Promise Them Anything!

“Services” are largely intangible and experimental. This intangibility makes the “product” development process more complex. In fact, marketing professional services main distinction is that “production” occurs at the point of sale. This means that the concept of “inventory” is largely irrelevant, and suggests that consumers probably have a more difficult time evaluating among service alternatives. The product itself, is actually the service. Hence, what the business consultants know about marketing tangible products, needs to be adjusted for marketing intangible services.

Why services differ
A service is not something that can be built in a factory, shipped to a store, put on a shelf and then taken home in a fancy box. A service is a dynamic living process. A service is something that is executed on behalf of or with the improvement of someone. A service then is performed. A service is motion and activity - not pieces or parts. In short, a service is a “real time” occurrence. It exists only at the time when it is rendered. And, you better get this “ho-hum” concept right, because the future of your corporate life will depend upon it!

How do you promote, communicate and market something your client may not be able to taste, touch, smell or feel; and, can evaluate only as it is experienced? That's the unique problem you'll always face as a marketer of professional services - law firms, community banks, builders, financial services, architects, advertising, insurance, real estate and more. Add to this basic difficulty, the absence of a marketing tradition in branding services organizations, along with national or multi-regionals initiating penetration into the Gulf Coast, and you have all the challenges you can handle.