
communication
• Indirectly features service customers
 FedEx: Internal
Communications
• Service employees must be well versed in what
ads are promising
• Knowledge of services offered across the
organization
– call centers
– web design
– e-mail response mechanisms
– InSight (new service offered)
• Cross-functional communication
– operations
– public relations/marketing
 Class Activity

Choose one service organization which uses

advertising as an important communication
medium. Collect various advertisement used
by the organization in order to promote their
services. List the objects that are shown on
the body of copy of their advertisements.
Discuss the reason why these have been
employed.