Final answer:
Internal marketing is the process by which service firms orient and motivate their employees to ensure customer satisfaction by treating them as internal customers. This approach leads to higher service quality and can be a part of product differentiation, deeply influenced by intangible aspects like brand reputation and personal experiences.
Step-by-step explanation:
Understanding Internal Marketing
Through internal marketing, a service firm orients and motivates its customer-contact employees and supporting service people to work as a team to provide customer satisfaction. Internal marketing is essentially about treating employees as internal customers, ensuring they are satisfied, well-informed, and motivated. This approach helps in building a better corporate environment where everyone works towards a common goal of not just meeting but exceeding customer expectations.
Internal marketing is crucial in service-oriented industries where employees directly interact with customers, like in a hospitality or retail setting. It helps ensure that the values of the company are reflected in every interaction with the customer, which is a form of product differentiation where intangible aspects like service quality, brand reputation, and customer satisfaction play a vital role. It is these intangible aspects that lead to customers developing a preference for certain brands or services, often influenced by factors such as advertising, individual experiences, and personal perceptions.
Developing a strong corporate culture that emphasizes the importance of every role within the organization can counteract the negative effects of routinized tasks and encourage a more engaged and proactive workforce. This, in turn, leads to improved service quality, which is key in differentiating a service-centric business from its competitors.