Service marketing, are you using this strategy in your company?
If you want to be competitive in the market, you need to show your customers that your service has more attributes than your competitor's.
To achieve this, a service marketing strategy is the right option to gain visibility and position yourself in the market.
Want to know how to apply this strategy to your business and sell more? Keep reading about service marketing and see examples to apply it.
What is service marketing?
Service marketing is a strategy that seeks to promote, publicize and generate sales for companies that work with providing services.
Unlike marketing strategies to promote products, In service marketing, the idea is to make your service well positioned in the market to the point where the customer chooses your company over your competitor's.
And even if you are already a renowned brand in the market, investing in marketing services is essential to remain competitive.
Who is service marketing for?
Service marketing is for any company that provides a service and wants to promote its solutions to potential customers.
Difference between product and service marketing
Product marketing seeks to find, attract, and convert ideal customers to buy your product. Service marketing, on the other hand, is a strategy that aims to show how your company can generate value for a customer.
For example, imagine you own a high school. How will you convince parents that your school is the best option for their child?
Using strategies such as branding and Inbound Marketing, for example, which show, through numbers, evaluations and results, how your service can generate value for the student.
Characteristics of service marketing
What is the purpose of service marketing?
The main objective of service marketing is to generate value through the service offered. In other words, to show the customer that your service can add value to their business, generating more sales.
What are the benefits of service marketing?
Service marketing: examples in practice
Service marketing offers a range of benefits, but does it work for every business?
Follow the service marketing example below and find out:
Imagine that you are interested in having plastic surgery. What is the first thing to do? Look for a good professional, right?
So, you start looking for a specialist in the field, read reviews, ask friends for recommendations. In short, you investigate the professional's entire background.
But if he doesn't invest in service marketing, how will you find him?
And if you do find one, what makes you choose one surgeon over another?
Everyone has their own methods of choice, but we need to agree that:
- Have a good reputation in the area;
- Demonstrate quality results;
- Have credibility;
- Be an authority;
- Having proven experience and a willingness to clarify doubts are factors that make us decide between one or the other, right?
The 8 Ps of Service Marketing
Now that you know what service marketing is, who it is for and what its benefits are, let's look at the 8 pillars that support this strategy and how to implement it in your company:
Product
At this stage, you need to make a list of the main differentiators of your business, and make it very clear why the customer should choose your service and not that of your competitor.
Questions like: “What solution is only your business capable of providing?”, “What differences do I offer?” or “What problems do I solve?” help define what your service is best at.
Price
Pricing a service is even more difficult than calculating the price of a product, because so many things are at stake: reputation, experience and market price.
To help you set your price, consider the following items:
- Your experience time;
- How much did you invest in courses and specializations;
- The time it takes you to perform the service;
- Costs for rent, internet, employees;
- The average price practiced in the market;
- Demand and supply of services equal to yours;
- Differentiators of your service.
Understanding your company's costs is essential for pricing correctly and understanding what margin you have to work with.
Furthermore, assessing supply and demand is another decisive factor for pricing. If supply is too large in relation to demand, your profit margin will be lower.
If demand is high and supply is low, your profit margin may be slightly higher.
Square
Where will your business operate? In a physical space or will you provide services from home?
The square refers to the place where the service will be provided, and does not necessarily need to be a physical space.
After the Covid-19 pandemic, we could see a wave of digital businesses and regardless of the format, your company needs to be where your customer is.
Below are some questions that will help you define your location:
- Is your service provided in a specific region?
- Is there a demand for your type of service in this region?
- How is the provision of this service in the region?
If your service can be provided digitally, your market will also grow. Why?
There are no limits to digital and you can provide your services to a client who is thousands of kilometers away, if that is part of your strategy.
You can invest more marketing effort in areas where there is a lack of supply of your service, for example. That's why it's so important to understand where your potential customer is.
Promotion
Promotion refers to the publicity of your services. And once again we have seen the importance of marketing in service companies.
When promoting your services, be sure to consider your persona in your strategic planning, which content is relevant and on which channels it should be promoted.
At this stage, the digital marketing tools They help a lot to facilitate the process and optimize your time.
