Questions and Answers of Principles Of Services Marketing

What conclusions do you draw about(a) yourself as a consumer, and(b) the performance of each of the businesses in Exercise 1? Assess whether any of these businesses managed to develop a sustainable
What conclusions do you draw about yourself and the firms in Exercise 3? How could each of these firms avoid your defection? What could each of these firms do in the future to avoid the defection of
DHL, the international air express and logistics company, serves a wide range of customers, from global enterprises with sophisticated and high volume supply-chain solutions shipping anything from
Which strategy for entering a new international market should(a) an architectural design firm, (b) an online discount broker, and(c) a satellite TV channel consider, and why?
How can a firm design perceived control into a service encounter? Apply it to one face-to-face and one online encounter.
Give examples of how Internet and telecommunications technologies (e.g., mobile commerce [M-Commerce] and apps) have changed some of the services you use.
What is so special about services marketing that it needs a special approach?
“The 4 Ps are all a marketing manager needs to create a marketing strategy for a service business.”Prepare a response that argues against this, and support it with examples.
How is branding used in services marketing? What is the distinction between a corporate brand such as Marriott and the names of its various inn and hotel chains?
How can brands be used to tier service products?
What are the approaches firms can take to create new services?
Conduct a Google search for(a) MBA programs and(b) vacation (holiday) resorts. Examine two or three contextual ads triggered by your searches. What are they doing right, and what can be improved?
What actions could a bank take to encourage more customers to transact via the internet, apps, and ATMs instead of visiting a branch?
Explain what factors make customers like and dislike self-service technologies (SSTs).
Identify the factors needed to make service teams successful in(a) an airline,(b) a restaurant, (c) a customer contact center. What are the factors that favor a strategy of employee empowerment?
Although Venice is considered to be one of the most beautiful and romantic cities in the world, modern Venice has faced many challenges, including a loss of population to other parts of Italy and
An attractive brochure that had been printed recently, although neither dated nor distributed to prospective patients, described Dr. Earle Shouldice, the founder of the hospital:Dr. Shouldice’s
Late in 2013, KidZania’s management team, under the leadership of Xavier Lopez Ancona, held its latest meeting at the company’s Mexico City headquarters to discuss the possible roll-out to other
In mid-2002, Christine Day, Starbucks’ Senior Vice President of Administration in North America, sat in the seventh-floor conference room of Starbucks’ Seattle headquarters and reached for her
The turn of the millennium marked a turning point for Volvo in the UK. The firm decided it could do better and gave itself a bold new target of increasing sales by 50 per cent within a short time.
Since the 1990s direct marketing has enjoyed a period of considerable growth. Some managers believe that its ability to segment customers is direct marketing’s strongest asset.Explain the relevance
The managing director of a large, fast-moving consumer goods firm said, ‘I have no need for direct marketing. Ours will always be a mass-marketing industry.’ Do you think he was right?Explain
What are the core tangible elements that make up direct, digital and database marketing?Explain how they fit together.
What is the difference between relationship marketing and direct marketing? Explain how the two areas of marketing overlap with each other.
Retailers have never been so adept at meeting customers’ needs as they are now. If this is so, then why is direct marketing growing so fast?
Explain how direct marketing can help a company develop sustainable competitive advantage.What are the keys to success?
The roots of direct marketing originally lay in the mail-order industry. Modern mail-order businesses will often use direct marketing to drive their business. Explain why direct marketing is still so
You are the manager of a large car dealership. At present, you rely on a large pool of dealers to sell your product, but you have noticed recently that consumer opinion appears to be turning away
Explain the connections between direct and digital marketing. How do the two techniques work together and what are the essential differences between them?
Although most of the case studies in this book are based on real companies, ‘Rapid Pizza’is a fictional company. However, the case reflects the pressures acting on commercial take-away
Explain the role of the database in direct marketing. What are the key applications for an international airline wishing to use its customer records for marketing?
According to Boddington (1994), ‘a database is a record of our relationships with customers’.Discuss this statement, and discuss how this philosophy guides the type of data that a company may
What is the difference between a database and a list? Drayton Bird (1989) said that by understanding what a list was, marketers were some of the way to understanding a database. Do you think he is
A manufacturer of golf products was interested in mailing a list of golfers from a lifestyle database and a list of subscribers to various golf magazines in order to build up a marketing database.
