Service Marketing Consumers

Question: Discuss about the Service Marketingfor Consumers. Answer: Marketing of services is very different from marketing of the products. Marketing services required to provide the real experience of the service to the people. This is because in product marketing the consumers can see the products but in services they need to be reliable on the brand that is providing them the service which in intangible. This report discusses about the importance of QR code marketing in marketing of services. This provides the idea of the impact and variations of the QR code marketing. Consumers need to follow the series of steps in order to make a purchase of any service or product. The sequential steps are known as consumer decision making process. This process starts with identification of the need of consumer and continues with gathering the information about the service or product (Belz and Peattie, 2009). After that consumers try to look for the alternatives available for them. then, selection of the most suitable service or product is made and further the after service experience is being evlauted.as far as the QR facility is concerned, it has been analyzed that consumers use this facility at the time of searching or gathering the information about the services or the products offered. Another stage at which QR code can be used it at the time of evaluating the alternatives available to look for the ingredients of the products or the offerings in the services. QR codes can be used for many purposes by the companies. As far as the product company is considered, it can be used as the tool of information. In service industry such as restaurants, QR codes can be sued as the marketing tool. Development of mobile phones technology and use or QR codes makes it possible to use QR code as the marketing tool. The businesses like restaurants can place their QR codes on the stickers of the restaurants, leaflets, posters or inside the door. This code can be used for making the people aware about the additional information about the company or the services at the restaurants (Mudie and Cottam, 2010). The information related to the upcoming events, new product releases, offers and images of the events conducted can be shared through the use of QR codes. It makes it easier for the customers also to know at the restaurants offering without seeing their leaflets, posters or visiting the restaurant. It is a great marketing practice that can be practiced by m any of the restaurants. In service marketing, the companies have to target the needs of the customers thus QR code can be customized according to the needs of the customers and also to help the companies to get the data of the customers or can know about the interests. Service marketing communicate is very different from products. The concept of service marketing communication suggests that segmentation of the target market should be properly done (Lovelock, 2011). In case of using QR code as the marketing tool, it is mandatory to segment the market and the place where the target audience can approach the QR code placed. Usage of QR codes as the marketing tool has many advantages. This is because it has the capability to pass many layers of distribution between the producer of the service and the need of consumer of the service. Below are some of the advantages of using QR codes as marketing tool: Reduces the number of mediators: If QR codes have been used for marketing of the service company such as restaurants, it helps in reducing the number of mediators between the producer or the service provider and the end consumer, this is because the restaurant owner can directly place the QR code at different medium from where the end consumers can directly scan the codes from their mobiles and take the information about the services offered at the restaurants (Wilson, Zeithaml, Bitner and Gremler, 2012). Cost effective: For service industry such as restaurants, using the QR code is very cost effective, this is because the company need not to send huge amount of money in printing the posters, leaflets and other marketing props. Placing the QR code at the favorable medium I enough to reach thee customers. It also enhances the brand image of the company as it signifies that the company is updated with the new technology. To acquire the database of the customers: Without spending much on surveys and other articles, the service providers like restaurants can access the data of the target customers and can also get the idea of their choices (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2012). It helps the service providers like restaurants to acquire the data of their customers whoever has scanned the QR code placed by the restaurants. Accordingly, the restaurants can target the customers with their choices. There are several perceived risks of the consumers related to the products in the service industry. Some of the risks are physical risks, financial risks, social risks, time risks, functional risks etc. QR code many affect thee perceived risks of the consumers. Use of QR code of by the consumer for the products or the service offered by the company can reduces the functional risks associated with the service. This is because functional risk is associated with the function or the offerings of type service and if the customers is already ware of the functional then he or she may not have the this type of risks at the time of taking that service (Malhotra, 2008). The same can be linked with the social risks of the consumers. Social risks can be defined as the risks that are associated with the image of the person in the society. The services and person takes is somehow related to his image in the society (Grnroos, 2007). The QR information can provide the idea of the brand image of the company and the people can easily identify whether they can take the services of that brand or not. There are many interactive content forms that can be used by the companies or the service sector companies to inform the customers or to improve the after service customers satisfaction (Doyle, 2009). The interactive content information allow the customers to get the knowledge about the products or the service the company is offering and helps them to get an idea about the firms image and quality. Some of the interactive content forms are discussed below: Interactive info-graphics: Interactive info-graphic helps the people to know about the products if the services offered with the visual effect (Lieb, R., 2011). It helps in attracting the customers and to portray an image of the service that helps to be in the memory of the customers. Suppose, if any of the restaurant post the image of the dish on the poster or the leaflets along with its name then it would create greater impact on the customers rather than the advertisement only with the name of the dish. In the world of content marketing, videos are still on top. Videos are the best source to engage the customers with the service (Gunelius, 2011). Making interactive videos allow the customers to take part in the video by engaging themselves or relating them with the video. Making a video is just not an easy task because it is difficult to out the relevant content according to the target audience. If any restaurant wants to generate an advertising video, the image of the dish can be inserted, which on by clicking should link to the ingredients of the dish. This technique can help the customers to know about the dish with better experience. Conclusion: The above questions conclude that there are many innovative methods of marketing are available for the companies. IN service industry like restaurants, the QTR code marketing is the new and challenging method to market the service. it help to be as a marketing tool in order to inform, persuade and attract the customers to have a proper knowledge and experience of the services they are going to avail in the company. References: Belz, F.M. and Peattie, K., 2009.Sustainability marketing: A global perspective. Chichester: Wiley. Doyle, P., 2009.Value-based marketing: marketing strategies for corporate growth and shareholder value. John Wiley Sons. Grnroos, C., 2007.Service management and marketing: customer management in service competition. John Wiley Sons. Gunelius, S., 2011.Content Marketing for Dummies. John Wiley Sons. Jobber, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F., 2012.Principles and practice of marketing(No. 7th). McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Lieb, R., 2011.Content marketing: Think like a publisher-How to use content to market online and in social media. Que Publishing. 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