Description
Study on 7 Ps of Services Marketing
The 7 Ps of Services Marketing
Services are very different from products. So the marketing concepts need to be revisited while
marketing a service. Services can range from financial services provided by the banks,
technology services provided by the IT company, food and ambiance as a service provided by
restaurants or even a blog where an author provides a service (information presentation,
interesting reading etc) to his audience. Services marketing are dominated by the 7 Ps of
marketing namely Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process and Physical evidence.
The 7 P framework is one of the most popular framework for deciding a marketing strategy, right
from strategy formulation to actual implementation.
The following form the marketing mix for services marketing, the first 4 P’s being the core and
the next 3 P’s being the extended marketing mix.
? Product is your core offering. This is “the thing” that will fulfill the needs of your customer.
If your product is faulty, every thing else fails. The attributes of the product, vis-a-vis the
attributes offered by competing products and substitutes, are important in estimating the
competitive scenario for the marketing strategy formulation.
? Price has a lot of impact on the service buyer’s satisfaction level. Often, paying a higher price
makes a customer more satisfied. Price is often considered a proxy for quality and vice-versa.
What is important to note that services being all the more intangible, the price becomes an
important factor for the actual service consumption to happen, after service awareness and
service acknowledgement.
? Place often offers a different side of value (utility) to the customer. Who would want to travel
10 miles to have a regular dinner, even if that is priced very competitively and has a super
quality? Services are often chosen for their place utility. Closer to the customer means higher
probability of purchase. Place utility is important to evaluate, for strategizing on the other 6
Ps.
? Promotion plays a role in the perception the possible target audience may have about your
service. There has to be a fit between the promotion and the positioning. Promotion leads to
service (brand) recognition and further establishes a proxy to evaluate quality of services
based by potential customers. Many different promotional tools are often used like internet
advertisement, special events, endorsements which happen out of the store or in-store
merchandising like plastic dump bins anddigital signage.
? People are crucial in service delivery. The best food may not seem equally palatable if the
waitress is in a sour mood. A smile always helps. Intensive training for your human resources
on how to handle customers and how to deal with contingencies, is crucial for your success.
? Processes are important to deliver a quality service. Services being intangible, processes
become all the more crucial to ensure standards are met with. Process mapping ensures that
your service is perceived as being dependable by your target segment.
? Physical evidence affects the customer’s satisfaction. Often, services being intangible,
customers depend on other cues to judge the offering. This is where physical evidence plays a
part. Would you like eating at a joint where the table is greasy or the waitresses and cooks
look untidy and wear a stained apron? Surely you would evaluate the quality of your
experience through proxies such as these.
Services marketing is that elusive concept which stays incomplete without a thorough
understanding of 7 Ps. These form the critical success factors for any service as evaluated by a
possible customer.
doc_429125354.docx
Study on 7 Ps of Services Marketing
The 7 Ps of Services Marketing
Services are very different from products. So the marketing concepts need to be revisited while
marketing a service. Services can range from financial services provided by the banks,
technology services provided by the IT company, food and ambiance as a service provided by
restaurants or even a blog where an author provides a service (information presentation,
interesting reading etc) to his audience. Services marketing are dominated by the 7 Ps of
marketing namely Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process and Physical evidence.
The 7 P framework is one of the most popular framework for deciding a marketing strategy, right
from strategy formulation to actual implementation.
The following form the marketing mix for services marketing, the first 4 P’s being the core and
the next 3 P’s being the extended marketing mix.
? Product is your core offering. This is “the thing” that will fulfill the needs of your customer.
If your product is faulty, every thing else fails. The attributes of the product, vis-a-vis the
attributes offered by competing products and substitutes, are important in estimating the
competitive scenario for the marketing strategy formulation.
? Price has a lot of impact on the service buyer’s satisfaction level. Often, paying a higher price
makes a customer more satisfied. Price is often considered a proxy for quality and vice-versa.
What is important to note that services being all the more intangible, the price becomes an
important factor for the actual service consumption to happen, after service awareness and
service acknowledgement.
? Place often offers a different side of value (utility) to the customer. Who would want to travel
10 miles to have a regular dinner, even if that is priced very competitively and has a super
quality? Services are often chosen for their place utility. Closer to the customer means higher
probability of purchase. Place utility is important to evaluate, for strategizing on the other 6
Ps.
? Promotion plays a role in the perception the possible target audience may have about your
service. There has to be a fit between the promotion and the positioning. Promotion leads to
service (brand) recognition and further establishes a proxy to evaluate quality of services
based by potential customers. Many different promotional tools are often used like internet
advertisement, special events, endorsements which happen out of the store or in-store
merchandising like plastic dump bins anddigital signage.
? People are crucial in service delivery. The best food may not seem equally palatable if the
waitress is in a sour mood. A smile always helps. Intensive training for your human resources
on how to handle customers and how to deal with contingencies, is crucial for your success.
? Processes are important to deliver a quality service. Services being intangible, processes
become all the more crucial to ensure standards are met with. Process mapping ensures that
your service is perceived as being dependable by your target segment.
? Physical evidence affects the customer’s satisfaction. Often, services being intangible,
customers depend on other cues to judge the offering. This is where physical evidence plays a
part. Would you like eating at a joint where the table is greasy or the waitresses and cooks
look untidy and wear a stained apron? Surely you would evaluate the quality of your
experience through proxies such as these.
Services marketing is that elusive concept which stays incomplete without a thorough
understanding of 7 Ps. These form the critical success factors for any service as evaluated by a
possible customer.
doc_429125354.docx