In today’s world marketing whether it’s service marketing or product marketing is an uphill task due to stiff competition and the variety of options available to consumers and that is the reason why branding has assumed tremendous importance. Product branding and service branding are two types of branding which are done by the companies in order to attract new customers and maintain the existing customers, in order to understand both terms better one should look at some of the differences between product branding and service branding –
Product Branding VS Service Branding
Meaning
Product branding as the name suggests refers to that branding in which the companies highlights the unique features of their product which sets their product from competitors product thus creating a long-lasting impression about the product in the minds of the consumers while service branding as the name suggests refers to that branding in which the company highlights the services provided by the company to its customers both before the purchase of the product and after-sales service which in turn ensures that customers do not have any issues or doubts about the services of the company.
Way of Doing
In the case of product branding, the company can do product branding in various ways like through television advertising, social media advertising, billboard marketing as the focus of product branding is more on the visual appeal of the unique features of the product while in case of service branding since the focus is more on providing great service companies can not use the traditional method of advertising rather company have to do it thorough providing customer service by ensuring that all consumer complaints whether they are raised in social media platforms, online complaints, and offline complaints are resolved at earliest leading to increase in the trust factor in the minds of both existing customers as well as prospective consumers.
Effect of Branding
In the case of product branding, the effect of branding can be seen more quickly because of the visual appeal of branding but when it comes to service branding the effect of branding will be visible slowly because providing customer service is an ongoing and long process and its results are not visible overnight.
Heart and Mind
In the case of product branding, since it has a more visual appeal, it touches the minds of the consumer fast and helps the company in getting impulsive demand from the consumer while as far as service branding is concerned since it has more emotional appeal in the form of satisfaction from the services it touches the heart of the consumer and thus have a long-lasting impact with respect to the brand of the company.
Groups and Individuals
In the case of product branding, it can be targetted for an entire group of people at the same time because of the visual appeal and ease of doing product branding but when it comes to service branding it can be targetted to individuals and not groups because of the emotional nature of branding as it requires personalization and individual attention. In simple words, product branding is a simple process due to the mechanics of product branding while service branding is a complex process due to the involvement of emotions of the consumers.
As one can see from the above differences that product branding and service branding are miles apart from each other and that is the reason why companies should focus separately on both product branding as well as service branding if the company wants to be a successful brand for a long period of time in the minds of the consumers.