As a result, marketing communications for most services drag around a heavier load than communications for products. A bright red Porsche 911 convertible, for example, speaks 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 blow out, 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 lawyers and web designers will toil on our behalf more than necessary, and charge more than necessary. We worry that the latest weight loss service will fail, just like the five we have tried before. We worry that our home renovators will extend their budget and complete the job weeks after they promised. We worry that the collection agency we hire for our service will harass our customers worth keeping and collect only a small part of our outstanding receivables.

So unlike communicating about products, talking about services must make the service more tangible and real, and must soothe 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/