In the business world if we want to survive or be successful, providing the best quality products and services is crucial. The products and services are closely connected to the business point of view.
Providing good products and services to the customer is a good marketing strategy and approach to succeed in any business of current market conditions. The main challenge for the marketer is providing service that cannot be experienced in prior, a marketer should sell the product before the customer can experience the service.
Product vs Service
The main difference between Product and service is that product is an item produced by a company to market and exchanged for money. And Service is provided by the business to the customer on demand.
Product is an item, is tangible that the organization produces to market and sold to a customer in exchange for money. Product has a physical presence, touch, smell, and taste. The products can be one-time use or used repeatedly.
Services are intangible, it is the service given by a person to another person on demand. The people usually get attracted by the services they get from the organization. Quality of service is one of the best strategies and approaches to attract the customer.
Comparison Table Between Product and Service (in Tabular Form)
| Parameter of Comparison | Social Media Marketing | Influencer Marketing |
|---|---|---|
| Partnership | It doesn’t require any partnership. The brands are free from persuading other people to promote. | It requires partnerships. The brands have to win the trust of the influencers. So major work is done in it. |
| Persuasion of customer | Persuading, a customer to buy their products/services is quite difficult here. | They need not directly link with the customer initially. The trust from the customers is won through the influencers easily. |
| Trial of the products | The brand has to go for various trials to prove its products to its customers. They may also sometimes go for free trials. | The number of trials is gradually lesser in comparison with the other. The trial that is performed to win the influencer is important. |
| Revenue on Promotion | The brand owner has to invest in each platform to promote the products/services. | Here the payment can be made using money else it can be compensated by their products. |
| Competitive Analysis | The brands have to make a competitive analysis with their competitors’ social media accounts on regularly. | There would be no such brand comparison. But they have to see to that they approach a better person than their competitors’ Influencer. |
What is Product?
Product is a substance, it has an object space, we can touch, taste, feel, and smell them. It is a certain thing that is needed or wanted by the customer. The quality of the product can be measured by the customers and it can be returned to a seller for replacement or refund in case of damage.
The value of the product is created by the users when they purchase. Another aspect of the product is ownership and it is transferable. Once the product is purchased from the buyer the ownership shifts from the provider or seller to the customer or buyer as he takes products to his personal use.
Products are not always physical or an object, anything that can be sold is the product. For example, software services, online bus tickets or board band service so on.
A product to be relevant for the customer, the user must have immediate use and it should work with good quality. A product must be communicated with customers. The uses of products, how to use it and other factors about its benefits to be established. Branding and marketing is a must for the product.
A product must have a name, the customer remembers products only with the name later it becomes a brand and helps the business. The product should be adaptable on time and trend changes.
The marketer should understand the product at every level by adding more value. The core product is satisfying to the customer’s core needs. If Lakme selling lipstick it’s not a product it shows the women beauty to the world. The product must be based on customer desires or wants.
The core product is converted to actual product by name, benefits, packaging, style, branding, marketing.
Products can be categorized as consumer products or business to business product, which can also be called as industrial, commercial or service products. Consumer products can be bought by the customer for their uses like shopping products, essential and convenience products, and others.
Business to business products is bought by the organization for manufacturing another product or to provide service. It includes capital products and expensive items.
What is Service?
Service is intangible, provided by the seller to the buyer. The organization provides services to its customers, especially after the sales. Offering service can help build a client or customer relationship. The people mostly get attracted by the services given by the organization. Quality of service is the best strategy and approaches in the market to attract the customer in a business.
The consumer always evaluates the quality of service they received over the product. Once services provided cannot be taken or returned so when the organization provides the service it must be specific and well-qualified. Service is one of the key components in economics along with the product. It cannot be stored or it does not result in ownership too.
Sometimes it difficult to identify the quality of service as it comes along with the products. The medicines with a diagnosis, Banking, consultancy, education, insurances, or transportation are some of the intangible products which depend on the services.
Every service that the organization provides will be charged. Sometimes the same service will be charged differently by the organization. When services sold to customers there is no transfer of ownership takes place.
Services cannot be stored or transported to others, it should be used immediately and it is valued only at the time of availing the services. Many industries provide service along with products as value-added service to earn more revenue and attract customers.
Main Differences Between Product and Service
- The main difference between Product and service is, Products are physical items sold by the company for its customer’s use, whereas services are add-on values offered by the company to keep the product in workable condition.
- Products meet the customer’s needs whereas services help to excel in product sales.
- Products are of different types but the services must be customised to the existing product.
- The quality of the product is easily experienced by the looks and the usage, while service quality cannot be judged unless the product works for a longer duration without any trouble.
- Products are exchangeable while Services are a one-time approach to the existing product.
Conclusion
The main motive of marketing is to reach people. Both kinds of marketing have their significance. It is according to the type of business that you are doing that decides the type of marketing a person should choose.
So one should be clever to choose the type of marketing he wants to carry on. Make a strategy for marketing. While attempting influencer marketing make sure to know about the Influencer is into your niche. So that it down not make much time to start with the marketing process.
References
- https://www.elon.edu/u/academics/communications/journal/wp-content/uploads/sites/153/2017/12/Fall2017Journal.pdf#page=77
- https://e-tarjome.com/storage/panel/fileuploads/2019-08-21/1566373352_E12598-e-tarjome.pdf
- https://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/9780789751041/samplepages/0789751046.pdf