Enso

Services Marketing : The New Marketing

As Rebekah Russell-Bennett recently outlined in an Australian Marketing Institute seminar titled “What’s new in Services Marketing”, new paradigms in services marketing are beginning to gather momentum and challenge the core thinking around selling a service.

One example of an emerging service that has its roots as a product, and is rapidly changing an industry, is Software as a Service (SaaS). Previously, companies had to purchase a piece of software and install it on their machines. Now several catagories of software are available as services where they are installed and maintained on the vendors equipment and run as rich internet applications.
In many cases it changes the way the software is sold, purchased and the relationship between supplier and client. Enso Consultancy’s own innovative Cannonball platform is a prime example of SaaS.

I believe on a practical level that services marketing is the ‘new marketing’ that will inform marketing practice as a whole. It’s about selling the experience or the promise of an improved condition of the customer and can be applied equally to products and services. There is certainly a lessening requirement to distinguish products and services marketing as unique categories. Indeed many products are becoming customised or heterogeneous (such as NIKEiD ), and it is often the intangible qualities of a product that becomes the focus of its marketing. Product marketing has followed services in attempting to establish an ongoing relationship with the customer, one that begins before the product is sold, and continues afterwards. In many cases the product comes with an ongoing service such as support, training or membership to a club of some sort. A great example of this is the Brisbane Lexus dealership. Lexus of Brisbane offers purchasers membership to the Lexus Owners Club with benefits and privileges such as gymnasium, Perisian arcade, billiard room, lounge, boardroom and of course car servicing all within the car dealership’s facilities. Where does one draw the line between the product and the service, the tangible and the intangible?

So, if services marketing is the ‘new marketing’, and IHIP is out the window, what are the emerging ideas that may give us a hint into innovative marketing of the future? Three areas I believe are important considerations in any modern services marketing strategy are value creation, customer centricity and co-creation. Without getting into too much detail, following are 6 practical initiatives which focus on these ideas.

1. Reconsider your marketing to be a service in itself.
   That’s right, your marketing initiatives can be treated as, and become a service for your current and prospective clients. This is a service you provide to them free of charge, and becomes the first stage of the value chain that involves the client. Your marketing efforts should be focused on providing value before any service engagement is made. Simple examples of this are information services (email newsletters, mail-outs), free evaluations / consultation or online resources or entertainment. This form of marketing is pull centric rather than push centric as it draws people with the value it provides.
2. Consider whether you could provide value to clients through your client network.
   If interactions and networking amongst your clients would provide the opportunity for them to extract value from each other, how could you could best facilitate these interactions using your brand as an umbrella. Possible examples include developing an online community or hosting events and functions or providing membership to a club.
3. Consider opportunities for co-creation of marketing through fostering active brand advocacy.
   How could your clients participate as co-creaters of marketing initiatives or even products and services themselves. Co-creation focuses on the customers experiences and derives value for both parties through the relationship formed between the supplier and consumer. The consumer, through involvement (either actively or passively) becomes a great advocate for the brand. An example of a co-created product and service is SugarCRM, in which users around the world create their own customisations specific to their needs, and sometimes this innovation is fed back into the core product and hosted service.
4. Embrace web 2.0 methodologies.
   Web 2.0 facilitates an online relationship and conversation with your customers. The technologies allow you to give your customers a voice and can be an economical platform upon which to facilitate user generated content and co-create value. Check out the article on Web 2.0: A New Dimension in Brand Marketing.
5. Implement a CRM program.
   Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a not software system, it’s a customer centric approach to business. It often involves maintaining intimate knowledge of individual customers, analysing this information and feeding it back to every stage of the marketing and sales process chain. A CRM approach helps you focus the business around the needs of the customer and tailor individual marketing and communication pieces. In modern marketing where relationships are important, CRM is a valuable approach.
6. Build an innovative brand.
   A brand is one of the most valuable assets a services organisation can develop. It is a platform that informs everything an organisation does, from the services they offer, to the client interaction. A brand is the customers’ perception of the values, personality and the quality of an organisations products or services. Innovative brand building and management for a service organisation needs to consider the clients role in their brand, after all, a brand is not what you say it is, it’s what they say it is.