Question

As it relates to the marketing of the offering, what are some of the most important distinctions between marketing a tangible (physical) product as opposed to a service? Discuss in general, what the marketing manager needs to keep in mind when marketing a service.
What are some of the difficulties involved in differentiating a service vs. a tangible product?

Answer 1

Answer: The marketing of the tangible products is very different from the marketing of the service. People can see and feel the product while the services are mostly experiences. Hence while marketing a service; a manager needs to convey the feel of the service through the marketing activities. This may include promises, visuals and pictures of a good experience and so on. The managers cannot show a sample of service to the customers like in the product marketing and hence this makes it difficult for them to convince the customers. Hence the marketing managers need to keep in mind that the promises and promotions they carry out for marketing services should not be over stated as the customers build their expectations about the services based on it. This is not like product marketing where the customers form expectations by really seeing and feeling the products. Hence in services if the customers create high expectations then later on it may result in dissatisfaction when they find the services not at par with the promise made.

At times it is difficult to differentiate between services and products in businesses where the final offering is a mix of two. Like a customer at Starbucks sells coffee and eatables which are tangible products to the customers but the customers also visit star bucks for an experience.