Marketing of Services: An Overview

Marketing of Services: An Overview

Marketing of Services – Marketing is a set of human activities concerned with giving values and satisfaction to consumer Kollen (1997).Ugwu (1990) writing under the heading the marketing problems and prospects of hotel saying marketing also can be seen as all important set of creative human activities aimed at identifying anticipating and satisfying human needs and wants through exchange as efficiently and as effectively as possible.

Services in marketing has for the most part been limited to services as an adjunct to targible products, this services have traditionally been viewed as an addition to product to promote customer patronage and loyalty, the presence and level of services offered to customer and determined by competitive needs as in technical product have where services needs as in technical product, Agbonife Ogwo and Nnolin (1998).

Eugene (1998) in services marketing most services required goods of some kind and most goods involved related services which does not make the problem of classification any easier, this a person that owns goods however, provides a due and it is possible or one to rent entire furnishing for your home.

Ijeoma (2000) in her research study hotel problem and prospect in Akwa  metropolis.  A service is a piece of work done or duties performed for a carpal, government or parastatals by a person or persons.  It is also any act or performance that is part can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything, the roffen makes by hotel often include members of services.  And these services can be minor or major despite the recent trend towards expanding the rate of marketing to cover a wide range of activities, services firms have neglected marketing for quite a long time and thereby leading to the less marketing oriented in the environment of services firms compared to their manufacturing counter parts Micheal (1990).

In 1996, Adirika, Ebue and Nnolim remarked that the services are ranged from those that support product to those that exist on their own as object of exchange.

Agbonifo and Ogwo (1998) described another aspect of services, which is primarily as transactions where the object of the transaction is other than the transfer of ownership of tangible commodity.  These services ranged from those related to physical product are computing services with computer, services with product attached example hotel accommodation in hotel rooms and pure services example surgical operation.

There are four characteristic that affect the design of marketing programmes of services they includes:

  1. Intangibility
  2. Inseparability
  3. Variability
  4. Perishables

According to Adirika, Ebue and Nnolim (1996) services are further classified on the basic of the following

  1. Rangibilite dominace: purely intangible services
  2. Manner of provisions: either people or equipment based.
  3. Degree of customization: business or individual objective.
  4. Point of deliver: before sales, at sales time or after sales.

INTANGIBILITY

          Services are said to be intangible because of they have no physical features, that is seeing, touching or feeling nature.  This simply means that the quality cannot be accessed.  It therefore requires high persuasion of the customer to purchase it.  To management, it is to tangibles your services by way of branding, use of symbols, use of celebrities, showing picture of recent performance emphasis on the expansion of the benefit and so on to create confidence in your service.  Example is the educational services, where they have to tanigibilize their evidence by use of academy, early life nursery etc.

INSEPARABILITY

          This characterize services because they cannot be separated from the provider.  It goes directly from the producer to the purchaser.  Examples a hair dresser cannot dress a customers hair in absentia, it has to be directly done by the provider to the purchaser.  The services provider can train with larger groups.  These strategies will help to case the services provider of the accompanying stress.

VARIABILITY

          Services due to its dependency on who renders it where it is required and when it is actually needed is highly variable in nature.

Services buyers frequently talk with other before selecting a services because of the knowledge of variability concept

PERISHABILITY

          Services are said to be perishable because they cannot be stored.  Any services not rendered at any given time is lost forever.  Just like dock cannot go back but always goes forward.

However Sasser (1990) explained some strategies for managing perishability which therefore includes the following: none pack demand, peak time employees, reservation system, peak time efficient and differential pricing.

CUSTOMERS BEHAVIOUR AND MOTIVATION IN THE HOTEL MARKETING

          Marketing as a management function emerged from realization by business that the customer is the sinecures none of every activate of the business, customer orientation which forms substance of the marketing concept has as its objectives the services of the customer at a profit.

Rachman and Bauch (1994) contributed that customer behavior in 1980’s with the recognition that the function of an economics system production and selling are not a discrete set of human activities rather are part of the hotel life of the individual.

Therefore, there is every tendency that individual customer satisfaction must be granted.

In the statistical data concerning the customer the hotel owners must have to understand the behaviour of the customer in terms of his being an individual as a member of society and purchaser of the services.  In accomplishing this, principles derivel from several behavional sciences must be drawn, such as psychology and cultural anthropology.  The question behavioral information addresses to mankind is that why people of similar economic characteristics act in different ways in respond to a similar stimulus.

Kotler (1997) states that “they key to variety of products that customers seek, that it is not possible to cite any simple and single motive that they are trying to satisfy, where as the industrial market buys product primarily for the purpose of earning a profit.

Olakunori (1993) condisers that behavior of consumer in the business hopes to obtain information which will be relevant in defining and segmenting the market, planning and execution of marketing strategies, evaluation of the effectiveness of marketing strargies and forecasting (or anticipating the direction of ) future market behavior. Knowledge about customer behavior will facilitate effectiveness and efficiency in marketing.

