Selling the invisible- marketing the intangible

Cash may be King, but Marketing is everything.

You might have invested in your business, set up a plush office, and may be offering world class products. But who’s buying? Where are your customers? What have you done to let people know that your product X is the best in your segment and that you are providing the best value for money?

The answer to these questions is the one magic word- Marketing. It is the strategy your firm devices to target the right audience at the right place at the right time, which in turn will maximize the return on investment and increase revenue.

While devising a strategy to target your consumer, marketing simultaneously also needs to be a process to create value for the customer. It is a set of activities to educate, communicate with and motivate the target customer about the firm’s services or the company’s products.

In this context, I may say that introducing a new refrigerator in the market with unprecedented features and marketing the USPs of the same will attract a flock of customers in this commodity driven economy. A new healthy soup, or a low-cost mobile phone with world-class features will be lapped by the consumers, if you market your product well. You set a price for your product, you place it in the right points of sale and you promote your product well, and voila! You have a raging success with your product.

Your consumer will see the product, test it and buy it. Your customer care and post-sales service will take care of the rest. A winning formula.

But what if you are selling the invisible? A service… it’s intangible, it is consumed as soon as it is produced and every service experience is different from the other. For example, a low cost airline like Indigo or Spice Jet- they provide you a service that suits a middle-class wallet, and yet they strive to give you world class customer service, so that you keep coming back to them.

Services can only be availed and not owned as in case of a product. This makes your consumer more demanding of excellence, as the duration of a service experience is much shorter compared to that of a product.

People are the most important element of any service or experience. Every service that is rendered is a different experience. Hence your employees are the most important part of your business if services are what you deal with. People buy from people that they like, so the attitude, skills and appearance of all staff need to be first class. Well trained and competent service personnel are your aces for success. Effective customer service is also vital, as the customer service associates are the face of your company. They make or break your brand.

Process is another element in your marketing strategy. The way you deal with your consumers and heighten their experience in sampling your service, creates a brand value for your service; this in turn contributes to the success of your business.

You need to deliver value through people and process when it is services that you are marketing. These physical factors will help you sell the invisible. Marketing the intangible is possible only when your marketing is not intangible.