CUSTOMER BASED BRAND EQUITY IN SERVICES INDUSTRY: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

The notion of brand equity is so complicated that there is a wide range of interpretations of it in the literature. In the previous fifteen years, brand equity has grown in significance as the means of comprehending the objectives, processes, and broad impacts of marketing (Reynolds & Phillips, 2005). Given this, it is not surprising that, indicators which measures various facets of brand equity have turn out to be a part of a set of marketing performance metrics (Ambler, 2003). So, identifying and assessing a relationship between brand equity and marketing performance or outcomes will be valuable for both product and service-based organization. The aim of this research is to determine the degree to which, using a critical literature analysis based methodology, the brand equity dimensions like as marketing communications, brand awareness & associations, service quality, customer satisfaction, and brand loyalty have an impact on brand equity simultaneously and distinctly in the context of service branding. Thus, the purpose statements or research objectives of this study are - to develop a theoretical Customer-Based Service Brand Equity Model, to review and deeply assess the relationships among the marketing communication tools and service quality dimensions to enhance brand equity, to scrutinize the relationship between customer satisfaction and brand loyalty on brand equity, to pinpoint the strategies derived from this Customer-Based Service Brand Equity Model. This research is exploratory in nature and is based on a critical analysis of the literature. This study concentrates on the service industries and uses a total of 370 resources, including scholarly journals and books, based on the English language and was published within 25 years. Then, a couple of research gaps are discovered, six key variables are identified, and several hypotheses are formulated. The critical analysis of the literature review reveals that the current brand equity measuring methods need to be modified as brand equity models are used for measuring brand equity, and research needs to be expanded to create a single, standardized measurement tool that will keep up with the changing nature of the world, as this study explores different angles of brand equity and service marketing concepts. Thus, the customer-based service brand equity model is proposed. The v proposed Customer Based Service Brand Equity Model (Figure: 32) consists of six main dimensions, which are Marketing communications options, brand awareness & associations, service quality dimensions, customer satisfaction, brand loyalty, and brand equity. Each of these dimensions can be subdivided into several dimensions. The current study is offering managers a holistic approach to developing effective brand strategies. The three major strategic implications of this research are- selecting marketing communication options and allocating budget onto it, identifying service failures and recover those by providing superior services, finally diagnosing and classifying loyal customer base to offer customized service. Brand equity gives marketers a crucial strategic link between their present and future (Keller et, al., 2015). Thus, to increase the profitability over the long haul of the company, brand management, and service marketing must work together to deliver high-quality experiences more effectively. vi