What is de‑duplication and why is it so important?
Mr Jones recently received a mailer forwarded to him from the Royal Mail. It was from his building society, and contained an address he had vacated over two years previously. He complained to the
Twenty-one-year-old Ry Russell was looking to start a business when he discovered the local drive‑in theatre in Saco, Maine, was for lease. As with many drive-ins, use of the theatre had been
Compare and contrast the analytical needs of a direct marketer in charge of a business‑to‑business car rental firm and a brand manager of a soft drink.
‘A relationship marketer would never choose which customers to communicate with based on statistical methods.’ Examine this statement, debating the extent to which marketing communications,
A charity marketing manager is looking to understand which of her donors are the most valuable to the charity. Explain which techniques she should use to achieve this. What would she do with the
‘The only certainty with forecasts is that they will be wrong.’ How does this statement apply to lifetime value analysis? Recommend a way of calculating a customer’s lifetime value.
A database owner wants to obtain a broad description of his customers to establish whether any obvious segments can be identified. Recommend to him which major technique(s) he should employ to
Even if only 10 per cent of the hype is true, UK supermarket giant Tesco has still had huge success with its loyalty card Clubcard. Not many humble cards have books written about them: Tesco’s
The manager of a publishing firm is looking to raise subscription numbers for her portfolio of‘house and home’ and gardening magazines. What use could she make of external databases?Would the
‘Lifestyle databases are much more useful than geodemographic products because the data is held at individual level.’ Make an alternative case in favour of geodemographic products.
Pick any one of the case studies contained in the chapter and outline why external data was used.Were there any alternative strategies and if so what advantages do external databases offer?
There are instances when a marketer may decide to use broad scale media to attract new prospects rather than a list from an external database. Name these instances.
Depaul UK is a charity that helps young homeless, vulnerable or disadvantaged people.With an ageing donor database (the average is over 65), limited success through traditional campaigns and a low
What are the core strengths of direct marketing over general marketing? If you were marketing director of a children’s toy manufacturer, what would be your arguments for using a direct marketing
Give three reasons why a clothing company should consider distributing direct rather than through retail.
What are the overlaps between relationship and direct marketing? In what ways do the two approaches to marketing differ?
Give two differences and two similarities between direct marketing objectives and general marketing objectives.
Why are packaged (supermarket) goods companies less likely than business‑to‑business suppliers to use direct marketing?
‘Direct marketing’s strength is its focus on customers.’ Explain how this market focus influences the development of direct marketing strategy.
Give an example of a sales related objective for a retailer and an acquisition objective for a direct marketer, and explain the distinction clearly.
Give an example of an acquisition objective and a retention objective for an airline. How might the two objectives be clearly related to one another?
Both relationship marketing and the Four Ps approach to marketing have influenced direct marketing strategic approaches. Outline the key areas of direct marketing thinking affected by both paradigms,
The Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing argues that accountability and control are two cornerstones of direct marketing. These are internal management benefits. Others argue that it is direct
Why is it that it is usually more cost effective to market to an existing customer than to acquire a new customer? Can you think of any business situations where this may not be true?
Tour operators selling package holidays often do very little in persuading previous customers to return for another trip. As a consultant, offer advice on customer retention and revenue maximisation
A leading, up‑market credit card brand is considering the use of incentives within a direct marketing strategy in order to acquire more new customers. Debate the pros and cons of this move.
How are relationships and direct marketing related?
Think about ‘relationships’ you have as a consumer. How would you describe your associations?
What problems have big firms had implementing CRM?
CRM is very important to marketers as it brings marketing to the board’s attention. Explain how marketers could act more strategically in future.
Insureco is a long established insurance company selling both life and general insurance products. It has a direct marketing unit with a large database of policyholders. However, the company
As the marketing manager for an airline, how would you sum up the strengths and weaknesses of the following channels: travel agent, direct via a call centre and classified adverts; and the Internet?
Examine the following websites:www.easyjet.comwww.amazon.co.ukwww.dell.comwww.priceline.comwww.tesco.comwww.ford.co.ukCompare and contrast the features of each, and comment on how each company has
Click onto Amazon. com. Look at the associates and member page features. Take a close look and then ask yourself why they may be doing this from a data-gathering point of view.Does this make Amazon.
