We’ve decided as a company to discontinue our email marketing services in order to focus exclusively on our SEO services.
Our journey with email marketing began innocently when I asked Mailchimp if we could be listed in the Mailchimp Expert Directory. To my surprise, Mailchimp accepted our request and we officially became the only US-based company west of the Mississippi to be featured in the directory.
Almost overnight, the directory listing introduced Markitors to companies big and small from around the globe who were in search of an email marketing expert. While we were no expert, complex and diverse projects required us to quickly become one!
In a few years we completed more than 100+ projects for companies in 8 different countries on 4 different continents (North America, Europe, Asia, Australia). We expanded our relationship with Mailchimp, officially being onboarded as a Mailchimp Partner at their headquarters in Atlanta (with subsequent hosting of a few epic Meetups as part of our partnership!).
Marketing Evolves Quickly
Here it is almost 2020, and the marketing world continues to evolve quickly. Mailchimp is no longer just email. Google’s algorithm isn’t just links. And a SEO company that does all things for all customers just isn’t effective.
Jim Collins said in Good To Great that the best companies find one thing they can do better than anyone and focus on that one thing.
Discount Tire sells tires and wheels but doesn’t offer oil changes, alignments, or general automotive services.
In-N-Out sells hamburgers and fries but doesn’t offer chicken nuggets, salads, or breakfast.
Now, Markitors does SEO and Social Media but doesn’t offer email template design, email campaigns, or email marketing services.
By focusing on a limited number of services, we hope we can reduce project delivery times and build customer satisfaction. In addition, the decision to focus reduces our training expenses, makes work scheduling more predictable, and maximizes our working hours. Plus, we can serve more customers with our team (who are all truly experts in what they do).
Quite simply, it’s a growth through reduction decision that makes sense for our clients, their customers, and our employees.
Source: Jim Collins Hedgehog Concept
A few FAQ’s:
What does this mean for you, as a customer of Markitors who currently utilizes our email marketing services?
There’s two options for our email marketing customers.
- We believe there’s a better way we can service your marketing objectives. We will be reaching out to explore those alternatives with you.
- If you want to continue your email marketing campaigns, we are happy to refer you to a trusted partner of ours, Lucky Red Pixel. We met during our Mailchimp Partner Lab and have been impressed with them in the year we’ve worked together. We are happy to onboard their team to our work so there is a smooth, seamless transition. That way, your business continues to thrive.
What does this mean for Markitors, as a Mailchimp Partner?
Markitors will continue to be a Mailchimp Partner.
Mailchimp has evolved from email into an all-in-one marketing platform. Their focus on serving small businesses with audience tools like a Marketing CRM and campaign tools like Landing Pages and Organic Social Postings aligns well with our mission at Markitors (Connect small businesses with customers…and have a good time doing it!)
Our team LOVES being a Mailchimp Partner. It’s part of our brand, and makes sense to continue this Partnership on both sides.
Will you still do Mailchimp Meetups?
Yes, we have our next Mailchimp Meetup on Friday, August 23rd at 8am – 10am.
I still don’t understand why Markitors would stop doing email. Can you elaborate?
Clients sometimes don’t find value in email marketing services for a variety of reasons.
Sometimes they don’t see a return on investment due to their size of their list.
Thanks to tools like Mailchimp, email is also very easy to DIY. This gives companies the confidence to take on the responsibility internally. The end result for an agency? Lots of starts and stops.
There’s also concerns about spam. This goes back to an agency’s dependency on the health of a customer’s email list.
And then, trying to do too many things without a solid process can lead to customer frustration.
I think these emails add context as to why email services were not mutually beneficial to our agency and customers.
What’s next?
We will continue serving small businesses through organic marketing methods like SEO and Social. By developing sustainable and organic marketing methods, we are able to continuously move companies forward online with predictable results.
Nothing gives us more satisfaction than seeing our clients grow. This decision to focus on what we’re best at strengthens our ability to achieve that objective.
Now, back to work. 🙂
