Building a Services Brand: Stages, People and Orientations

Introduction

Most companies require their managers to work towards achieving success of the service brands. Companies employ the strategies in this article in the development of the service brands. This research centers on brand management. Through strategic insight, motivation, commitment and creativity, successful brands are developed. The company also ensures the brand meets the customer’s expectations in order for it to have great market. The staff should also be aware of the customer’s expectations concerning the brand. This will enable them to focus their efforts towards satisfying the customer’s expectations. Building a Services Brand: Stages, People and Orientations by Leslie de Chernatony, Susan Drury and Susan Segal-Horn focuses on how to develop a successful service brand.

Summary

This article centers on the services brand development process. Following the information from the brand consultant, certain factors should be considered when developing a service brand. In addition, the article also provides information on the people involved in the service-brand development process. This article provides knowledge on how people such as the customers, employees and the stakeholders affect the brand success. A reflection on the company’s external and internal orientation is also included in the article. This article provides knowledge on how the internal and external orientation should be combined in order to come up with a successful service brand. From the research results, the article enables us to realize that a firm has to possess a strong organizational culture and internal branding.

This has to be in relation to the goods model. It enables the organization to have great service brands. I learn that the organization has to have certain requirements in order to improve the success of their service brands. These requirements are, maximum utilization of the cross-functional teams, great customer orientation and a brand supporting culture. Therefore, for the company to achieve the success of the service brand, the firm has to be united. In addition, the people have to practice competence and apply their skills appropriately. The senior manager should direct the employees in order to achieve the vision and the necessary unity among the employees. Most importantly, the people involved should be enthusiastic, committed and practice on-brand behavior (Leslie, 6).

Relations to the concepts in class

This article relates to certain concepts discussed in class concerning services management. The service brand is developed in stages. The first stage of developing the brand is the intelligence gathering. Here, knowledge about the brand is collected. Then follows the strategy phase where the essence if the brand is defined. The third stage is communication about the brand to the internal and the external audience. Then the management phase follows. This phase requires the organization’s commitment, skill and finance to support the brand. This relates to the concepts discussed in class concerning the requirements for developing a successful service brand. In addition, for the brand to be successful, the internal and the external orientations have to be balanced. Internal orientations excluding the external one may greatly influence the success of the service brand. This relates to the concepts learned in class concerning the best way to combine the internal and external operations (Leslie, 11).

Application of the concepts as a manager

In building a service brand for a hotel, the manager will consider the internal opportunities. The manager will ensure the hotel’s employees are skilled. He will ensure that the employees deliver services that satisfy the customers. The chefs and waiters should ensure to satisfy the customers and perform their works by applying great skills. The manager should also ensure the fulfillment of the external opportunities. The manager will act towards gaining competitive advantage. This will enable the hotel to reach great markets. The hotel should also ensure it identifies the brand. The customer’s perception on the brand will be identified. This will enable the management to determine the strength of the hotel band in line with its satisfaction, expected returns, price and preference.

The management can then make the major comparisons of the brand with that of the competitors. The hotel can also ensure differentiation of the brand. This will enable the hotel to gain competitive advantage against other hotels. His will enable the hotel to have a positive perception towards the hotel brand. Therefore, the customers will be loyal towards the hotel as compared to the other hotels. In addition, the management will ensure that the employees employed in the hotel are competent and highly skilled. He will also ensure efficient communication concerning the brand within the employees of the company. This will ensure that the employees work towards ensuring the success of the service brand (Leslie, 14).

Additional research

In order to ensure the success of the brand, the firm should identify both internal and external opportunities. The internal opportunities include the firm’s employee skills and competence. On the external opportunities, the firm does research in order to determine the scope of their target. In addition, the competitors and resource availability are identified. The brand should also be identified and the brand concept developed. The company should ensure to maintain internal commitment. The employees should be committed to ensuring the success of the company. All the members of the organization should be comfortable with the brand. The managers should ensure the employees agree with the ways used to draw other customers to the brand. The brand can also be differentiated in order for it to gain competitive advantage in the market against the company’s competitors. In addition, the organization’s resources should also be structured. This entails employing competent employees, use of advanced technologies, provision of adequate training and staff motivation.

Conclusion

It is important to follow the steps and phases for the development of the service brand. These steps and phases enable the development of a successful service brand that is customer friendly. The service brand relies mostly on the internal orientations. This is because the employees can greatly influence the outcome of the service brands. When the employees lack motivation, commitment or when the communication is not clear concerning the requirements of the customers and the quality of the brand, the service brand development will fail. In addition, having a strong external orientation is important. The customers can be allowed to give their opinions concerning the service brand. This can be done during the market testing. However, the brand should also support the culture. By implementing all these strategies, a company will succeed in developing a great service brand. Brands enable people to relate and connect with the product . Therefore, with the service sector, it is important for people to gain an understanding of the service brand development (Leslie, 17).

Works cited

Leslie de Chernatony, Susan Drury & Susan Segal-Horn. (2003). “Building a Services Brand: Stages, People and Orientations” The Service Industries Journal, 23:3, 1-21.