Page 241 - DMGT510_SERVICES_MARKETING

Services Marketing

Notes According to this model, the service consumer moves through various stages in sequence. The
customer is first aware of the service brand, which will generate interest and then desire in the
offer. Once the desire is present, the customer is motivated or ‘driven’ to purchase the service
product. The whole sequence grinds to a halt even if one of the tasks is unachieved. This implies
that without even basic consumer awareness, the service marketer cannot hope for any sales.
The message formulation will depend upon which of these AIDA sequence tasks is to be achieved.

Example: If a health clinic wants to make its target segment aware of the store then the
message will be information-oriented. If a hotel chain wants to increase its bookings during a
slack season like the monsoon, it might advertise for special discounted offers, hoping for a rush
for occupancies.
Message development is guided by the encoding process, which involves the consideration of
four issues:

Message content - what to say;
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Message structure - how to say it logically;
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Message style - creating a strong presence; and
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Message source – Who should develop it.
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The service communication has four choices in encoding: words, symbols, pictures and images.
Select the communication mix or the promotion blend: The communication could have either
personal interaction (one-to-one) or impersonal messages (one-way).

Personal communication consists of personal selling (insurance advisors making a presentation
to customers), word of mouth (publicity and public relations exercises for a restaurant or for a
movie like Devdas), and interaction during service delivery (like inside a retail bank). Impersonal
communication consists of mass communications like advertising in newspapers, TV, outdoor
advertising, point of sale, leaflets and brochures, and the service environment or the Servicescapes
itself.
Select the media vehicle: The media vehicle is selected by the effectiveness and efficiency with
which it reaches the message to the target audience. The message also guides the media vehicle:
if the message is personal, then mass media cannot be used. What becomes effective is letters (on
paper or through e-mail), personal interaction, etc. This is where media analysis would be
required for its audience profile and viewer reading or media habits.

Set up systems for feedback and feed forward: The communicator should undertake two important
exercises to make his present and future messages effective:
Feed forward is a kind of pre-test undertaken before the message has been broadcast to
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ensure that the message will be received.
Feedback is a kind of post-test undertaken after the message has been broadcast to ensure
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that the message was received.
The issues of promotion blend like whether to use public relations more than advertising etc.
have to be clarified by the service marketer. The decision is guided by the following factors for
their differential impact ability on the communication mixes:
The service is for profit or not-for-profit.
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Constraints of ethics exist in some services, like hospitals, healthcare and with doctors.
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Competitive intensity is high or low.
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