MarketDesign Consulting
Where Business Strategy Meets Creative Marketing

MarketDesign Consulting (MDCo) is a unique business consulting firm that operates as part marketing strategist and part business enablement partner to its clients in the technology space. MDCo excels in striking the perfect balance between technical acumen and marketing ingenuity.

What sets MDCo apart is its unwavering dedication to helping tech companies drive consistent, year-over-year growth. The team has extensive experience working within the technology domain, and this specialized knowledge affords MDCo a deep understanding of the industry, particularly in relation to the challenges faced by manufacturers, managed service providers (MSPs), system integrators, software as a service (SaaS) companies, and value-added resellers (VARs).

Their approach extends beyond strategic planning and tactical execution as the consulting firm is laser-focused on aligning marketing, sales, and service to drive long-term growth. MDCo understands that relying solely on marketing or sales or service to drive year-over-year growth leaves you with a few quick wins, but misalignment among departments and frustration among peers.

“Clients come to MarketDesign when they recognize they have a gap at the leadership level with accountability to the business success, they need actual marketing strategy and execution to grow their business, and/or they need to rightsize their people, process, and platforms to drive growth moving forward. With everyone on our team working with, for, or in technology we’ve heard the challenges and have developed plans and processes to right the ship or align the teams. This is why we don’t call ourselves a marketing agency; because we are so much more,” says Kara Rudy, Founder and President of MDCo.

Why Choose MDCo?

Many technology clients don’t have an internal marketing team, have a few salespeople and are heavly vested in their engineering and services teams to manage the client relationship and deliver on the promise they made to their clients during the proposal. These gaps are the ideal place for MDCo to step in. We provide coaching, structure, process, people, and the plan to move our clients for referral only growth, to Top of the funnel activity and sales ready lead qualification.

Another key factor that attracts clients to MDCo is the firm’s strong background and expertise as a HubSpot partner. In the SaaS, MSP, SP, and VAR space particularly, clients often pick their CRM platform to handle their SOWs, service tickets, and helpdesk SLAs first. Platforms like Salesforce, Dynamics, AutoTask, and ConnectWise are great for service management, but they often lack the real process, automation, and alignment needed between sales and marketing to track the buyer journey and align the metrics needed for the Go-to-Market team to act. MDCo’s proficiency in HubSpot enables them to assist clients in developing and implementing effective prospecting plans.

Fostering alignment between sales and marketing, building process and automation into the sales cycle, and reporting out on Marketing Influenced Revenue, MDCo teaches their clients how to use HubSpot to work for them across sales, marketing, service, and operations while eliminating multiple ad hoc tools that don’t provide any valuable data or insights back to the teams.

MDCo is also frequently sought-after for project-based work, especially when clients decide to invest in their company’s brand, website, offer, product, or service positioning, or content/SEO strategy. They collaborate closely with the sales and service teams to build a demand-generation engine that drives business growth and repeatable success.

What’s more impressive is MDCo dedicates significant efforts to solution, service, and product, and practice development. They help clients differentiate their service delivery capabilities from traditional manufacturer products including assisting in product, service, and offer development programs, strategies, and processes for their technology clients. Their clients benefit from this integrated approach, leading to enhanced lead generation, improved conversion rates, and increased revenue.

A Unique Framework: 6 Ps of Progress

MDCo distinguishes themselves through the implementation of its unique framework, the 6Ps of People, Process, Platform, Prospecting, Plan, Pipeline. This framework serves as a roadmap for MDCo’s consultants to ensure that their clients have the key pillars of their business aligned and thriving with the right mix of focus and accountability on each domain.

At the outset of each new project, consultation, or annual strategy engagement, the company conducts workshops to gain a deep understanding of the client’s business objectives, competitors, and existing challenges. Collaborating with senior leaders and middle management, MDCo identifies operational gaps and key focal points within their organization. Kara explains their consultative-approach; “every engagement we start begins with an executive-level workshop to get the baseline for where the company is, what challenges they have, and how they present themselves in the market. Often-times the needs and wants at the executive level are different from stakeholder to stakeholder and the third-party industry credibility enables us to be the facilitator of the true vision and roadmap to success for the client.”