But in service marketing, we have 8 Ps. Let's get to know the other 4?
Production
A consumer who understands how each stage of the process works is much more inclined to become a customer, as they gain confidence when hiring the service.
This way, there are no surprises along the way and the customer sees value in the service provided.
Physical evidence or palpability
How will a customer know how good your service is if they have never used it before?
Let your customers speak for you.
No one is better than your customers to prove everything you say about your service, right?
One tip is to collect testimonials from customers who have already used your service and use this as social proof.
You can encourage comments on your Google My Business or even on social media, you can also use satisfaction surveys to encourage comments from your most satisfied customers.
People
Consumers 5.0 seek an experience, more than a product or service. Therefore, the way things are done in your company is an important decision point when hiring your service.
Are your employees well-trained, do they provide good customer service, and are they satisfied with the company? Are your brand values and purpose aligned with your organizational culture?
A company is made up of people. Therefore, choose carefully those who will be by your side providing the service.
A good example of a service that puts people at the center is Netflix. The largest streaming service on the market, with a 25% global market share, humanizes the brand by maintaining very close communication with customers. This creates a sense of community that attracts fans from all over the world.
Productivity and quality
Finally, services must be delivered within the agreed deadlines and with the highest quality. After all, as Philip Kotler once said: “It costs between 5 and 7 times more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one.” And you don’t want to lose a customer you worked hard to acquire, do you?
Service Marketing applied to the Sales Funnel
Service marketing is a strategy that seeks to promote and sell services. To be effective, service marketing must consider the different stages of the sales funnel, from awareness to conversion. Below, we will explore service marketing examples for each stage of the funnel.
Top of the funnel (Awareness)
The first stage of the sales funnel is awareness. At this stage, the goal of service marketing is to attract the public's attention to the service offered.
One way to do this is through advertising. For example, a financial advisory firm might use ads on platforms like Facebook or Google Ads to promote its financial planning services.
These ads may include information about the company, its values, and how it can help customers.
Middle of the Funnel (Consideration)
In the consideration stage, the goal of service marketing is to get the audience to consider the service you are offering. This can be done through educational content such as a blog, a free e-book, or a webinar. For example, a digital marketing company might create a webinar about SEO strategies to help customers better understand the service offered and how it can benefit them. This can help establish the company as an authority on the subject and encourage potential customers to consider its services.
Bottom of the Funnel (Conversion)
At the conversion stage, the goal of service marketing is to convince your audience to become a customer. This can be done through special offers, such as a discount or a free trial. For example, a gym might offer a one-week free trial to attract new customers. This can help convince people to try the service and, if they like it, become regular customers.
Bottom of the Funnel (Loyalty)
The final stage of the sales funnel is loyalty. At this stage, service marketing aims to keep customers happy and encourage them to continue using the service. This can be done through loyalty programs or special discounts for loyal customers. For example, a software company might offer special discounts to customers who renew their subscription annually. This can encourage customers to continue using the service and foster brand loyalty.
Marketing and service promotion: tips from GS2
If you have a service company and don't yet have a service marketing strategy, we've put together some tips for you to start implementing today:
- Define your target audience and your persona;
- Analyze your market niche;
- Create your persona's purchasing journey;
- Plan what content will be produced;
- Choose the channels that will be used;
- Make a schedule of actions;
- Track metrics.
Read more about:
But if implementing a service marketing strategy is a bit complicated for you, count on the help of a Digital marketing consultancy who is an expert on the subject:
Meet GS2 Digital Marketing
We already know that service marketing is essential to help companies grow and become more competitive.
But did you know that a well-designed service marketing strategy helps you sell more?
GS2 Marketing Digital is proof of this. Our success strategy is based on designing your persona's purchasing journey.
We gather data and analyze our successful clients from different segments to come up with a methodology that will increase your sales.
Our agency has the most strategic areas of digital marketing to help you sell more!
Our numbers speak for us and the growth of our customers It's what drives us to do better every day!
Want to know more about how GS2 Marketing can help you boost your sales and implement a successful service marketing strategy?
Talk with us!
