Marketing products versus marketing services

In this modern age of competition the marketing of a product or service plays a key role in its development. It has been estimated that almost 50% of the price paid for a commodity (whether a product or a service) goes to the marketing of the product in the United States. Marketing is defined as the flow of goods and services from the producer to consumer. It is generally based on relationship and value. In common language it is the distribution and sale of goods and services. Yet marketing a product versus marketing a service can be vastly different and different aspects of marketing must be taken into account.

Product marketing deals with the "4P"'s of marketing, which are Product, Pricing, Place, and Promotion. Product marketing, also deals with more outbound marketing tasks. A Product Market is something that is referred to when pitching a new product to the general public. The people you are trying to make your product appeal to is your consumer market. Product marketing will deal with each of these "P's" both separately and in conjunction with each other.

• Product-This is obviously the first step necessary in product marketing. There must be a product that is viable for the intended target market. Marketers will ask themselves- What products will we be offering (i.e., the breadth and depth of the product line)? Who will be our target customers (i.e., the boundaries of the market segments to be served)? This will give them their first steps in the overall marketing plan.
• Pricing-At what price will our customers respond to our product? To low and customers will discount the value and to high the potential target customers may pass it by.
• Place-Marketers will be determining the best place for the product to reach the target market. They must ask themselves- How will our products reach our intended customers (i.e., the distribution channels to be used)?
• Promotion-How will the product be introduced to the public? Print, televsion or radio media, direct marketing, internet sales etc. are all options that must be considered. In addtion product marketers must ask-Why will customers prefer our products to those of our competitors (i.e., the distinctive attributes and value to be provided)?

Services marketing is known as marketing that is based on relationship and value. This type of marketing may be used to market a service or a product. Marketing a service-base business is vastly different from marketing a product-base business.

Some of the differences between marketing products and services are:

• What the buyer purchases is intangible.


• The service may be based solely on the reputation of a single person


• It is often more difficult to compare the quality of similar services


• The buyer usually cannot return the service

The service marketing mix will add 3 more "P's" to the ones discussed above. These are: people, physical environment, and process (this being the service and follow-through which are keys to a successful venture). Service marketing can also include the servicescape which refers to but is not limited to the aesthetic appearance of the business from the outside, the inside, and the general appearance of the employees themselves. Service Marketing has been relatively gaining ground in the overall spectrum of marketing due to the proliferation of service-oriented businesses.

While there are differences in the marketing between products and services it is worth remembering that many of the concepts, as well as many of the specific techniques, will work equally well whether they are directed at products or services. Developing a marketing strategy is much the same for products and services, in that it involves selecting target markets and formulating a marketing mix.

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