Service and Product Marketing: Are they fundamentally different or same marketing strategies apply?

By Raimundo Santa Rosa, Student ID no. 15661197

1. INTRODUCTION
Till a few years ago services and product marketing have gone along with not stated difference and some marketers argued that basic marketing strategies could apply to both. But as key product and services differences were realized marketers begun to question their competitive advantage strategies being specially in the services marketing (Abernethy & Butler, 1992, p. 398). This paper agrees to the statement that service marketing is fundamentally different from product marketing on the basis of the intrinsic and extrinsic differences between products and services.

2. DISCUSSION
2.1. Basic differences between products and services Products and services form part of a greater concept: goods that can be classified in three categories: product, service and the mix of the two (Abernethy & Butler, 1992, p. 398; Laureate Online Education, 2009, p. 46). There are some attributes that both of them share but others are not. Among similarities are the fact that they are both marketed, are intended to satisfy a human need at different levels and may share similarities in the production process. But what abounds more are the differences in terms of intangibility, heterogeneity (variability), perishability, inseparability that are intrinsic characteristics of services that goods dont share (Abernethy & Butler, 1992, p. 404-407; Laureate Online Education, 2009, p. 389-392). Fitzgerald (1988, p. 28) adds that goods (products) are fundamentally different from services in terms of (1) definability: products are well defined in their manufacturing process while services are not, i.e. child care; (2) measurability: service measuring sometimes is matter of judgment because the mental investment that enters is sometimes invaluable while products are not; (3) key process: product is finished in the manufacturing process but a service is not created until it is performed; (4) distribution channels: in service providing, due to its inseparability characteristic the consumer has to be present while in a product it can be sent, thus service production and distribution is in most times simultaneous - a car repair is producing and distributing the service; (5) products once launch are inalterable for a related period of time while services can be performed in a personalized way from customer to customer (heterogeneity) and (6) time interval development in products are relatively longer than in services. 2.2. Service marketing strategies Due to the characteristics noted above it is feasible to admit that service marketing is fundamentally different from product marketing and it can be addressed or grouped in the following aspects: Inseparability Due to its inseparability characteristic, that is the consumer has to be present for the service to be performed, service marketing must adopt a marketing philosophy and not a function, holistic marketing is more intense here because this requires close customer relationship. Thus the organization has to make a keen effort for every employee be costumer driven empowering them, meaning that successful business are those that sell satisfaction rather than simply products (Fitzgerald, 1988, p. 28) Intangibility

Marketers of services must be aware of this nuance services have. Thus relying in word of month for creating good services is a profound strategy but a keen effort must be done in tangibilizing the intangible like in advertisement, demonstrating a more beautiful hair than before, a more performing car or service. In Angola Movicel as got it right when advertising the fastness of its wireless internet by demonstrating the downloading bar moving faster in their services than others, such strategies are applied by megaupload and other download sites. The intangibility of products makes it difficult to branding, thus Judd (1967) argues that it is important that the firm name goes along with advertisement. Heterogeneity (variability). if a company is aware of this nuance, it can involve more customers in the production process, collecting their ideas, interacting with them, to make the service more personalized. Another approach is defended by Parasuraman et al. (1983) and Multichannel Merchant (2010)that support that service quality is fundamental for marketing Perishability Because services cannot be stored like products, marketers of services have to lean more on advertising of service availability than products marketers. Relying word-of-mouth alone is not sufficient, though (Abernethy & Butler, 1992, p. 497) defends that world of mouth influence is deeper but on the other hand is uncontrollable. 2.3. Product marketing strategies Product are basically antonyms of the characteristics of services, there are tangible, separable, homogenous and not perishable. Thus marketing strategies for product must be fundamentally viewed from a different prism. Because they are tangible marketers must work hard on product design from its basic characteristics to the satisfaction effect wanted and packaging to attract customers and, the separability feature pushes marketers to invest in more and more distribution channels such as ordering ease. (Laureate Online Education, 2009). 2.4. Similarities in product and service marketing strategies When products and services clash such as in mixed products (products and service together), marketing strategies are similar because since we assume that any firm whether it sells products or services is providing a service for the costumer, marketing strategies applied to products are superior to those of services and they should be the ultimate line of consideration by marketers. Such attributes of service marketing are costumer involvement or empowerment (product manufacturing companies can involve customers in the manufacturing process through group sessions), costumer relationship (more and more customer driven firms gain more market share) and personalization (while service firms can more and more deliver personalized services) product companies can nitch their markets to be more personal to their customers.

3. REFERENCES
Abernethy, A., & Butler, D. (1992). Advertising Information: Services versus Products. Journal of Retailing, 68(4), 398. [Online]. Available from: http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=4679048&site=edslive&scope=site (Accessed 6 December 2010). Fitzgerald, T. (1988). UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN SERVICES AND PRODUCTS TO EXPLOIT YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE. Journal of Services Marketing, 2(1), 25 [Online]. Available from: http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=6989880&site=edslive&scope=site (Accessed 6 December 2010). Judd, R. C. (1967). Similarities or Differences in Product and Service Retailing (Book Review). Journal of Retailing, 43(4), 1. http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=4684585&site=edslive&scope=site

Laureate Online Education (2009) Managing the Environment, 13th Edition, London: Pearson Education. Multichannel Merchant (2010). Why good service is good marketing. Multichannel Merchant, 6(5), 9. Retrieved from Business Source Premier database. [Online]. Available from: http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=51309767&site=edslive&scope=site (Accessed 6 December 2010). Parasuraman, A., Berry, L., & Zeithaml, V. (1983). Service Firms Need Marketing Skills. Business Horizons, 26(6), 28. [Online]. Available from: http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=4530865&site=edslive&scope=site (Accessed 6 December 2010).