Communications and the

Services Marketing Triangle

Company

Internal Marketing External Marketing

Vertical Communications Communication
Horizontal Communications Advertising
Sales Promotion
Public Relations
Direct Marketing

Employees Interactive Marketing Customers

Personal Selling
Customer Service Center
Service Encounters
Servicescapes
Source: Parts of model adapted from work by Christian Gronroos and Phillip Kotler
Advertising or communicating the
intangible, variable, spontaneous and
perishable service

 People and the delivery vary– both the employees

and customers
 Therefore, the marketing communications must be
regulated and coordinated in order to minimize gap
 So many sources for consumer information
 i.e., New services, offerings at one location, but not
the one you visit (banks, fast food
 Cliché’ does the right hand know what the left hand
is doing
Review of marketing communications

 Be sure to be able to define/distinguish:

– Advertising
– Sales promotion
– Public relations
– Direct marketing
– Personal selling
 Identify basic steps for developing an effective
communication campaign.
– Target audience, objectives, budget, etc.
– P. 404
Why do service communication
problems occur?

 Inadequate management of service promises

 Inadequate management of customer
expectations
 Inadequate customer education
 Inadequate internal marketing
communications
Approaches for Integrating
Services Marketing
Communication
Manage
Customer
Expectations

Goal:
Manage Delivery Improve
Service greater than Customer
Promises or equal to Education
promises

Manage
Internal
Marketing
Communication
What to do? Four basic strategies for
matching the service promises with
the delivery

 1. Manage the service promises

– What does this mean?
– Employees and management and the marketing
folks have to do a superb job of coordinating and
designing the service promise
– How?
– Brainstorm about creating an effective service
communication campaign
Effective services communication plan
elements– helping manage promises

 Vivid information
 Interactive imagery
 Focus on tangibles
 Feature the employee(s)
 ***Promise what is possible!
 Encourage word-of-mouth communication
– How?
 Feature the customer!
Services Advertising Strategies Matched
with Properties of Intangibility
Other elements for managing service
promises

 Coordinate external communication

 Make realistic promises!
 Offer service guarantees
– When is good to do this? Review
 Brainstorm pros and cons of internet
advertising
Second strategy of closing Gap 4

 2. Manage the customers’ expectations

 How?
– Offer choices
– Tiered value service offerings
 What are they?
– Amex, airlines, vacations, == bundling
 Give customer criteria to judge the service’s
performance/success
 Negotiate the unrealistic expectations