Marketing Services
Services marketing are a subfield of marketing, which can be split into the two main areas of goods marketing (which includes the marketing of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and durables) and services marketing. Services marketing typically refer to both business to consumer (B2C) and business to business (B2B) services, and include marketing of services like telecommunications services, financial services, all types of hospitality services, car rental services, air travel, health care services and professional services.
Services are economic activities offered by one party to another. Often time-based, performances bring about desired results to recipients, objects, or other assets for which purchasers have responsibility. In exchange for money, time, and effort, service customers expect value from access to goods, labor, professional skills, facilities, networks, and systems; but they do not normally take ownership of any of the physical elements involved. Marketing services is different from marketing goods, and the marketing tools and practices developed for goods marketing are often not directly transferable to the marketing of services.
There has been a long academic debate on what makes services different from goods. The historical perspective in the late-eighteen and early-nineteenth centuries focused on creation and possession of wealth. Classical economists contended that goods were objects of value over which ownership rights could be established and exchanged. Ownership implied tangible possession of an object that had been acquired through purchase, barter or gift from the producer or previous owner and was legally identifiable as the property of the current owner. Services marketing are also educational in nature, especially for new customers. Suppliers need to teach these customers about the benefits of the service, where and when to obtain it, and how to participate in service processes to get the best results. This can be delivered via individuals such as salespeople, at websites, on display screens in self-service equipment and through a variety of advertising media.
