Marketing Communications Quiz

ALWAYS LEARNING

Distributing Services Through Physical and Electronic Channels

• Study notes on distributing services using physical and electronic channels are presented
• The information is focused on different distribution options for serving customers, determining the type of contact, place and time decisions, delivery of services in cyberspace, the role of intermediaries, and distributing services internationally

Chapter 5 Outline

• 5.1 Distribution in a Services Context

  • In a service context, nothing is often moved physically
  • Experiences, performances and solutions are not shipped and stored
  • More and more informational transactions are done via electronic, rather than physical channels

• 5.2 Distribution Options for Serving Customers: Determining the Type of Contact

  • Customer convenience is important when customers need to be physically present at a service site
  • Service providers going to customers is unavoidable when the object of the service is immovable
  • Need for remote areas
  • Greater need for corporate customers than individuals
  • Transactions done remotely with logistics and telecommunications

• 5.3 Place and Time Decisions

  • Places of Service Delivery:
    • Ministores (many small service factories for geographic coverage)
    • Automated kiosks
    • Separating front (customer contact) and back (operations) stages of operation
    • Space purchased from another provider in complementary business areas (e.g., Dunkin Doughnuts with Burger King)
    • Locating in multipurpose facilities (e.g., proximity to where customers live or work, service stations)
  • Locational constraints:
    • Operational requirements
    • Geographic factors
    • Economies of scale
    • Need for specific locations (airports, Ski Resorts, hospitals)
  • Time of Service Delivery:
    • Traditionally, schedules were restricted – daytime, 40-50 hours/week
    • Today, 24/7 service is available around the world

• 5.4 Delivering Services in Cyberspace

  • Five supplemental information-based services are distributed electronically: information, consultation, order-taking, billing, and payment
  • Distribution of information, consultation, and order-taking in global service industries (e.g., hotels, airlines, car rentals) is sophisticated.

• 5.5 The Role of Intermediaries

  • Franchising (1): A popular method for expanding services without high monetary investments
    • Franchisor provides training, equipment, and marketing support
    • Franchisees invest time and finance, following franchisor guidelines
  • Franchising (2): Study shows significant attrition rate among franchisors in system's early years
    • Significant number of systems fail within four years.
    • Three-fourths of systems cease to exist after 12 years
  • Disadvantages of franchising : Some loss of control over the delivery system
  • Alternative method for service delivery: licensing a supplier to act on the firm's behalf; example—trucking, banks selling insurance products

• 5.6 Distributing Services Internationally

  • Market Entry Strategies:
    • Export directly (News, Software, Films)
    • Foreign direct investment (via Branch, Subsidiary, Merger, Acquisition)
    • Asset light strategy (Licensing, Franchising, Joint Venture)

Chapter 6 Outline

• 6.1 Effective Pricing is Central to Financial Success

  • Calculating financial costs of creating a service is harder than with a manufactured good
  • How services are defined as a "unit" is variable and may affect how services are priced
  • The perceived value of time factor in services may influence customer preference

• 6.2 Pricing Strategy Stands on Three Legs

  • The Pricing Tripod
    • Costs
    • Competition
    • Value to the customer
  • Pricing Approaches
    • Cost-Based Pricing: Setting prices relative to financial costs -Activity-Based Costing pricing can be useful -Defining these costs can be a problem in some cases -Activity-Based Costing can help with understanding and pricing implications of cost analysis
    • Value-Based Pricing: Pricing relative to customer perception of value
    • Competition-Based Pricing: Monitoring competitors' pricing strategies

• 6.3 Revenue Management: What it is and How it Works

  • Best used with high fixed capacity, high fixed costs, perishable inventory, variable, and uncertain demand
  • Price customization by charging different prices to different segments based on their price sensitivity

• 6.4 Ethical Concerns in Service Pricing

  • Customers assume that higher prices indicate higher quality.
  • Many services have complex pricing schedules, hidden charges, many fees, many rules, and regulations.

• 6.5 Putting Service Pricing into Practice

  • Key Decisions
    • How much to charge?
    • What basis for pricing?
    • Who should collect payment?
    • Where and when should payment be made?
    • How should payment be made?
    • How to communicate prices?

Chapter 7 Outline

• 7.1 Role of Marketing Communications

  • Position and differentiate service
  • Promote contribution of personnel
  • Add value through content
  • Facilitate customer involvement
  • Stimulate or dampen demand

• 7.2 Challenges of Service Communications

  • Intangibility is a problem
    • Generality
    • Non-searchability
    • Abstractness
    • Mental impalpability

• 7.3 Marketing Communications Planning

  • The 5Ws:
    • Who is the target audience?
    • What do we need to communicate?
    • How should we communicate it?
    • Where should we communicate it?
    • When do communications need to take place?

• 7.4 The Marketing Communications Mix

  • Components: Personal communications, Advertising, Sales promotion, Publicity & PR, Instructional Materials, Corporate design

• 7.5 The Role of Corporate Design

  • Unified and distinctive visual appearance for all tangible elements.
  • Logos, uniforms, physical facilities, strengthen brand image (e.g., BP's bright green-and yellow service stations)
  • This is helpful in competitive markets to make the company's branding easily recognizable in different locations (e.g., Shell's yellow scallop shell on a red background)

Chapter 8 Outline

• 8.1 Flowcharting Service Delivery

  • Techniques for displaying service steps and their sequence
  • Helps understand the customer service experience

• 8.2 Use Blueprinting to Document and Manage Service Processes

  • Developing a Blueprint: Key activities for creating and delivering a service

• 8.3 Service Process Redesign

  • Why Redesign?:
    • Revitalize outdated processes
    • Adapt to changing environments
    • Create brand new processes
  • Reasons for redesign: Internal process deterioration, creeping bureaucracy, spurious/unofficial standards, extensive information exchange, data problems, too many control processes, complaints

• 8.4 The Customer as Co-Creators

  • Ways customers get involved in creating the service process

• 8.5 Self-Service Technologies

  • Self-service technologies as a means of customer involvement
  • Benefits & Challenges

Test your knowledge on the key strategies and ethical considerations in marketing communications. This quiz covers the impact of social media, online word of mouth, and the role of technology in shaping consumer opinions and marketing practices.