Chapter 11: Designing and Managing Services

A service is any act or performance that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything. It may or may not be tied to a physical product. The service component can be a major or minor part of the total offering. Services are intangible inseparable, variable, and perishable, and each characteristic poses marketing challenges. Marketers must find ways to give tangibility to intangibles, to increase the productivity of service providers, to increase and standardize the quality of the service provided and to match the supply of services with demand.

Marketers of services face new realities in the 21^st century due to customer empowerment, customer co-production and the need to satisfy employees as well as customers. Marketers can differentiate their services offerings through primary and secondary services features as well as continual innovations. Superior service delivery requires managing customer expectations and incorporating self-service technologies. To offer the best support, a manufacturer must identify the services customers value most and their relative importance. It should also plan for delivering service after the purchase.

Managing service quality

According to one study, the factors that cause customers to switch services fall into eight categories: pricing, inconvenience, core service failure, service encounter failures, response to service failure, competition, ethical problems, and involuntary switching. Two important considerations in delivering service quality are managing customer expectations and incorporation self-service technologies.

Chapter 8: Creating Brand Equity

Defining Brand Equity

It is the added value endowed on products and services. It reflects in the way consumers think, feel and act with respect to the brand, as well as in the prices, market share, and profitability the brand commands. There are various perspectives toward brand equity; customer-based brand equity; is the differential effect brand knowledge has on consumer response to that brand’s marketing. 

A brand has positive customer-based brand equity when customers react more favorably to a product and its marketing when the brand is identified, than when it is not identified. A brand has negative customer – based brand equity if consumers react less favorably to its marketing activity under the same circumstances.

There are three key ingredients of customer-based brand equity.

First, brand equity arises from differences in consumer response. If no difference s occur, the brand-name product is essential a commodity, and competition will probably be based on price.

Second differences in response are a result of a consumer’s brand knowledge, all the thoughts, feelings, images, experiences and beliefs associated with the brand. Brands must create strong, favorable, and unique brand associations with customers.

Third, brand equity is reflected in perceptions, preferences, and behavior related to all aspects of the brand’s marketing. Stronger brands lead to greater loyalty and revenue, larger profit margins, less vulnerability to competition and increased marketing communications effectiveness.

Marketing assignment

Chapter 4

Creating long term loyalty relationship is the foundation of marketing is a strong customer relationships, marketers must win customers by connecting with them, listening and responding to them. The cornerstone of holistic marketing is strong customer relationship, marketers must win customers by connecting with them through listening and responding to them, informing, engaging them and energizing them in process.

Building customer value, satisfaction and loyalty consumers are better educated and informed than ever, they have tools to verify companies’ claims and seek out superior alternatives.

Customer-perceived value is the difference between the prospective customers evaluation of all the benefits and all the costs of an offering and the perceived alternatives.

Personal point view

I work with a road construction company, my example of creating long term relationship, the President announced that the Cabinet meeting will be held at the Army training Camp, we worked on that road with immediately without a contract to maintain our client the Government and acquired 70%of the market.

Chapter 5

Analyzing Consumer market is the primary importance to understand the psyche of the customers and their   buying motives. Therefore Marketers must fully understand both the theory and reality of consumer’s behavior because a consumer’s buying behavior is influenced by cultural factors is fundamental determinant of a persons wants and behavior, social factors in addition to cultural factors, and personal factors a consumers behavior  is influenced by such social factors as reference groups, family and social roles and statuses. A persons reference groups consists of all the groups that have a direct or indirect influence on his/her attitudes or behavior.
Age and stage in the life cycle People buy different goods and services over a lifetime.
Taste in food, clothes, furniture, and recreation is often age related.

Occupation and economic circumstances also influences consumption patterns, for example a blue-collar worker will buy work clothes, work shoes and lunchboxes but a company president will buy dress suits, air travel and country club membership.

Personality and self concept by personality, we mean a set of distinguishing human psychological traits that lead to relatively consistent and enduring responses to environmental personality and self concept by personality and self concept by personality, we mean a set of distinguishing human psychological traits that lead to relatively consistent and enduring responses to environmental.

Personal point of view

 I went with my sister to a shopping mall she liked a pair of shoes for  that it could look good on me  and she is peer company I ended up being influenced by and bought the shoes this is a social culture factor that influenced me .

Chapter 6

Analyzing Business Markets to find out what information you need to know about potential customers for your business. The business market consists of all the organizations that acquire goods and services used in the production of other products or services that are sold, rented or supplied to others. The major industries making up the business market are agriculture, forestry and fisheries, mining, manufacturing, construction, transportation, communication, public utilities, banking, finance and insurance, distribution and services. Business marketers face many of the same challenges as consumer marketers, in particular understanding their customers and what they value is of paramount important to both.

Personal experience

I had food supplements for forever living and I analyzed my market and I found it was best needed by aged people because they are the ones that have loose of appetite and consume these products and actually I got a lot of clients in this class of people.

Chapter 7

Identifying market segments and targets is the aggregating of prospect buyers into groups that have common needs and will respond similarly to a marketing action using different marketing mixes to help gain competitive advantage with a specific segment, selling two or more products with different features targeted to different market segment, segmentation in linking needs to actions and is grouped into two people or organizations according to similarity of needs and the benefits desired and must be related to specific tangible marketing actions.

Brainstorm a list of potential market segments for your product or service. Use your research about the competition to help determine which segments have unmet needs or problems relevant to your product or service. Write your answers below.

Identify key characteristics of each market segment related to your product or service. list the market segments you then identify  in the left-hand column, across the top, list the major features or benefits of your product or service, Then check each feature or benefit that is most valuable to each market segment to determine which segment is your most likely target market

Personal experience

There is an umbrella company called Crystal ventures limed that used market segmentation to the fullest of it, it is into road construction, estate construction, production of construction products, tiles factory, food processing industry and a coffee shop and it is very successful.

Lilian

Marketing assignment week two

Chapter 4

Creating long term loyalty relationship is the foundation of marketing and  strong customer relationships, marketers must win customers by connecting with them, listening and responding to them.

Personal point view

I work with a road construction company, my example of creating long term relationship, the President announced that the Cabinet meeting will be held at the Army training Camp, we worked on that road with immediately without a contract to maintain our client the Government and acquired 70%of the market.

Chapter 5

Analyzing Consumer market is the primary importance to understand the psyche of the customers and their   buying motives. Therefore Marketers must fully understand both the theory and reality of consumer’s behavior because a consumer’s buying behavior is influenced by cultural, social, and personal factors.

Personal point of view

 I went with my sister to a shopping mall she liked a pair of shoes for  that it could look good on me  and she is peer company I ended up being influenced by and bought the shoes this is a social culture factor that influenced me .

Chapter 6

Analyzing Business Markets to find out what information you need to know about potential customers for your business.

Personal experience

I had food supplements for forever living and I analyzed my market and I found it was best needed by aged people because they are the ones that have loose of appetite and consume these products and actually I got a lot of clients in this class of people.

Chapter 7

Identifying market segments and targets is the aggregating of prospect buyers into groups that have common needs and will respond similarly to a marketing action.

Personal experience

There is an umbrella company called Crystal ventures limed that used market segmentation to the fullest of it, it is into road construction, estate construction, production of construction products, tiles factory, food processing industry and a coffee shop and it is very successful.

Lilian