On the WSI blog, we write a lot of words about specific marketing tactics and industry news. There’s also been a fair amount of digital ink spent on process related topics, like the importance of strategy and a great customer experience. We try to dive as deep as we can while remaining relevant to a wide variety of businesses. This post, however, is different. A couple recent conversations with friends and co-workers shed light on something I’ve never considered but know is absolutely true: service is a form of marketing. How Your Service is a Free Marketing Campaign Now when I say “service” most of you will think I mean customer service, but that’s not what I’m talking about. Customer service, as in the team of people who takes care of customers when problems arise, is important. We have many posts outlining why and how to improve your brand’s customer experience (like this one). By service I’m referring to any business or industry that involves providing direct service to customers. Whether you’re a hair salon, dental office or restaurant, the service you offer is also one of the best and most effective marketing tactics you’ll find. Here’s the scoop on why you should view your service as a free marketing campaign. Missed Opportunities The reason service as marketing isn’t the most obvious thing in the world is somehow, some way, businesses that sell services don’t put enough effort into making that service an actual marketing tactic. There are too many examples to mention, but here’s a recent experience of my own that underscores how easily companies drop the ball. Roam Mobility is a prepaid US SIM card provider. For Canadians who usually pay hefty prices for roaming plans when they visit the States, Roam Mobility offers a cheaper, prepaid alternative. Before my last trip to the US, I ordered a Roam Mobility SIM card for $9 Canadian. My trip was only three days, so I purchased unlimited talk, text and data for $4.95/day. Considering the best available option from my Canadian carrier is $35 with limited data, meaning I’d still have to worry about usage, I was pumped about the lower cost. That is, of course, until I got to my destination in the US only to find out I didn’t get service in the area. After two days of back and forth with Roam Mobility’s email-only support team, I was informed my device “Is not compatible with our LTE frequencies in the area you’re visiting.” Great. That would have been good to know before my trip. Or even when I first contacted support, so I could just cancel my plan as opposed to trying to troubleshoot it for half the trip. Roam Mobility ended up giving me store credit for two of the three days I bought, but refused to refund the first day because I used a couple MB of data when I first crossed the border, well before I arrived at my destination. I understand it’s cell phone service and quality can vary depending on a user’s location. But I expected a service, and when I didn’t receive it, I assumed Roam Mobility would compensate me. Instead of giving me a $6 refund, they doubled down and stood behind their service...which didn’t work. In my opinion, Roam Mobility had two opportunities for free marketing. The first was their actual service, and the second was their customer service, which could have turned a poor experience into a good one. When you have a $6 refund vs. the potential lifetime value of a customer, it’s an easy choice. An Ace Example of Service as Marketing Now for the other side of the coin. My co-worker was recently telling me about a golf trip her husband and his friends went on to Arcadia Bluffs, a resort in Northern Michigan. Now by all accounts, the golf course is stunningly beautiful. Arcadia Bluffs is ranked #13 on Golf Digest's 2017 list of America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses. One look at this picture my co-worker’s husband took and I believe it. The place looks incredible: Arcadia Bluffs Golf Club Given the beauty and pedigree of Arcadia Bluffs, you’d assume golfers who play there would speak only of the views from the tee boxes and greens overlooking the bluffs Photo Editing Services and picturesque Lake Michigan. Or about the perfectly manicured fairways and epic pot bunkers. And indeed, my co-worker’s husband raved about these things. What’s interesting is the group also had an equal amount of praise for the services they received throughout their stay. The waitstaff went above and beyond to ensure they had everything they wanted. Their luxurious rooms were spotless when they returned from golfing each day. The forecaddies and marshals worked tirelessly to ensure the pace of play was reasonable and all groups got their rounds completed on time. And every staff member, from the gardeners clipping flowers to the front desk clerk, asked them if they were enjoying their stay and if there was anything else they needed. There is no doubt the entire Arcadia Bluffs team understands that their service is a free marketing campaign. When you have a place full of so much natural beauty, yet people who visit talk just as much about the services they received as they do about watching the sun set into the lake-filled horizon, you know the service is something special.

More and more people have been talking about the importance of data and its positive impact on enhancing the customer experience. Nowadays, data analytics plays an important role as a driving force that’s affecting a business’ decision-making at each stage of the buyer’s journey. According to Forbes, 70% of enterprises have increased their spending on real-time customer analytics solutions over the past year. But what’s all the hype about? Using Data-Driven Creativity to Enhance the Customer Experience Analytics have become fundamental in shaping customer experiences across all marketing activities and operations. Many businesses now rely on data and analytics because it provides key information to make purposeful marketing decisions. 58% of business are seeing higher customer retention from making effective use of customer analytics. Mapping Out the Customer Journey In the digital world we live in today, it’s important to understand how to deliver the experience your future customers expect. First and foremost, take some time to map out the customer journey. What are your potential customers looking for? What is their demographic? What consumer habits do they possess? At each stage of the customer journey, figure out what information and data you’d want to collect to help you make specific marketing decisions that are specifically tailored to that stage. Identify and capture the right data for every touchpoint with customers. Doing so will help you discover specific behavioural patterns and identify focal points for your marketing efforts. CX Journey Map Creating an Engaging Customer Experience Secondly, start thinking about how you want to go about creating an engaging customer experience as a part of your marketing strategy. This is the step where some businesses will gain a competitive advantage over others. Is your customer journey personalized, fast, easy and useful? What data do you need to help enhance the process? Keep in mind the the right data can make all the difference. These are all factors to take into consideration when striving for data-driven creativity to create an engaging customer experience. Engaging CX Building a Collaborative Culture It’s time to break down the silos between departments and start working collaboratively to drive data-driven creativity and enhance the customer experience. Build a collaborative culture, not a competitive one. Create a culture so that everybody is accountable for each other. Don’t forget to also encourage effective cooperation to meet key objectives and goals of the business. Your business’ tech and marketing teams should team up and work together to drive growth in all areas of the business. Collaboration With that being said, here are some effective ways marketing teams can use data-driven creativity to enhance the customer experience: Get Up Close and Personal Customer analytics are becoming extremely important today, and marketers are heavily relying on data-driven creativity with personalization being a key driver for success. Marketers who are successfully adopting data into their strategy are concentrating on providing personalization at scale. As a result, enterprises are constantly working around the clock to fine-tune every aspect of the marketing mix for their target audience in real-time. Netflix UX Netflix is a prime example of a business that Philippines Photo Editor uses data-driven creativity to enhance their customer experience. Netflix gathers users’ profile data and activity to personalize their experiences on the website and app. Based on certain user activity, Netflix is able to use the data to curate personalized lists based on your viewing history. For example, the recommendations under the “Because you watched…” section are compiled based on the data Netflix collects from consumers’ behaviours. Netflix uses AI to build out an algorithm that creates a unique viewing experience. With the help of machine learning, see how you can take your creativity to new heights and increase customer loyalty and retention. Provide Data Analytics Training for Your Teams With data analytics on the rise, it’s time to equip your teams with the proper tools and resources to stay ahead of the game. Take a holistic approach to data analytics, and this applies to all areas of your business including marketing! A growing number of marketers are building on their digital skills. The ability to transform data into key insights will help drive your business’ marketing efforts. This will give you an upper hand when it comes to enhancing the customer experience. Providing digital training for your teams will help them be agile in identifying key areas of improvement. The continual rise of emerging trends and technologies will only require strong data-driven creativity skills to keep up in such a fast paced landscape and environment.