UNIVERSITY OF MAKATI

J. P. Rizal Ext., West Rembo, Makati City

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL SCIENCE
Department of Marketing
Course Title Title
Module
6 INTEGRATED SERVICE
SERVICES No.
MARKETING COMMUNICATION
MARKETING/MANAGEMENT
Prepared by PROF. GRACE B. VILLARUZ
At the end of this module, the student will be able to:

1. DESCRIBE the 5Ws of the Integrated Service Communications

Model: that is, Who, What, How, Where, and When;
2. ILLUSTRATE the Service Marketing Communication Funnel and
key objectives in that funnel;
Learning Outcomes
3. EXPLAIN the communication mix elements of the traditional
marketing communications channels; the internet, mobile, apps,
QR code, and other electronic media;
4. DISCOVER consumer privacy related to issues in service
marketing communications; and
5. DISCUSS the role of corporate design in communications.

The promotion and education element of the 7Ps requires a somewhat different emphasis from
the communication tasks facing service marketers include emphasizing tangible clues for
services that are difficult to evaluate clarifying the nature and sequence of the service
performance, highlighting the performance of customer contact personnel, and educating the
customer about how to effectively participate in service delivery.

The key takeaway point is that effective service marketers are good educators who can use a
variety of communication skills in cost-efficient ways, not only to promote their firm’s value
INTRODUCTION

proposition but also teach both prospects and customers what they need to know about
selecting and using the firm’s services.

This module focuses on how to plan and design an effective marketing communication strategy
for services. Through communications, marketers explain and promote the value proposition
their firm is offering.

Fair Use Act Disclaimer:

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 6.1 INTEGRATED SERVICE MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Service marketers need to design an effective communication strategy. To do this, they can
use the Integrated Service Communication Model as a guiding framework which is organized
around the 5Ws model. The 5 Ws model are:

 WHO is our target audience? Are they prospects, users, and/or employees?
 WHAT do we need to communicate and achieved? Do the objectives relate to consumer
behavior in the pre-purchase, service encounter, or post-encounter stage?
 HOW should we communicate this? How can we overcome the challenges caused by the
intangibility of services?
 WHERE should we communicate this? Which media mix should we use?
 WHEN should the communication take place?
6.1.1 There are three-broad target audiences (WHO) of service communications. They are:

 Prospects, which can be reached via traditional communications media just like in goods
marketing.
 Current users, which can be reached via more cost-effective communication channels such as
the firm’s service delivery channels (e.g., service employees, brand network, account
statements, and self-service channels).
 Employees as a secondary audience who can be highly motivated with the right communication
messaging.
6.1.2 At the most generic level, marketing communications objectives (WHAT) are to inform,
educate, persuade, remind, shape behaviour, and build relationships. Communications
objectives can be strategic and tactical in nature, and are typically a combination of both.

Strategic Objectives include building brand equity, positioning a brand against

competition, and repositioning it.

6.1.3 HOW can services best be communicated, especially as the intangibility of services
presents challenges for communication, and ways to overcome the communication
CONTENT

problems posed by intangibility. These challenges are:

Ways to overcome the

Challenges Description communications problems posed by
intangibility
Abstractness No one-to-one correspondence  Use service consumption episode and
with a physical object. show typical customers experiencing the
service.
Generality Items are part of a class of  For objective claims, use systems
persons, objects, or events are not documentation showing facts and
specific to the firm’s performance. statistics about the service delivery
system and performance documentation
that cites part performance statistics,
such as percentage of packages
delivered on time.
 For subjective claims, service
performance episodes can be used,
where the actual service personnel is
shown.
Non-Searchability Cannot be inspected, or searched  Consumption documentation ca be used
before purchase where testimonials are obtained from
customers who have experienced the
service.
 For services high in credence attributes,
use reputation documentation showing
the award received or the qualifications
of the service provider.




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 Impalpability Difficult to understand and  Use service process episode by
interpret. presenting what exactly will happen
during the service experience, feature
a case history episode of what the
firm id for a client and how it solved
the client’s problem or show a service
consumption episode showing the
customer’s experience with a service

Two additional ways to help overcome the problems of intangibility are:

 Emphasize tangible cues such as its employees, facilities, certificates, and awards, or its
customers.
 Use metaphors to communicate the value proposition. For example, Prudential use the
Rock of Gibraltar as a symbol of corporate strength.
6.1.4 To reach our target audiences and achieve the communications objective, we can use a
variety of communications channels (WHERE), including:

 Traditional marketing channels

 Advertising
 Public relations
 Direct marketing (including permission marketing)
 Sales promotions, and
 Personal selling

These communication elements are typically used to help companies create a distinctive
position in the market and reach prospective customers.

 Online communication channels

 Firm’s websites
 Online advertising (banner advertising, and search engine advertising and
optimization).

Developments in technology are driving innovation such as permission marketing

resulting in exciting possibilities of highly targeted communications using online and
mobile advertising, apps, Web 2.0, social media, and podcasting.

 Service Delivery Channels

 Service firms usually control these channels and point-of-sale environments that
offer them cost-effective ways of reaching their customers (e.g., through its
service employees, service outlets, and self-service points.

 Messages originating from outside the organization

 They include traditional WOM (word-of-mouth), blogs, Twitter, and other social
media, and coverage in traditional media.

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 \6.2 TACTICAL COMMUNICATION SERVICE OBJECTIVES

 Tactical objectives according to the Services Marketing Communications Funnel

service that details a range of potential objectives using the three-stage of model of
service consumer behavior as a guiding framework.
 A key takeaway of this funnel is that communications objectives can be highly
specific and address any aspects of service consumption behavior in the:
 Pre-purchase stage (e.g., emphasize the importance of attributes in which the
firm outperform, and reduce perceived risk.
 Service encounter stage (e.g., guide customer through service process,
encourage proper queuing behavior, and manage performance perceptions).
 Post-encounter stage (e.g., shape customer satisfaction and encourage referral
and loyalty behaviors).


