How to find design projects beyond the marketing team
Most designers crowd into marketing departments looking for work. That’s natural — marketing teams have traditionally been the gateway to design projects. But focusing solely on marketing means missing huge opportunities elsewhere in an organisation.
Smart designers are discovering less competitive spaces where they can solve bigger problems and command higher fees. They’re finding opportunities others miss simply by understanding the value chain.
What is a value chain?
A value chain is every activity a business undertakes to deliver their product or service. From research and development through to after-sales service — each activity adds value to the final outcome.
While designers jostle for marketing’s attention, many other departments struggle with problems design could solve:
- Operations (process documentation, workflow systems)
- Research and development (data visualisation, testing protocols)
- Human resources (training materials, internal communications)
- Supply chain (inventory management, tracking systems)
- Customer service (user guides, support materials)
- Administration (reporting systems, policy documentation.
Why this matters
When designers understand the value chain, they:
- find opportunities others miss
- solve bigger business problems
- command higher fees
- build longer client relationships.
Once we started looking beyond marketing, we found problems nobody else was solving. That’s led to more strategic work and better margins.
#dontusemyname, Melbourne
The ‘how’
Start by asking different questions:
- How does your client create value?
- Where are their bottlenecks?
- What frustrates their staff?
- Where do they lose efficiency?
The answers often reveal design opportunities far beyond traditional marketing projects.
So what?
Marketing is just one link in the value chain. Understanding the whole chain helps position you as a strategic partner rather than just another creative supplier in a crowded room.
That’s why we wrote our Finding higher-fee design work half day workshop. It’s about identifying design mature clients because they’re the ones who integrate design throughout their business, not just in marketing. They understand design’s strategic value and are willing to invest in expertise. And generally, design mature clients pay higher fees for design because they understand the impact good design can have on their people, products and services.
Greg Branson
Design Business Council – business advice for creatives
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Want more?
These articles talk more about identifying ‘better’ clients:
- A summary of recent research about ‘What clients want‘
- An article about finding ‘good’ clients
- The continual quest to keep clients happy
About Greg Branson
Greg’s passion is the research and development of methods that improve design management and the role of design in business.
His longevity is in his ability to change and adapt. Greg’s career as a traditionally-trained photographer; became an academic, teaching photography to design students; co-founded and ran Mackay Branson design (for over 25 years) until, recognising an area that he loved – design management – was not an area traditionally covered in design education, he founded Design Business Council. Since then he has worked alongside hundreds and Australian creatives helping them manage their business better.
Greg has sat on the AGDA Victoria and National councils, on a number of University and TAFE Advisory Boards and helped rewrite the VCE Visual Communication curriculum.
Outside of DBC, he is a passionate analogue photographer who spends an inordinate amount of time in his darkroom. You can follow his work on instagram @gregurbanfilm
Always happy to chat, he can be contacted here.
