Letting Your Customers Get to Know You
Colleen Davis
If I walk into a restaurant, from the moment I enter to the moment I leave Im going to be aware of the service theyre providing. The food is going to be important, but to disregard the impact of the service would be a mistake. If the person at the front seems to have little interest in seating me, I might very well leave right there. If the waiter provides terrible service, no matter how good the food is, I find it unlikely Id continue going back. What does this all mean? The service industry, unlike stores who primarily sell products, is based quite heavily on the impact of a persons interaction with the company, and because of this, the feeling a person comes away with is going to be almost more important than whatever product is being provided. The fact that the food mightve been good is not going to necessarily outrank the poor service.
What does this mean for marketing in relation to the service industry? Air travel would be a prime example. Unlike even a restaurant, where the taste of the food, a more tangible product, is being taken into consider, traveling on an airplane is a situation where the service is all that matters. People dont use a certain airline simply because they have a good history of getting their passengers to their destinations; that part is a given. So why does a person choose one airline over another? Service.
So how do you advertise for an airline? Printing promotional flyers and brochures would be a good start. Unlike the catalogs of marketing products, promotional flyers and brochures grant a service industry the ability to showcase those very services before the person first boards the plane. Tell the customer about the kind of meals provided; show them pictures of the various flight attendants they might encounter by having a page in the brochure dedicated to your staff. Mention all of the features your airline has, whether its phones, a wonderful record for making flights on time, or about how comfortable your seating is. These are the things a person is going to want to know about, so get the information out there.
The importance of a customers ability to feel comfortable with a service provider cannot be stressed enough. Printing newsletters is another wonderful way to help build that very trust. Newsletters allow people a continuous look at what kinds of events are taking place in your company and helps make them feel closer to you and youre company. Nothing is going to put a customer more at ease than feeling as if they know exactly who theyre dealing with. As soon as all service providers come to understand this, theyll find far greater success with their marketing ventures.
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