The difference Service Marketing and Product Marketing

Tangible and intangible:

Product Marketing and service marketing patterns or techniques are different for both. Because
products are tangible they can be touched, seen, felt, tasted, smelled etc. hence the marketing
techniques for sales of products are different. However marketing techniques for services are way to
different for intangible services because the customer cannot see, feel, sense, taste or smell services.

Product Marketing can be done by showing and displaying them; however services can only be
experienced. Hence style of marketing both the products and services are different. Lets understand
with an example a ready food product can be displayed and sold however a telephone service cannot be
displayed it can only be experienced.

Ownership:

The ownership of a product can be transferred or can be changed you can also say that you can resell a
product or a good to someone else. The same cannot be done with service as you cannot resell the
service consumed by someone else at all. In simple words a product can be resold however a service
cannot.

For example the ownership of products such as cars, residential or commercial property, all sorts of
machinery, etc can be resold or transferred on a different name or ownership. However once you own a
degree or have your hair cut by a hair dresser, or have a surgery done you cannot resell the same or
transfer its ownership to someone else as it has already been consumed.

Products come to the customer where as customer comes for service:

Products once sold can be taken by the customer, or the customer can take the products with them
once they buy them; however it is vice versa in the case of a service, to enjoy or experience a service the
customer needs to come to the service provider. Hence it is said that ‘the product goes to the customer
where as the customer go to service’.

The reason is simple and clear service cannot be separated from the service provider. Example is a
better way to understand ‘when you buy a car you bring the car home with you so that is how the
products comes to the customer’ where as for a hair cut or for a surgery you need to go to the service
provider that is either the barber or the surgeon this is where the customer has to go to the service
provider because the service cannot be separated from the service provider’.

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Products are standardized and services are customized:

Products are manufactured and produced as per the standards of that particular product, the standard
of the market and the target audience. Manufacturers have to maintain the standard of their product
because products are checked by their respective regulators before they are rolled out in the market.

In order to make sure that the regulator, the consumer and the market does not ban the product the
standard needs to be maintained. However services work the other way round. Every customer is
different when it comes to enjoying services. Hence the service provides services as per each customer’s
needs and preferences. This is called customizing of a service as per the requirement of the customer.

For example a biscuit manufacturing who manufactures delicious yummy chocolate cream biscuits has
to make sure they maintain the standards of hygiene, the looks, the presentation, the taste and the
quality of the products to keep the sales going for the product will be checked before it is rolled out in
the market. However doctor will give each patient different treatment depending on the problem of the
patient hence he will have to customize his service as per the needs of the patient.

Quality delivery is different for both:

Now how does quality factor differ for both, both certainly have to deliver good quality. The
manufacturers have to maintain the quality of their product. The product quality depends on the raw
material used and the mechanism. Both the material and the machine can be changed and improvised
because they are inanimate objects and only a resource for the company. However it is different when it
comes to service.

Each service provider is different in terms of service as they are human beings and each human being is
different from the other. Service purely depends on the customer’s customization, the skills and
experience of the service provider and also on the motivation given by the service provider to the
customer. Hence experts say that variation in service is appreciated depending on the customer and his
needs.

Variations in scalability:

Scaling up the production business is simple by just increasing the production of the product to meet up
to the requirements of the customers, by increasing its distribution, the reach of its sales and reaching
out to more and more customers. Scaling up service business is not as easy as scaling up products
business.

To do so the service providers will have to increase their team of trained or experienced service
providers, this involves recruitment by recruiting employees from competitive companies or recruiting
fresher’s, this includes a lot of investment of time and money on recruitment, induction, training and
motivation of employees and also retaining them as losing existing trained and experienced employees
is the biggest loss for a service provider.

Added value to the customers:

Rightly said when the customer buys a product he looks for the value he paid for that product inside the
box that is where he finds the product. For he knows that its quality is defined by how the raw materials
have been selected and then converted to give him the product he has got. For example be it soap or
television the customer pays a price to buy it and use it.

However if a customer buys a service he looks for returns from his value paid to buy the service across
the counter or over an encounter with the concerned service provider. These service providers can be
anyone a specialized doctor, a waiter in a restaurant, a financial consultant, etc. The quality of every
service provider is different, completely depends on how each service provider is selected, then trained
and also kept motivated to keep providing required service.

The real heroes:

When it comes to a product be it the manufacturing of the product, the management of the product or
the product marketing, the real heroes there are the management of the company as they are the ones
who design the product, manage its manufacturing and other aspects and also market it to sell the
product and maximize profits. It is completely different in case of service.

When it comes to service the real heroes here are the employees right in the front that is the frontline
employee. However marketing here is also designed and strategized by the marketing team of the
company, yet the same is implemented by the frontline employees of the company who are the heroes
of the company who maximize business and earn revenue for the company.

Customer placement:

Products place the customer outside their business, not that the customer is not important for product
business; however the manufacturing of the products is not directly related or linked with the
customers. Even here the customer is very important and the king of the market, hence the customer
priorities and the requirement of a customer in a product is collected in a data from the customer to
manufacture and design a product.

For services it is simply opposite as the customer is directly involved in the business because the service
providers have direct interaction with the customer on daily basis, and this cannot be ignored.

Every part and every difference between the two; that is the product and the service separate them
from each other. These differences impact the sales and marketing of any company, its cost of
manufacturing, selling, marketing, etc, the assets of the company, the managing tasks of the company,
its performance matrices, etc.

Yet the ‘Perfect Product’ or the ‘Perfect Service’ cannot be defined as perfect coz it differs with
individuals as each individual has different choice, different set of needs and necessities, etc. Marketing
creates and develops wants amongst target audiences to create awareness about the same. Creating
awareness increases their business and maximizes profits correctly.
However marketing strategies for both the products and the services are different as they have different
characteristics. To maximize profits the management or the marketing team of the company makes sure