6.3 THE SERVICE MARKETING COMMUNICATION MIX

CONTENT

Sales Personal Publicity & Service Corporate

Advertising Promotion Communication Public Delivery Design
Relations Points

Personal Press Service

Broadcast Sampling Selling Releases/kit outlets Signage
s

Tele- Press Frontline Interior

Print Coupon, marketing Conferences employees Decor
gifts

Sign up , Special Self-service

Outdoor rebates, Training Events Delivery Vehicles
price, points
promotions

Trade Websites
Direct Mktg Shows Sponsorships and Apps Equipment
(e.g., mail, (incl. FAQs)
email, &
messaging
* Word-of Thought
Mouth leadership Brochures Uniforms
Online Mktg. (e.g., white
(incl. papers
Website, &
online
advertising
* Online social * Media-
networks initiated FAQs Stationary
coverage in
Traditional
media * Denotes communications originated
From outside the organization.
* Media-
initiated
coverage in
online media
(e.g. blogs

Figure 6.1 The Marketing Communication Mix for Services

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 Marketing Communication Service Delivery Messages Originating from
Channels Channel Outside the Organization

 Advertising  Service Outlets  Word-of-mouth

 Direct Marketing  Frontline Employees  Online Social Networks
 Sales Promotion  Self-service Delivery Points  Media-Initiated Coverage in Online
 Personal Selling
 Websites & Apps Media (e.g. Blogs & Twitter
 Public Relations
 Corporate Design  Media-initiated Coverage in
Traditional Media

Target Audience

Figure 6.2 Three Key Sources of Messages Received by the Target Audience

6.4 ETHICAL AND CONSUMER PRIVACY ISSUES IN COMMUNICATIONS

When designing their communication on strategy firms need to bear in mind ethical and privacy
issues in terms of:

 Some unrealistic service promises result form poor internal communications between
CONTENT

operations and marketing personnel concerning the level of service performance that
customers can reasonably expect. In other instances unethical advertisers and
salespeople deliberately make exaggerated promises to secure sales. Finally, there are
deceptive promotions that lead people to think that they have a much higher chance of
winning prizes or award than is really the case. Fortunately, many consumer watchdog
groups are on the lookout for these deceptive marketing practices. They include
protection agencies, trade associations within specific industries, and journalists seeking
to expose cheating schemes and misrepresentations.

 A different type of ethical issues concerns unwanted intrusions by aggressive marketers

into people’s personal lives. The increase in telemarketing, direct mail, and messaging is
frustrating for those who receive unwanted sales communications. How do you feel
when your dinner at home is interrupted by a telephone call from a stranger trying to get
you to buy services in which you have no interest? Even if you are interested, you may
feel, as many do, that your privacy has been violated.

 To address growing toward these practices, both government agencies and trade
association have acted to protect consumers.

6.5 THE ROLE OF CORPORATE DESIGN

 Corporate design is a key to ensure a consistent style and message is communicated

through all of a firm’s communications mix channels. Company design is particularly
important for companies operating in competitive markets where it’s necessary to stand
out from the crown to be instantly recognizable in different locations. Have you noticed
how some companies stand out in your mind because of the colors they use, the
widespread application of their logos, the uniforms worn by their employees, or the
design of their physical facilities?

 Many service firms employ a unified and distinctive visual appearance for all tangible
elements to facilitate recognition and reinforce a desired brand image. Corporate design
strategies are usually created by external consulting firms, and include stationery and
promotional materials, retail signage, uniform, and color schemes for painting vehicles,
equipment, and building interiors. The objective is to provide unifying and recognizable
themes that links all the firm’s operation in a branded service experience through the

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 strategic use of physical evidence. Companies can do that by using the following
approaches either individually or in combination:

 Companies in the highly competitive express delivery industry tend to use their
name as a central element in their corporate design. When Federal Express
changes its trading name to the more modern “FedEx,” it featured the new name in
a distinctive, new logo.

 Many companies use a trademarked symbol, rather than a name, as their primary
logo. Shell makes a pun of it name by displaying a yellow scalloped shell on a red
background, which has the advantage of making its vehicles and service stations
instantly recognizable. McDonald’s “Golden Arches” is said to be the most widely
recognizable corporate symbol in the world and is featured at all touch points,
including its restaurants, on employee uniforms and packaging, and in all the
company’s communications materials
CONTENT

 Some companies have succeeded in creating tangible, recognizable symbols to

associate with their corporate brand names. Animal motifs are common physical
symbols for services. Example include the eagles of the US Postal Service and
AeroMexico, the lions of ING Bank, the Chinese dragon of Hong Kong’s Dragonair.

Figure 6.3 Example of Corporate Design Strategies

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 A. APPLICATION EXERCISE
ASSSIGNMENT
1) Which elements of the marketing communications mix would you use for each of the
following scenarios? Explain your answer.
 A newly established hair salon in a suburban shopping center.
 An established restaurant facing declining patronage because of new competition.
 A large, single-office accounting firm in a major city that services primarily business clients and
wants to grow its client base aggressively.
2) If you were explaining your current university or researching the an undergraduate program
you are now in, what could you learn from blogs and other online WOM you can find? How
Books:
REFERENCES

Services Marketing: People, Technology, Strategy, 8 th Edition by Jochen Wirtz &

Christopher Lovelock
Other references:
Service Marketing, 7th Edition by Christopher H. Lovelock & Jochen Wirtz
Service Marketing Management. USA. Clanrye International. 2018
Parker, David W., Service Operations Management. USA. Edward Elgar Publishing. 2018

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