Motivation in the hotel marketing can convert the customer’s negative attitude towards the services of the hotel to prostitute.  The hotel industry can carry out motivation by promotion and through satisfaction of the customers, which will appear in the synfrome of “oliver twist” always asking for mine.

The customer when satisfied is the services of the hotel and will continue to patronize the hotel.  Understanding customer behavior will always determine the type of level of motivation that is needed at any point in time Keegone (1992).

 EFFECTS OF COMPETITION ON THE MARKETING OF THE HOTEL SERVICES AND OPERATION

          Stanton (1996) suggest that hotels are services organisation and those services organization are those that do not here their principles aimed at the production of tangible product which buyers will possess permanently.  The effects of competition on the marketing of hotel services have been seen to be a similar to that of a product because of its high degree tangibility.  And its marketing activities revolue round the marketing mize (product, price, promotion, and place).

In services /product, the hotel provides a number of good services to consumer such as rental of guestrooms, sale of food and beverages and rental of banquet halls.

In prices, the intangibility of hotel services make their pricing difficult coupled with the offering of multiple services by hotels like single bedded, double bedded suites etc.

Hotel priced in relation to demand of the services and competition.  This “Stanton” stated that such services are rental, entertainment, legal counseling management consulting.

Promotion of hotel services like other services is a difficult task due to the intangibility of services.  In doing this, the hotels use extensively personal selling’s advertising sales promotion and other promotional tools.

Place/ distribution of hotel services mainly deals with the location of the hotel. Location according to Stanton is concerned with more than simple being in the right place, it can be easily conveniently accessible to customers because its service cannot be delivered to customer in any place other than the hotels because to a large extent it determines the customer traffic.

 

THE MARKETING PROBLEMS OF NIKE LAKE RESORT HOTEL.

          In our economy today the situation is not favorable and it is affecting the hotel industries drastically.

Demand is falling and competition is increasing hence the need to device necessary strategies to ensure survial of the company.

Booms and Bittes (1989) contributed that because of this marketing problems facing the hotels the 3ps should be considered for the operation of the hotel, not withstanding those 4ps of marketing which is known as marketing mix.  The addition of 3ps. Making it to be 7ps of services which are the following product, price, place, promotion, people physical evidence and process.

Basically, the economics situation affects the marketing of fire star hotel.  The situation of a country can be in favor or against the hotel industries.

Nike lake resort hotel belong to the hotel sector in the state economy which witnessed an up roar of problems since its establishment as a result of the poor condition and neglect by the government.

The location of the Nike lake resort hotel is another problem facing the industry. Its location is not accessible to its target customer.  In Enugu, the business activities is very low when compared to other states like Abuja, Lagos Kanu etc we mean that the amount of business that will come into the city will be minimal.

According to Kotter (1997) “customer remain loyal or choose their services”.  And where it observed that the perceived falls below the expected, they lose interest but becomes more loyal when the perceived meats or exceeds the experienced.

Just Like Ichie Adirika stated in one of his lectures that “gone are those days when they say a good product/ services sells itself, you have to put in a great deal of marketing strategies so as to sell well in your product / services”.

 

BUSINESS FACILITIES SUCH AS LEISURE CAR HIRE AND BOATING SERVICES IN THE HOTEL SERVICES / OPERATION

          Bull and Hooper (1996) made it known that business Facilities are what make the hotel to always be in good business.  The hotel are always patronized with the help of these facilities these facilities are as follows:

LEISURE FACILITIES: As in sporting, it helps to promote the hotel as a fire star hotel, some of these facilities are table tens court, football pitch, swimming pool etc.

In their quest to make more money / profit the hotel industry has installed all these facilities in order to gain customers satisfaction and to let them observe that the money / charges paid is not a waste.

These facilities serve as a sales promotion to the hotel industry.  They are certain objectives that the hotels achieved though these facilities they are

  1. To attract new customer
  2. To induce present customer to patronize them effectively,
  3. To increase sales in off – seasons

CAR HIRE SERVICES: This helps in uplifting the industry.  It uplifts the hotel in the sense that, not every hotel can afford it.  It helps the customer to have free assets on any where / place he wanted to go.

BOATING SERVICES:        This is another business facility that yields money for the hotel surmounted near a lake.  The lake was known to be Gwuruguru Lake, before the foundation of the hotel.

Customers in the hotel go from the lake to another village with the help of boating system for sight seeing.  This facility arouses their interest, which make them patronize the hotel.

—-This article is not complete———–This article is not complete————

This article was extracted from a Project Research Work Topic

THE MARKETING PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF FIVE STAR HOTEL IN ENUGU METROPOLIS

(A CASE STUDY OF NIKE LAKE RESORT HOTEL ENUGU).

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Marketing of Services: An Overview

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