Today we’d like to introduce you to Ben Swartz.
Ben, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I founded Marcel Digital in 2003 with my then business partner out of the ashes of a now infamous college case study; the AOL-Time Warner merger. At the beginning, all we had were business cards and a rented UPS mailbox next to a Jewel Osco with a Starbucks that we worked out of. We started with $0 funding and no financial support, putting a couple of thousand dollars out of pocket into a checking account so we could buy laptops. It was a pure bootstrap mentality that, looking back now, I have no idea how we did it. There were a few letdowns during that first year. I had been a nationally recognized producer for AOL and assumed that all of my clients would naturally follow me to my new venture, but unfortunately, reality had other plans. Not only did none of my clients follow me over, I couldn’t even convince the client who I named the company after (Marcel) to follow me at first. It was some of the most humbling and stressful times of my life.
As time went on, we saw opportunity in this new thing called Google AdWords and spent our workdays selling it and our nights actually learning to run campaigns on it. As search engines evolved and got more sophisticated, we became experts in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to help our clients rank higher for their industry’s keywords. Then, we realized that some clients had no way of implementing changes we’d recommend or landing pages we needed for campaigns, so we added web development and web design to our capabilities to take that off their plates. After that, search engines and users started putting more emphasis on a great browsing experience, so we became experts in Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), website testing and usability.
Today, 15 years later, Marcel Digital has evolved into a nationally recognized agency offering a vast variety of digital marketing and web development services that focus on bringing transparency to our client’s digital efforts. We pride ourselves on being a valued business partner to our clients and their teams, helping them achieve their most coveted business goals in whatever way that we can.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
While there are obviously moments I look back on more fondly than others, there is nothing I would change about the journey Marcel Digital and my team has taken me on over the years. I am constantly learning and growing each day with my business and that’s something I don’t take for granted. Everyday is something exciting, with a new challenge just around the corner to make us better.
Some of the most trying times at Marcel Digital include those early days of worrying about getting clients and how we were going to pay our bills. After we found our footing, we had to face the growing pains of scalability, including taking the company from $0 to $1 million, and worrying about things like hiring employees, salaries, leases, contracts, etc. – typical business things. It was hard to separate business goals from the strategies and tactics as we had whiteboards filled with work that needed to get completed, and simply not enough hours in the day to do it all. It was a great problem to have but it’s a challenge and stressful; only you know how vulnerable you are at that size, but we did it.
Then, in 2014, when my business partner and I went our separate ways, I decided to move the company in a new direction with a new mindset. It was time to firm up the purpose and the vision to create the company I always envisioned Marcel Digital being. Even with that new mindset, digital is an ever changing and evolving animal that will look different tomorrow and beyond. The last 15 years are no different. It’s always a challenge to keep your eyes on the present while also trying to keep your clients 4 or 5 ahead of the curve with new tactics to improve their marketing efforts. One of my greatest joys is seeing my team collaborate to come up with new and exciting ways to keep client’s businesses moving forward. They keep me in awe.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Marcel Digital – what should we know?
Marcel Digital is a digital agency that designs and develops award winning marketing strategies and websites to meet our client’s business goals. We believe in the inter-connectivity of the web, meaning our acclaimed team of developers, strategists, conversion experts and designers work together to create solutions that turn incoming website traffic into leads or revenue. We are one of the first Google Certified Partners (now, one of only a handful in the state of Illinois) and one of the first Google Premier Partners, a nod that only the top 3% of Google partners get. We’re also certified in both Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager and have numerous accolades under our belt including being a Hotjar Founding Member, an Umbraco Certified Gold Partner, and staffing a team of Moz Oracles and Umbraco Masters.
What does the future hold for your business?
In 2018 and beyond, we’re focused on three areas:
1. Growth – We take a lot of pride in our vision and who we want to be both internally and client facing. Our goal is to maintain double digit growth while staying true to and not losing focus of our values and who we are as a company.
2. Transparency – Data is everywhere and one of the biggest issues we see with prospects and clients is their inability to develop a cohesive strategy from such an overwhelming amount of it. At Marcel, we’re planning to develop more in depth close-the-loop Google Analytics and custom agnostic analytics solutions to further help our clients visualize the effectiveness of their media mix and marketing campaigns, turning their “so what?” data into an actionable and clear marketing strategy.
3. Culture – We’re building on our already great company culture, focusing on further developing the individual career paths of each Marcel Digital team member. Things have changed and shifted dramatically, and Marcel is shifting with it. It used to be that people wanted to move up the ladder to coordinator, to manager, to director, etc., but Marcel is committed to developing custom career paths for our employees. Some of these career paths include rank and title, but these days employees want to enhance and expand their capabilities set. To meet this need, we’re focusing on cross training our team so they can become a more versatile employee, further developing their skill set to become the professional they truly want to be.
Who also deserves credit?
I’d first have to say my father, who taught the value of hard work and having integrity, accountability, and responsibility in running and making decisions for my business. He also showed me the importance of supporting employees through thick or thin, ensuring that they are happy in the environment where they’ll be spending most of their time. He’s truly an incredible individual.
My wife and children have been incredibly supportive, understanding and patient with me as I continue to push to create the company I want Marcel to be. They put up with a lot, from travel to dinners and drinks with clients, to seminars and long hours at the office, they’ve been instrumental in my success as a business owner. They’ve also helped me find that healthy balance of dealing with my stress, teaching me to separate my professional and private life more and more.
I’d also have to say Cheryl Sandberg, because without her and her vision that ultimately became Google Adwords, none of this would have happened.
Lastly, my first runner-up, Larry David, because it would annoy the hell out of him if someone put him down as inspirational.
Contact Info:
- Address: 445 West Erie Avenue, 200
Chicago, IL 60654 - Website: https://www.marceldigital.com
- Phone: 3122558044
- Email: pdelehanty@marceldigital.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marceldigital/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/marceldigital
Image Credit:
Scott Ning
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