Because services are intangible, marketing communications for services do more than promote services. Communications render services more tangible, and offer prospects something firm to measure.

As a result, marketing communications for most services drag around a heavier burden than communications for products. A bright red Porsche 911 convertible, for example, yells loudly and beautifully for itself. Very few services shout for themselves at all.

We implicitly give trust to most products. We trust that our new tyres won’t explode, our brown sugar will taste sweet, and our aspirin will cure our headaches without bad side effects. But we are far less trusting and certain about most services.

We fret that our solicitors and auto mechanics will do more than necessary, and charge more than necessary. We worry that the latest weight loss service will be useless, just like the three before it. We worry that our home renovators will pad their budget and complete the job weeks after they promised. We worry that the collection agency we engage for our service will harass our customers worth keeping and collect only a small part of our outstanding receivables.

So unlike communicating about products, communicating about services must make the service more tangible and real, and must reduce risk for the worried prospect. It’s not like selling Porsche automobiles.

For more information about services marketing and making services more concrete, visit Rob Johnson’s Twitter page. Sponsored by Rob Johnson of http://seocairns.seovoodoo.com.au/