Intelligent Demand is an integrated revenue growth agency. We exist to help transform marketers into revenue leaders. Any agency can create activity for their client. Most can create an ad, write and design a piece of content, and maybe even deploy campaigns in marketing technology stacks. Very few can do those things and connect the dots back to what’s most important — creating a scalable and sustainable revenue growth engine.
But how do we do it? It all starts with the talented and passionate marketers that make up the ID team. In this blog series we aim to introduce you to each of our superheroes behind the mission. So, without further ado, please meet…Ben Marshall!
When did you start at ID?
I started at ID in April of 2020.
Where do you live?
Nashville, TN.
What’s your career been like so far?
With almost a decade of experience—I’ve spent my career fusing creative strategy, branding, design, and digital experiences within the B2B marketing agency space. I began my career with a passion for how design, technology, and brand intersects with peoples’ lives.
Some of the clients I’ve had the privilege of partnering with over my career include Oracle, IBM Watson Health, Ping Identity, Cheetah Digital, Identity Automation, Trimble, Kaiser Permanente, Avaya, Dawn Foods, Vail Resorts, Hitachi Data Systems, and Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
What do you do here at ID? Describe your role.
As an Associate Creative Director, it’s my responsibility to have a deep knowledge of each client’s business, their brand, their goals—all while uncovering their “why.” In short, I help my clients identify how they improve their customers’ and prospects’ lives across the customer journey.
Using that information as a foundation, it’s my team’s job to connect strategy, story, design, and technology while building programs that demand the attention and action of our intended audience. Ultimately, my team and I aim to find the overlap between what’s unique about a business, what motivates their customers (and end-customers) and connect those two things with an interesting universal truth wrapped in a compelling story.
What is your favorite part about ID? What drew you in?
The thing that excited me the most about joining Intelligent Demand (ID) is the clarity of our mission, our brand values, and our why. There are so many companies in the world who have no idea who they are or why they truly exist—or worse—they pretend to be something they’re not.
That’s not the case at ID. So my favorite part about being an IDer is working alongside like-minded folks who truly rally around a clear, unified, honest mission—and that’s an exciting and empowering mission to embrace. The work we do at ID is both challenging and gratifying. The balance of those two aspects of the work is what keeps me energized and ensures personal growth.
When did your journey in revenue growth begin and what have you found the most interesting?
I learned pretty quickly in my career that my role is not simply to design or direct creative work. It’s my responsibility to leverage my skills and expertise to show measurable results, proven ROI, a positive change in sales, and an increase in revenue for our clients.
For design to have a seat at the table, we must have a business mindset first and understand the motivation of our clients, their business, and their revenue goals. I don’t believe many creative teams understand this, but we do here at ID.
What are your passions outside work? Where can we find you on the weekends?
On the weekends, you can find me getting outside for a hike, hitting a morning workout class, listening to a podcast while walking my dog, and posting up on a brewery patio while likely debating between ordering a sour or an IPA.
The year 2020. We’ve been faced with a lot of challenges and the desire to see a change. What are you most excited to see come out of it? What have been the silver linings? Where would you like to see the world go from here?
2020 taught me a lot. It was more than eye-opening. It was a year that shed light on racial injustice, systemic racism, and community division. Globally, we faced an unforgiving pandemic that disrupted every industry, how and where we work—and that’s if we were lucky enough to keep our jobs. Above all, we shared a collective grieving of millions of lost lives.
It was a tumultuous year that taught me that we have a lot of work to do both within ourselves and in our communities to better understand each other and work towards a more inclusive, accepting, and diverse society. My hope is that coming out of 2020, people believe that we can do better and begin to realize what makes us different actually makes us stronger. I’m excited about the continued learning and education with ID’s DEI initiatives and how that impacts our people, process, projects, and clients.