Think of a business, leisure or pastime activity in which you may be involved at the moment.Using the tips you have picked up in this chapter, construct a Web based business idea for that sector, and
Take a look at the list of Internet features and benefits listed in the chapter. Which do you think will have the most profound effect in changing the way businesses operate? Explain why.
Imagine that you have decided to run a direct business on‑line. What features would you want to include in your website to attract as many customers as possible, and maximise your revenue? Before
Matt Harding is a computer games designer who, at the age of 23, moved from America to Australia, and then decided to travel the world before settling down. Being a programmer, he set up a website to
What is the difference between sales promotion and direct marketing?
What are the major factors to consider before using incentives to tempt purchase of a product in a direct marketing context?
Explain the difference between opt‑in and opt- out offers.
You are the marketing manager of a medium-sized chain of restaurants and are considering the use of a loyalty card to boost retention rates. However, there are a number of other leisure related
What is the role of a loyalty magazine in the retention strategy of a car manufacturer? Justify the expenditure versus alternative uses of the money.
A ‘wine direct’ operation is considering the use of premiums to stimulate take‑up of an offer.Recommend an appropriate choice, explaining your reasoning clearly.
In what circumstances should you never use the telephone for contacting prospects? Give examples of companies or situations where this is the case.
Critically analyse the relative strengths and weaknesses of direct mail and e‑mail.
A large regional car distributor with outlets in the Midlands is planning to introduce the telephone into its acquisition and retention programme. Draw up a proposal that explains: the possible use
‘Apart from some specialist applications, SMS will never be of much use for direct marketers.’Discuss the extent to which you agree with this statement.
A high street bank has set up a major calling centre in‑house, capable of taking inbound and making outbound calls. Outline how such an asset could form part of a direct marketing approach to
‘Direct mail works best when integrated with other marketing media.’ Evaluate this statement, outlining examples where it is and is not the case.
Bartlett’s Office Services is a full range supplier of office equipment. Until now it has used trade press advertising and a salesforce to operate, but is now considering the use of websites to
Imagine you are the director of a new theatre company, and you need to acquire new customers for the start of the season. Compare and contrast websites as a medium with direct mail and the telephone
The Xerox Work Centre Pro is a digital printer which needed to be launched across eight European markets. We needed to find an idea that was meaningful to all markets and able to cut through the
Legend has it that Michael Dell started out as a college student in the 1980s dismantling an early version IBM PC, putting it back together and realising that he could assemble and sell the thing for
In the summer of 1998, Campaign magazine announced that marketing executives at Heinz had withdrawn its direct marketing magazine in 1998 after deciding the Heinz brand communicated itself more
Comfy Bedrooms is a leading manufacturer of designer bedrooms. It visits individual households and offers proposals on bedroom design. The company needs a continual feed of sales leads. What
Compare and contrast the relative merits of door drops and inserts. Which would be the probable better bet for a pizza delivery firm advertising in a small town?
Draw up a relationship based contact strategy for a firm selling fax machine solutions to large businesses. Integrate your media solutions with the firm’s salesforce activities.
Bell’s Scotch Whisky has decided to start building up a database and intends using DRTV as its prime name generation medium. Outline the main benefits of DRTV to Bell’s, and explain what
A dog food supplier decides to use a door drop ‘knock and drop’ programme to distribute 2 million coupons nationwide. Explain what media alternatives it should have also considered, and assess
When Crocs wanted to increase their sales they used analysis of known behavioural attributes to gain an understanding of their customers and decide on a strategy for contacting them. The resulting
In the razor selling business, Gillette’s most cut-throat competition is itself. Dominating the market with a reported 85 per cent of sales, Gillette builds on its success with constantly evolving
You are shown a website and asked to identify it as either a brand-building advert, a direct-response ad, or a mixture of the two. What clues would you use from the advert itself to help you identify
Picking any Sunday colour supplement, go through the magazine and identify the objectives, target audience and creative principles of the direct-response adverts contained within.
Define positioning and branding, and explain why they are so important in creative considerations.

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