--- title: Excellent Customer Service Is Also Excellent Marketing description: Recently I placed my first order with Sweetwater, a music instrument and pro audio retailer, and was amazed by how well they treated me. image: https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/hubfs/Sweetwater%20real-relationships.jpg --- [Skip to main content](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/excellent-customer-service-is-also-excellent-marketing#maincontent) [ «  View All Posts ](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog) # Excellent Customer Service Is Also Excellent Marketing December 7th, 2021 2 min read By [David Meerman Scott](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/author/david-meerman-scott) ![](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Sweetwater%20real-relationships.jpg?width=726&height=400&name=Sweetwater%20real-relationships.jpg) When you can buy most anything you want online, the retailers who serve us seem interchangeable. But they don’t have to be. Recently I placed my first order with [Sweetwater](https://www.sweetwater.com), a music instrument and pro audio retailer, and was amazed by how well they treated me. I will be buying from them again, proving that when you treat customers well, they come back. That’s the best marketing there is. ### Sweetwater doesn’t have salespeople, they have Sales Engineers I’ll let them explain what a [Sales Engineer](https://www.sweetwater.com/about/sales-engineers/) is: “The term Sales Engineer was created to help our customers understand that the person helping them is much more than a typical sales associate. In fact, most of our original salespeople owned a music studio or worked as a studio engineer, and the level of first-hand gear knowledge they brought to customers was unlike anything else available to the public at that time. Sales Engineers today are just as experienced and even more highly trained. With an intensive 13-week gear immersion through Sweetwater University — in addition to extensive personal backgrounds as music and pro audio professionals — Sales Engineers today have even more training, resources, and education to help customers reach their music goals.” ### Upon checkout I was offered a welcome extra As I was completing my online order, I was asked if I wanted to purchase a Sweetwater t-shirt at half price. I thought the shirt was cool, so I bought it. And now I will be advertising their company as I walk around in my new shirt. ### I received a text from my Sales Engineer I was pleased with the text: *“Hi David. Sam from Sweetwater here. Thank you so much for your order. If you have any questions or anything else coming up, please let me know.”* While a text like this can easily be ignored or opted out of, some people prefer to communicate by text. Sweetwater is smart to provide a choice to how you want to communicate with them—email, text, or good old telephone. ### Sweetwater has a fabulous YouTube channel With nearly 600,000 subscribers, the [Sweetwater YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/c/sweetwater/videos) releases several new videos a week. Many of the videos are product demos by Sweetwater staff such as this [JHS PackRat 9-way Analog Distortion Pedal Demo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BTaXR6VHMg) with 30,000 views. ### I received a thank you card signed by the person who packed my order ![Sweetwater new gear](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Sweetwater%20new%20gear.jpg?width=350&name=Sweetwater%20new%20gear.jpg)The card, included in my shipment, contained information on returning items as well as an offer to subscribe to email newsletters. Most interesting was an invitation to [celebrate my new gear](https://www.sweetwater.com/newgearday/) on social media with the hashtag #NewGearDay. Very clever to turn a physical package into the possibility of an email signup and a social media post. I’ll be going back to Sweetwater. They’ve broken through the online clutter and turned me into a fan. [![New Call-to-action](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/413105/4dd9f7b5-8d10-40a1-afd4-ece617bfe991.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/413105/4dd9f7b5-8d10-40a1-afd4-ece617bfe991) [ David Meerman Scott ](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/author/david-meerman-scott) David Meerman Scott is a business growth strategist, advisor to clever entrepreneurs who are building emerging companies, and the international bestselling author of a dozen books published in 30 languages. David’s high-energy keynote presentations, masterclasses, and virtual events educate, energize, and inspire. Connect: [mailto:david@freshspot.com](mailto:david@freshspot.com) Topics: [ New Rules of Marketing and PR ](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/topic/new-rules-of-marketing-and-pr) [ Case Studies ](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/topic/case-studies) [ New Rules of Sales & Service ](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/topic/new-rules-of-sales-service) [ Marketing ](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/topic/marketing) [ Best Practices ](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/topic/best-practices) [ Fanocracy ](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/topic/fanocracy) Don't forget to share this post: ## Related Articles [![](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Stefano%20Paciotti.jpg?width=1500&height=1084&name=Stefano%20Paciotti.jpg) ### The Ham Whisperer of Rome: How Stefano’s Honest Videos Won the World’s Heart June 24th, 2025|2 min read ](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/the-ham-whisperer-of-rome-how-stefanos-honest-videos-won-the-worlds-heart) [![](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/hs-fs/hubfs/story%20time%20shutterstock_2078659261.jpg?width=1500&height=999&name=story%20time%20shutterstock_2078659261.jpg) ### The Story Customers Tell Themselves May 6th, 2025|2 min read ](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/the-story-customers-tell-themselves) [![](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Facebook%20Live%20no%20more.jpg?width=1352&height=893&name=Facebook%20Live%20no%20more.jpg) ### Meta Focused On Profit Over Users: Now Deletes Facebook Live Videos After 30 Days April 28th, 2025|2 min read ](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/meta-focused-on-profit-over-users-now-deletes-facebook-live-videos-after-30-days) [![](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/hs-fs/hubfs/shutterstock_2077138888.jpg?width=1500&height=1000&name=shutterstock_2077138888.jpg) ### What Makes a Great Marketer? 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