Service Life Cycle
The service lifecycle
Products and services go through life cycles that are determined by the marketability of the product. The most common stages that services and products go through during its lifetime are the introduction, growth, maturity, decline or innovation. The strategy formulated will incorporate these stages. The introduction phase is largely a stage of experimentation to ascertain the product that is well received in the market (Kowalkowski et al. 2016). The growth stage will be a stage where there is an increment in sales due to the increased demand for the product.
At this stage the firm will utilize the cash that they have collected from their sales to develop their product further. Equally important is the decline or innovation stage is marked by a drop in sales and the prices of the product are seen to fall (Baines & Lightfoot, 2013). In this stage, changes could be made in the way a company markets its products. The service life cycles will be essential in helping the management to ascertain the necessary adjustments that need to be done.
Metrics Used to Determine the Success or the Failure of the Marketing Activity
This strategy will use several parameters to ascertain the level of profitability or growth of the product at any given stage. One of the parameters that will be employed is some sales as a result of the advertisement (Wagner & Eggert, 2016). After the inception of the product into the market, the firm will request customers to provide information that will help the company to ascertain the proportion of sales which are as a consequence of advertising. Additionally, the level of cash flow will be used to measure the performance of the firm regarding sales (Kowalkowski et al. 2016). In like manner, consumer feedback on the product will be considered in measuring how effective the product is in meeting the needs, taste and preferences of the consumer (Baines & Lightfoot, 2013). The inefficiencies will also be examined by the firm to evaluate the overall progress of the product in the market.
Types of Promotional Communications Channels
Advertising will be used as a promotional channel since it provides an avenue for the firm to communicate its product to some people simultaneously. The repetitive nature of the advertisement will be relied on to persuade the prospective consumers to purchase the new product. It is the hope of the marketing team that through advertising they will be able to reach a wider audience (Wagner & Eggert, 2016). Further, the firm will consider sales promotion by the use of coupons, premiums, and contests as a way of sales promotion.
Service Differentiation Factors
The elements that are used to differentiate services are customer training, delivery, ordering ease, installation and maintenance, and repair. This strategy will ensure that consumers can quickly place their orders with the company. Delivery will also be considered to ensure that these products are delivered to customers accurately and speedily. Company technicians will ensure that technical products that are ordered have installation manuals and in cases where they are highly technical, staff is provided to assist the consumer. The firm will also conduct regular customer training to ensure that consumers have the necessary knowledge required to handle the purchased assets (Kowalkowski et al. 2016). Forums will be provided to enable the client to consult in cases of difficulty. Maintenance and repair programs will be availed to ensure that the customers can find a resource for their malfunctioning products.
References
Kowalkowski, C., Gebauer, H., & Oliva, R. (2016). Service growth in product firms: Past, present, and future. Industrial Marketing Management.
Baines, T., & Lightfoot, H. (2013). Made to Serve: How manufacturers can compete through servitization and product service systems. John Wiley & Sons.
Wagner, S. M., & Eggert, A. (2016). Co-management of purchasing and marketing: Why, when and how?. Industrial Marketing Management, 52, 27-36.
