CTO Blog

Because services are intangible, marketing communications for services do more than sell services. Communications render services more tangible, and give prospects something firm to measure.

As a result, marketing communications for most services drag around a heavier load than communications for products. A bright red Porsche 911 convertible, for example, shouts loudly and beautifully for itself. Very few services shout for themselves at all.

We implicitly give trust to most products. We trust that our new tyres won’t blow out, our brown sugar will taste sweet, and our aspirin will relieve our headaches without bad side effects. But we are far less trusting and certain about most services.

We worry that our lawyers and auto mechanics will work more than necessary, and bill more than necessary. We worry that the latest weight loss service will fail, just like the two before it. We worry that our builders will pad their budget and finish weeks after they promise. We worry that the collection agency we hire for our service will badger our customers worth keeping and collect only a small part of our outstanding receivables.

So unlike communicating about products, communicating about services must make the service more tangible and real, and must reduce risk for the worried prospect. It’s not like selling Porsche automobiles.

For more information about services marketing and making services more concrete, visit Rob Johnson’s Twitter page. Sponsored by Rob Johnson of http://seocairns.seovoodoo.com.au/