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Contemporary marketing in professional services

Contemporary marketing in professional services Purpose – This empirical investigation aims to explore the nature of contemporary marketing practices in the context of the professional services business environment. Design/methodology/approach – A self‐administered questionnaire based on the CMP work undertaken by Coviello et al. was employed to collect data. A total of 140 responses were obtained, representing a range of professions. Findings – The results suggest that professional firms are finding the market environment increasingly complex and competitive. Firms in the sample also use a variety of measures to evaluate performance but primarily focus on financial measures. Firms in the sample also predominantly practice interaction marketing, and interaction marketing is associated with higher levels of marketing performance. Research limitations/implications – To the extent that the study is exploratory and a partial replication of the work undertaken by the CMP group, the results may be more applicable to the Australian marketplace. Nevertheless, the increasing complexity in the professional service environment is universal and the results have broader implications. Practical implications – The results of this research suggest that the changing marketing environment will require dynamic marketing solutions, including the development of strong relationship building and relationship management capabilities, the adoption of a market orientation, and improvements to the integrated marketing communication capabilities of firms. Originality/value – This paper adds value to the growing body of literature on business‐to‐business professional services marketing and serves to expand the application of the contemporary marketing practices framework to this context. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Services Marketing Emerald Publishing

Contemporary marketing in professional services

Mike Reid
Journal of Services Marketing , Volume 22 (5): 11 – Aug 1, 2008
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11 pages

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Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
0887-6045
DOI
10.1108/08876040810889148
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – This empirical investigation aims to explore the nature of contemporary marketing practices in the context of the professional services business environment. Design/methodology/approach – A self‐administered questionnaire based on the CMP work undertaken by Coviello et al. was employed to collect data. A total of 140 responses were obtained, representing a range of professions. Findings – The results suggest that professional firms are finding the market environment increasingly complex and competitive. Firms in the sample also use a variety of measures to evaluate performance but primarily focus on financial measures. Firms in the sample also predominantly practice interaction marketing, and interaction marketing is associated with higher levels of marketing performance. Research limitations/implications – To the extent that the study is exploratory and a partial replication of the work undertaken by the CMP group, the results may be more applicable to the Australian marketplace. Nevertheless, the increasing complexity in the professional service environment is universal and the results have broader implications. Practical implications – The results of this research suggest that the changing marketing environment will require dynamic marketing solutions, including the development of strong relationship building and relationship management capabilities, the adoption of a market orientation, and improvements to the integrated marketing communication capabilities of firms. Originality/value – This paper adds value to the growing body of literature on business‐to‐business professional services marketing and serves to expand the application of the contemporary marketing practices framework to this context.

Journal

Journal of Services Marketing – Emerald Publishing

Published: Aug 1, 2008

Keywords: Professional services; Business‐to‐business marketing; Australia

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