Drawing from this knowledge, it formulates a comprehensive strategy that aligns the sales, marketing, operations, and services teams while identifying the appropriate platforms to support execution. This includes developing tailored plans for each team to facilitate the achievement of the client’s overarching business goals, such as revenue growth and profitability. Subsequently, a personalized go-to-market strategy is crafted.

MDCo distinguishes themselves through the implementation of its unique framework, the 6Ps of People, Process, Platform, Prospecting, Plan, Pipeline

Once the go-to-market strategy is defined and approved as the plan for the sales and marketing team, MDCo’s team orchestrates its implementation through a coordinated approach. This entails consulting, coaching, and management of team members, building or refining the team’s processes, training on platforms and tools, and then executing targeted client campaigns, content, events, media, and messages promoted through various tactics and inbound and outbound channels. Throughout this process, MDCo ensures the client’s brand message remains compelling and resonates with the intended target audience, customer profile, and more importantly buyer persona. By adhering to this framework, MDCo delivers their clients a tiger team complete with the right consultant to oversee the client plans, strategists to support key initiatives, and specialists to help teach, coach, and do the necessary work. With a dedicated account owner, MDCo clients have one person to go to for questions, status, or request but they get an average of 7-10 sales, marketing, and leadership skill sets rounding out their internal teams for a fraction of what it would take to hire, manage, and teach for each individual role as a full time employee.

MDCo’s Services in Action

MDCo played a key role in helping Compugen Systems Inc. (CSI), a US service delivery company, establish and launch their brand before the pandemic and continues to support their sales and marketing efforts building a marketing-lead, sales-enabled growth strategy.

CSI wanted to build strong differentiation in the marketplace, not only as a technology provider but as a strong service delivery arm. Recognizing the need, MDCo offered a methodology and approach to move through a brand pyramid; storyboarding, conceptualization, taglines, color schemes, messaging, a website launch, and more. Compugen used this framework to build its brand on the foundation of its new mission, values, and vision. Their work covered every aspect of Compugen’s market presence—from taglines and messaging, to website redesign, to marketing execution and consulting.

“CSI’s mission is to redefine the customer experience and continues to build their brand on approaching technology needs differently. The Compugen Experience Center, a featured collaboration space on their website highlights the value of their unique approach to a marketing-led, sales-enabled strategy, and the benefits that can come from prioritizing business engagements and relationships with customers over technology transactions and point in time services,” says Rudy. MDCo’s consulting and marketing execution services are helping Compugen double its profits year over year, growing into a multi-million-dollar company in the short four-year tenure they’ve partnered together.

A Team of Tech-Savvy Marketing Experts

MDCo’s consultants guide clients through the ever-changing tides of the tech landscape, acting as their trusted compass. Drawing upon their experiences, they bring a unique perspective to each project, infusing innovative marketing solutions, strategic insights, and bold creativity into their work.

Another key aspect is that its team members are true ‘techies at heart.’ MDCo works closely with partners and clients seeking expertise in preparation for acquisition, partnership opportunities, or company sales. With their keen understanding of the industry, the company assists clients in making strategic investments and allocating resources effectively to achieve their desired goals. MDCo’s ability to provide insightful guidance, backed by technical expertise, has proven highly advantageous for both their company and their clients.

On a Mission to Drive Change

As a woman business owner and technology enthusiast, Rudy is a passionate advocate for women and girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and is on a mission to inspire them to pursue their dreams. Through strategic partnerships with local colleges, MDCo actively cultivates opportunities for young individuals to experience the dynamic world of technology and work in several aspects of a business to get a true picture of the industry and several different roles within it.

The company is also driven by a strong vision of curing cancer, which holds immense significance to Rudy and the entire team. Every effort and action taken by MDCo is aimed at driving profitability for their clients, and these successes contribute to the company’s ability to support the quest for a cure for cancer in monthly investments of their time, money, and resources.

Rudy encourages clients to embrace the idea of building a brand they can genuinely be proud of. “We firmly believe that having a meaningful mission, one that resonates with both our values as people and professionals, sparks fascinating discussions with new prospects. These conversations often unveil a realization—the investments they make in us are not only helping their growth but contributing to the greater good for all,” says Rudy.

By aligning business success with impactful initiatives, akin to MDCo’s approach, even their clients have the opportunity to create a lasting, positive impact that extends beyond their own interests. Together, they can shape a future where businesses thrive as well as contribute to making a positive difference in the world.