DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Think of a service company that provides integrated service marketing communications. Go to the
services company’s website and find the section where it posts its advertising and communication. Is
the Company’s campaign as comprehensive and as integrated as those described in the opening
vignette? Why or why not? What should be added, changed, or deleted to improve the campaign?
Students will often think about the services they know well, such as McDonald’s, IBM, Verizon, or
Burger King. The selections will vary. In any case, unless they choose companies such as Federal
2. Which of the key reasons for the communication gap (provider gap 4) discussed in the beginning of
this chapter is the easiest to address in a company? Which is the hardest to address? Why?
The easiest of the four reasons for gap 4 to address is probably insufficient customer education. The
reason this is the easiest strategy is that it can be prepared and executed by the marketing department;
armed with tangible information to give the customer, contact personnel can, at a minimum, distribute
3. Review the five general strategies for achieving integrated service marketing communications.
Would all of these be relevant in goods firms? Which would be most critical in goods firms? Which
would be most critical in services firms? Are there any differences between those most critical in
goods firms and those most critical in services firms?
The five strategies would be relevant in goods firms but to a lesser degree. In pure goods firms,
internal communication would not be as important as in services firms. Having internal functions
4. What are the most effective Internet advertisements you have seen? Why are they effective?
This question is completely open-ended and will be very time-sensitive. Services advertising changes
5. Using the section on managing customer expectations, put yourself in the position of your professor,
who must reduce the amount of “service” provided to the students in your class. Give an example of
each strategy in this context. Which of the strategies would work best with you (the student) in
managing your expectations? Why?
While students will have a variety of their own ideas on this question, here are some examples:
Make realistic promises. The instructor should not promise to have exams and assignments
graded for the next class or have materials posted on a Blackboard or eLearning website on a
Offer choices. If students believe that the instructor has assigned too much work, one strategy
might be to tell the students that they have a choice of completing all the work assigned and
Create tiered-value offering. In this option, the instructor could lay out different levels of
Communicate criteria for service effectiveness. One of the best ways the instructor executes this
6. Why are social marketing media like Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube so important in service firms?
Are they important in product firms?
These social marketing media are critical because they simulate word-of-mouth communication
among peers. If a company has an advertisement or product that is worthy of peer conversation, it
serves a company the same unbiased way that word of mouth serves. The message is perceived to
7. What other strategies can you suggest for leveraging consumer-generated media?
Anything a firm can do to stimulate discussion on a social marketing site will help. Strategies can
involve contests, intriguing tests, interactive questions, and puzzles. During the NCAA basketball
tournament, one company sponsored a hoops bracket contest where users could fill in the brackets
8. What other strategies can you add to the four offered in the section on customer education? What
types of education do you expect from service firms? Give an example of a firm from which you have
received the adequate education. What firm has not provided you with adequate education?
Other strategies include: (1) educating customers throughout the service process, perhaps after each