Service Sector Mraketing - Case Study Example

Service Sector Marketing Service can be defined as an activity or a benefit. It is offered from one person to another, service is intangible for example banking, airline, hotel, insurance or doctor's services etc. that does not result in any kind of ownership from anyone. The service sector all over the world in the recent years has been growing vastly. There are different kinds of service industries, which provide all kinds of services. They are as follows: - 1. Government Service Industry: which offer employment, court, hospital, police & fire department, postal and education (school) services etc. 2. Non-Profit Organizations: these are private companies, which offer services of hospitals, charities, environmental, social issues and educational services etc. 3. Business Organizations: these firms provide services like airlines services, hotel services, bank services, insurance companies, audit firms, law practices, research firms, IT consultant firms and advertising firms etc. Services Industry Marketing A company who is in the business of services must consider the four elements of service characteristics when they are designing their marketing strategy of their service. Those elements are as follows: - 1. Service Intangibility: service intangibility means that services which cannot be seen, touched or smelled before they are purchased for example: train passengers when they buy a ticket before travelling or when people book a room in a hotel in advance etc. 2. Service Variability: service variability means the quality of the service. The quality of the service depends on the person who is going to give it, and when he/she is going to give it and where and how. 3. Service Inseparability: in service inseparability a service cannot be separated from the person who is providing it. In service inseparability both the customer who is getting the service and the person who is providing the service affect the result of the service. The best example for service inseparability is a doctor conducting an examination of a patient. 4. Service Perishability: in service perish-ability a service cannot be kept for later use or sale. An example for service perish-ability would be when hotels charge less or give a discount in off seasons so that a lot of people would be attracted when then for a visit or even when they charge double of the amount in peak of the season. These were the four basic elements or characteristics that have to be kept in mind when a company or an organization is conducting marketing of a service. Now let's look into a hotel business that provides different kinds of services to its customers. Hotel Services A hotel can be defined as a place where people come to stay for a short period of time and have to pay for their rooms, meals and other kinds of services which a hotel provides like a spa or maid service or for laundry or sport facilities etc. People who would like to stay in a hotel have to get their room reserved in advance. A hotel business solely exits to provide comfort and satisfaction for its customers. It not only fulfils the needs of a customer but actually anticipates and provides the need even before it is asked. The success of a hotel depends on its location that where it is located, inside the city or on the outskirts of the city, is it near a beach or on top of a mountain etc. and it should be easy to find for the tourists. Another thing that makes the hotel business a success would be the number of rooms it has. And let's not forget the main thing that makes it a real success is the way the hotel employees behave towards the hotel's customers. The staffs of the hotel have to be extremely friendly to all kinds of people who are staying or visiting the hotel because the needs of a customer always come first. And also because the staffs of the hotel is always in contact with the people who are staying there and those people usually judge or make an opinion about the place on the impressions of the staff or on the reception they get when they are staying there. To increase the success of a hotel what the management should do is start up a tour of sights and sounds for it customers especially people who are from a different town, city or country. When the service is finished or the customer leaves or when their visit has finished, people do not leave with a product but they leave with their feelings like whether anger and annoyance for being treated badly by the staff or they leave with good feelings like happiness, satisfaction and delight at their stay. Since it is the era of technology the hotel should provide their customers with online reservation. And they should have a proper website which would provide its customers information about the hotel and its facilities. And that website should be registered with the travel agencies or search engines like google.com etc. Marketing Strategies For A Hotel Service Until recently service companies did not believe in marketing for the services they provided, but now this tradition is changing. The service companies like hotels have started to market their product i.e. the service they provide. When we are marketing we always think of the 4P's of the marketing mix. They are: Product, Price, Place and Promotion. But these 4P's are used when u are marketing a tangible product like for example bottled water, fizzy drinks, furniture or electronics. But when it comes to the marketing of a service, Booms and Bitner, suggest that three additional P's should be included. And those 3P's are People, Physical Evidence and Process. 1. People: People would mean in a hotel business the employees or the staff that who would be providing the service. The employees of the hotel should be well trained and motivated for their work because employees are the ones who make a big difference in customer satisfaction. 