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4 ways working in B2B tech marketing has shaped our designers

Dan DiPiro

By Dan DiPiro
May 14, 2021

4 ways working in B2B tech marketing has shaped our designers

Our design team is different.

I can assure you that your average, talented, generalist graphic designer could not deliver what MarketReach designers deliver to our clients every day. Not without first undergoing a lot of training around the industry we serve.

Nearly 100% of MarketReach clients are B2B technology marketers. And this industry specialization has given our design team certain skills and strengths. In particular, it’s made them really, really good at these four things.

purple line drawing of people in an office brainstorm session

1. Starting fast

Because they’re at home with the channel, tech alliance partnerships, and the types of marketing materials and experiences common to B2B technology marketing, our designers are able to ramp up fast, without our clients’ having to provide a lot of industry orientation.

pink line drawing of people in an office discussing design concepts

2. Playing the right role

Most of the time, our B2B tech clients come to us knowing exactly which marketing materials and experiences they want us to create, and they are eager for us to start right away. At other times, though, they need us to stand back, take the long view, and help them strategize and plan.

Our designers are good at discerning the role our clients want us to play (as is our whole team) and then knowing how to play it. Because, for a B2B tech marketer in execution mode, few things are more annoying and less productive than a creative partner that won’t get out of planning mode … or vice versa.

green line drawing of two people in an office discussion

3. Creating visuals that make complex messages clear and simple

B2B technology marketing messages are among the most complex in all of marketing. They’re built on esoteric terminology (hyperconverged infrastructures, virtual machines, gigaFLOPS, terabits) and a level of complexity that leaves graphic-design generalists baffled.

Because our designers work in B2B tech all day long, they know the language and fundamental tech concepts, so they’re quick to grasp key messages. This enables them to create visuals that get our clients’ complex messages across with simplicity, clarity, and effectiveness.

Design Manager Matt Demers

MarketReach design manager Matt Demers

It takes a certain kind of creative shop to serve the B2B tech realm. And a certain sort of leader to guide the design group at MarketReach.

Design Manager Matt Demers oversees our team. His 15 years’ worth of design gigs have included work for a printer, a publisher, and a boutique agency, freelancing, and more than five years of focusing on B2B tech marketing here in our shop.

With his creative and technical skill, his big-picture understanding of the designer’s role, and his ability to match talent to task, Matt’s a vital contributor to the creative work and client service we deliver every day.

multicolored line drawing of pairs of hands holding up different versions of a design

4. Doing a spot-on imitation of our clients’ in-house design teams

Many B2B tech marketers are in perpetual need of far more marketing materials than their in-house teams can produce. This is one of our main reasons to be.

While we occasionally take on rebranding and brand-refresh projects, we mainly work with brands as they are, with the goal of operating as an extension of our clients’ in-house creative production teams.

We pride ourselves on our ability to dig into all the brand guidelines and templates a client can throw at us, master those guidelines inside and out, and produce work that’s as on-brand as our clients’ own work is … or more.

Yep, our environment has shaped us

From the various creative services we offer, to how we price and schedule projects, to the ways we care for and serve our clients—just about everything we do, across all our departments, is a bit different because of our focus on B2B tech marketing.

Want to learn more about how we deliver creative services in the B2B tech realm? Read on.

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