fisk_ch09

Prepared by Kerry Kuhn, Griffith University

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Chapter 9 Integral Marketing Communications for Services

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Learning Objectives 1. Appreciate the need for an integrated approach to marketing communications for services 2. Understand the role of the marketing mix in communicating with customers of a service 3. Discuss the role of the promotional mix in marketing communications for services 4. Examine the growing use of the internet in promoting services 3

Learning Objectives 5. Examine the advertising of services 6. Explore sales promotions for services 7. Present the role of personal selling in services 8. Discuss the role of public relations and viral (word-of-mouth) marketing for services

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Chapter Outline I.

Introduction

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Services and Integrated Marketing Communications

III. Marketing Communications and Services IV. The Promotional Mix V.

Advertising the Service

VI. Sales Promotions and Services

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Chapter Outline (cont’d) VII. Personal Selling and Services VIII. Publicity and Services IX. Promoting Services on the Internet X.

Summary and Conclusion

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Services and Integrated Marketing Communications • Integrated marketing communications refers to the pursuit of a single positioning concept for an organisation or its products • This is achieved by planning, coordinating and unifying all its communication devices (Schultz, Tannenbaum and Lauterborn 1996)

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Marketing Communications and Services • Most services are intangible and this creates challenges for service marketers

• Tangibilising the service means making the service more concrete, thus enabling customers to understand it better (Shostack 1977)

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Marketing Communications and Services (cont’d) • Some firms offer giveaways, use trademarks, symbols or standardise processes (e.g. an accounting firm might give a brochure, a calculator and monthly newsletters to reinforce their service)

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The Promotional Mix for Services • The services promotional mix consists of: – Advertising – Sales promotions – Personal selling – Publicity and public relations – Direct mail – Internal personnel branding

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What promotion methods do you use for your 5 star hotel?

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Neil Paterson – Director of Sales and Marketing – Sofitel Gold Coast 11

What promotion methods do you use?

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Bruce White – Director of Marketing – Story Bridge Adventure Climb 12

Advertising the Service • Advertising objectives • Guidelines for advertising services • Enhancing the vividness of services advertising

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Advertising objectives • Goals are to make customers aware and to influence their purchase decisions: – AIDA: achieving customers’ attention, interest, desire and action • Advertising must reflect a customerorientation philosophy using appropriate media

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Evaluate Virgin Blue’s television advertising in terms of AIDA

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Guidelines for advertising services • • • • • •

Provide tangible cues Capitalise on word-of-mouth communication Make the service understood Establish advertising continuity Advertise to employees Promise what is possible

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Enhancing the vividness of services advertising • A vividness strategy is an advertising approach for service offerings that uses concrete language, tangible objects, and dramatisation techniques to tangibilise the intangible

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The advertising mix for Virgin Blue

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Darren Wright – National Marketing Manager – Virgin Blue 19

Enhancing the vividness of services advertising (cont’d) • Interactive imagery uses pictorial representations, verbal associations and letter accentuations that combine an organisation's name and its service to establish a strong link between service name and performance in customers’ minds

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Sales Promotions and Services • Sales promotions – Attract customers – Accommodate cyclical demand (change promotions to suit all climates and trends) – Enhance customers’ perception of the service – Add tangibility — try to tangiblise the intangibles, giving customers something to hold on to 21

Personal Selling and Services • Some specific strategies on the selling of services: – Design and coordinate the service purchase – Facilitate quality assessment – Tangibilise the service – Emphasise organisational image and reputation Source: Adapted from George, William R., J. Patrick Kelly, and Claudia E. Marshall (1983), “Personal Selling of Services,” in Emerging Perspectives on Services Marketing, L..L. Berry, G. L Shostack and G. D. Upah (eds.), Chicago: American Marketing Association, 65–67.

Personal Selling and Services (cont’d) – Use references external to the organisation – Recognise the importance of all public contact service personnel – Recognise customer involvement and co-production during the service design and consumption process

Source: Adapted from George, William R., J. Patrick Kelly, and Claudia E. Marshall (1983), “Personal Selling of Services,” in Emerging Perspectives on Services Marketing, L..L. Berry, G. L Shostack and G. D. Upah (eds.), Chicago: American Marketing Association, 65–67.

How important is personal selling to your service offering?

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Tony Coates – Director of Sales – Story Bridge Adventure Climb 24

Public Relations, Publicity and Services • Service organisations gain tremendously from good publicity – The best publicity an organisation receives comes from happy customers • Service organisations must have plans in place to overcome or control negative publicity when it occurs

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Promoting Services on the Internet • The internet is one of the fastest growing vehicles for service promotion • A distinct medium for transmitting information • It enables service organisations to access and target narrow segments of customers in novel and interactive ways • Website design is now a key feature • Key criteria for good website design includes speed, efficiency, effectiveness and recency, and creative visual impact 27

Promoting Services on the Internet (cont’d)

• A site needs to: – Be easy to use and navigate – Be able to present information in simple language – Have a secure payment format – Have the ability to search and automatically generate suggestions to help consumers find what they want – Include an inventory of services/products on offer 28

Promoting Services on the Internet (cont’d)

• A site needs to: – Be able to build a positive attitude to achieve repeat visits – This is known as the quality of ‘stickiness’ — the site is attractive, encouraging the user to stay longer and make return visits, generating free viral or word-of-mouth communication

• Advertisements can attract customers to online sources of information and retailer websites 29

Promoting Services on the Internet (cont’d)

• Cyberspace advertisements are used as a promotional device for services – cyberspace coupons – contests • Service organisations combine email communication with internet capabilities to create a powerful combination of promotion and selling 30

Summary of marketing communications strategy Operations Input

Human Resources Input

Marketing Objectives Communication Objectives

Marketing Communications Traditional Promotion Mix Front Line Role Physical Evidence Implicit Role of Value, Pricing and Service Quality 31

Chapter summary • Services and Integrated Marketing Communications • Marketing Communications and Services • The Promotional Mix • Advertising the Service

• Sales Promotions and Services • Examine the advertising of services 32

Chapter summary (cont’d) • Explore sales promotions for services • Present the role of personal selling in services • Discuss the role of public relations and viral (word-of-mouth) marketing for services

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