2. Physical Evidence: service companies try to show their service quality through physical evidence and presentation. The hotel would show it through its look and style, how they deal with their customers and the facilities they provide and whether the hotel is clean and their service is quick etc. 3. Process: processes basically mean the way a service company delivers its service. In a hotel the processes would also include the facilities like their restaurants they have within the hotel or they provide their customers with room service etc and other facilities would include sports facilities like a tennis court or a swimming pool or even a gym for its customers etc. Service Profit Chain If a hotel wants to succeed and gain a competitive advantage over its competitors then the hotel must focus its attention on both their employees and its customers because both of these elements are vital for a hotel without them a hotel can be run. The service profit chain is basically a linkage between a hotel's profits with its employees and customer satisfaction. The service profit chain consists of five links and they are: - 1. Internal Service Quality: this basically includes the staff of the hotel, whether they are well trained and motivated for their work. It would also include the work environment of the hotel and how they deal with their customers. 2. Satisfied & Productive Service Employees: this basically includes that the employees of the hotel are satisfied with their work and are loyal to the hotel and are very diligent in their work. 3. Greater Service Value: as the name suggests greater service value it means they management of the hotel working efficiently to create more customer value for the customers who are staying in the hotel and provide them with quick service. 4. Satisfied & Loyal Customers: when the customers are satisfied with the service that is provided by the hotel, they will remain loyal to the hotel and they will spread the word of how well they were treated in that hotel. And it will create more business for the hotel. 5. Healthy Service Profits & Growth: healthy service and profit means that the hotel has done well and it has started to generate profit, and it also means that they provide a good service to their customers and that would give them a competitive edge over their competitors. Types Of Marketing In A Hotel Service Other than the 3P's that are needed for the marketing of a service it also includes: Internal Marketing, External Marketing and Interactive Marketing. 1. Internal Marketing: internal marketing would include the work that is done by the hotel from choosing the best recruits, to training them and to motivate them to provide their customers with the best of the best service when they come to stay in the hotel. 2. External Marketing: external marketing would include the way the management promotes their hotel through advertising on the television or in the newspapers or magazines or through the Internet. It would also include the pricing of the rooms or providing discounts for special occasions like weddings etc. 3. Interactive Marketing: interactive marketing basically shows a description of the employees' skills when serving the customer. As we know that the customer makes an opinion or judge the hotel on the impressions of the staff or on the reception they get when they are staying there. Challenges The hotel basically faces three challenges. And those challenges are 1. That how would they increase the competitive differentiation' This can be done when a hotel creates a differentiated offer: which would include different kinds of packages they could provide their customer like wedding package or a summer or winter package etc. This can also be done when a hotel develops a different image like for example creating a symbol for their hotel so that it would remain in the mind of their potential customers. 2. Next challenge is that how would the increase the service quality' This can be done when the hotel meets with the customer's expectations and the customer is very satisfied with the service that was provide to him/her. 3. The third obstacle is how to increase the productivity of the hotel' This can be done by have a well trained staff and motivated, to create an effective service, to introduce technology that will increase the productivity of the hotel. Conclusion Service can be defined as an activity or a benefit. It is offered from one person to another, service is intangible for example banking, airline, hotel, insurance or doctor's services etc. that does not result in any kind of ownership from anyone. The service sector all over the world in the recent years has been growing vastly. A hotel can be defined as a place where people come to stay for a short period of time and have to pay for their rooms, meals and other kinds of services which a hotel provides like a spa or maid service or for laundry or sport facilities etc. A hotel business solely exits to provide comfort and satisfaction for its customers. It not only fulfils the needs of a customer but actually anticipates and provides the need even before it is asked. If a hotel wants to succeed and gain a competitive advantage over its competitors then the hotel must focus its attention on both their employees and its customers because both of these elements are vital for a hotel without them a hotel can be run. Work Cited 1. Booms, B.H., Bitner, M.J., Marketing Strategies and Organization Structures for Service Firms, American Marketing Association, Chicago, IL, 1982, 47-51 2. Kotler, Philip (1997) Marketing Management. 9th edition. New Jersey 3. Kotler, Philip & Armstrong, Gary. Principles of Marketing. 10th edition. 4. Services Marketing. Retrieved on April 5, 2008 from www.dis.shef.ac.uk/sheila/marketing/services.htm 5. Web definitions for hotels. Retrieved on April 5, 2008 from www.wordnet.princeton.edu Read More