.Price
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Price is the amount the consumer must exchange to receive the offering.
The company’s goal in terms of price is really to reduce costs through improving manufacturing and efficiency, and most importantly the marketer needs to increase the perceived value of the benefits of its products and services to the buyer or consumer.
There are many ways to price a product. Let's have a look at some of them and try to understand the best policy/strategy in various situations.
Place
Place includes company activities that make the product available to target consumers.
Place is also known as channel, distribution, or intermediary. It is the mechanism through which goods and/or services are moved from the manufacturer/ service provider to the user or consumer.
Product
Product means the goods-and-services combination the company offers to the target market.
For many a product is simply the tangible, physical item that we buy or sell. You can also think of the product as intangible i.e. a service.
In order to actively explore the nature of a product further, let’s consider it as three different products - the CORE product, the ACTUAL product, and finally the AUGMENTED product.
The Product Life Cycle (PLC) is based upon the biological life cycle. For example, a seed is planted (introduction); it begins to sprout (growth); it shoots out leaves and puts down roots as it becomes an adult (maturity); after a long period as an adult the plant begins to shrink and die out (decline).
The Customer Life Cycle (CLC) has obvious similarities with the Product Life Cycle (PLC). However, CLC focuses upon the creation and delivery of lifetime value to the customer i.e. looks at the products or services that customers NEED throughout their lives.
Promotion
Promotion includes all of the activities marketers undertake to inform consumers about their products and to encourage potential customers to buy these products.
Promotion includes all of the tools available to the marketer for marketing communication. As with Neil H. Borden's marketing mix, marketing communications has its own promotions mix. Whilst there is no absolute agreement on the specific content of a marketing communications mix, there are many promotions elements that are often included such as sales, advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, online communications and personal selling.
- Physical Evidence
(Physical evidence is) . . . The environment in which the service is delivered, and where the firm and customer interact, and any tangible components that facilitate performance or communication of the service.
Physical Evidence is the material part of a service. Strictly speaking there are no physical attributes to a service, so a consumer tends to rely on material cues. There are many examples of physical evidence, including some of the following buildings, equipment, signs and logos, annual accounts and business reports, brochures, your website, and even your business cards.
People
(People are) . . . All human actors who play a part in service delivery and thus influence the buyers' perceptions; namely, the firm's personnel, the customer, and other customers in the service environment.
People are the most important element of any service or experience. Services tend to be produced and consumed at the same moment, and aspects of the customer experience are altered to meet the individual needs of the person consuming it.
Process
Process is) . . . The actual procedures, mechanisms, and flow of activities by which the service is delivered – this service delivery and operating systems.
There are a number of perceptions of the concept of process within the business and marketing literature. Some see processes as a means to achieve an outcome, for example - to achieve a 30% market share a company implements a marketing planning process. However in reality it is more about the customer interface between the business and consumer and how they deal with each other in a series of steps in stages, i.e. throughout the process.
Service Marketing Mix
The service marketing mix is also known
as an extended marketing mix and is an integral part of a service
blueprint design. The service marketing mix consists of 7 P’s as
compared to the 4 P’s of a product marketing mix. Simply said, the
service marketing mix assumes the service as a product itself. However
it adds 3 more P’s which are required for optimum service delivery.
The product marketing mix consists of the 4 P’s which are Product, Pricing, Promotions and Placement. These are discussed in my article on product marketing mix – the 4 P’s.
The extended service marketing mix
places 3 further P’s which include People, Process and Physical
evidence. All of these factors are necessary for optimum service
delivery. Let us discuss the same in further detail.
Product – The product
in service marketing mix is intangible in nature. Like physical products
such as a soap or a detergent, service products cannot be measured.
Tourism industry or the education industry can be an excellent example.
At the same time service products are heterogenous, perishable and cannot be owned.
The service product thus has to be designed with care. Generally
service blue printing is done to define the service product. For example
– a restaurant blue print will be prepared before establishing a
restaurant business. This service blue print defines exactly how the
product (in this case the restaurant) is going to be.
Place - Place in case
of services determine where is the service product going to be located.
The best place to open up a petrol pump is on the highway or in the
city. A place where there is minimum traffic is a wrong location to
start a petrol pump. Similarly a software company will be better placed
in a business hub with a lot of companies nearby rather than being
placed in a town or rural area.
Promotion – Promotions
have become a critical factor in the service marketing mix. Services are
easy to be duplicated and hence it is generally the brand which sets a
service apart from its counterpart. You will find a lot of banks and
telecom companies promoting themselves rigorously. Why is that? It is
because competition in this service sector is generally high and
promotions is necessary to survive. Thus banks, IT companies, and
dotcoms place themselves above the rest by advertising or promotions.
Pricing – Pricing in
case of services is rather more difficult than in case of products. If
you were a restaurant owner, you can price people only for the food you
are serving. But then who will pay for the nice ambience you have built
up for your customers? Who will pay for the band you have for music?
Thus these elements have to be taken into consideration while costing.
Generally service pricing involves taking into consideration labor,
material cost and overhead costs. By adding a profit mark up you get
your final service pricing. You can also read about pricing strategies.
Here on we start towards the extended service marketing mix.
People – People is one
of the elements of service marketing mix. People define a service. If
you have an IT company, your software engineers define you. If you have a
restaurant, your chef and service staff defines you. If you are into
banking, employees in your branch and their behavior towards customers
defines you. In case of service marketing, people can make or break an
organization. Thus many companies nowadays are involved into specially
getting their staff trained in interpersonal skills and customer service
with a focus towards customer satisfaction. In fact many companies have
to undergo accreditation to show that their staff is better than the
rest. Definitely a USP in case of services.
Process – Service
process is the way in which a service is delivered to the end customer.
Lets take the example of two very good companies – Mcdonalds and Fedex.
Both the companies thrive on their quick service and the reason they can
do that is their confidence on their processes. On top of it, the
demand of these services is such that they have to deliver optimally
without a loss in quality. Thus the process of a service company in
delivering its product is of utmost importance. It is also a critical
component in the service blueprint, wherein before establishing the
service, the company defines exactly what should be the process of the
service product reaching the end customer.
Physical Evidence – The
last element in the service marketing mix is a very important element.
As said before, services are intangible in nature. However, to create a
better customer experience tangible elements are also delivered with the
service. Take an example of a restaurant which has only chairs and
tables and good food, or a restaurant which has ambient lighting, nice
music along with good seating arrangement and this also serves good
food. Which one will you prefer? The one with the nice ambience. That’s
physical evidence. Several times, physical evidence is used as a
differentiator in service marketing. Imagine a private hospital and a
government hospital. A private hospital will have plush offices and well
dressed staff. Same cannot be said for a government hospital. Thus
physical evidence acts as a differentiator.
This is the service marketing mix (7p) which is also known as the extended marketing mix.
