Designer vs. Marketer

The simplest description of a Marketer is a person who promotes or exchanges products or services for money. A Marketer is likewise known as a promoter, but very rare situation a Marketer is usually responsible for Public Relations. A Designer, however, is a person who creates or creates original print and web marketing materials, artwork among others.

The Marketer

While the two work together on nearly all projects very rarely are they the same. A good Marketer will have at least a working knowledge of the limitations of design. Marketers are solely responsible for developing, implementing and monitoring the marketing strategy and tactics on specified projects or marketing campaigns.

Marketers are likewise responsible for getting a grasp on their clients’ needs, consistency of message, target audience and demographics, setting up milestones and developing, or outsourcing the creation, of the text content that is to be used on whatever piece.

When they have an idea, they often create thumbnail sketches or rough illustrations of what the pieces they will be like, in order to effectively convey the ideas to the Designer who bring them to life. Marketers are additionally in charge of defining a strategy for tracking the Return on Investment (ROI) to demonstrate the efficiency of the marketing material or campaign.

The Designer

A strong Designer must have knowledge of marketing strategies, branding, the psychology of what appeals to people and the many difference between design for print work and web.

The Designers job is to transform the ideas created by the Marketer and the client to a visual medium. He could recommend additional marketing pieces, give numerous variations of the initial design for choices, and put forward additional mediums to assist in marketing to the client.

Designers are solely responsible for creating the deliverables (marketing pieces), offering the pieces in formats for use on several platforms (if necessary) and working with the Marketer to offer the best possible option to create the designed items.

A Designer would need to have an understanding of the client’s budget restraints, voice, potential clients, channels of use, and communicate any concerns, or questions directly to the client. Essentially, Designers are creative people, which suggest that they are partly artist and partly mind reader.

The client signs off on the designs and the Marketer and Designer start their process of getting the best suited avenue to have the piece(s) created. As soon as this is done, the Designer steps out of the picture, and waits for the next piece or revision.

The Marketer takes over at this time and, subject to the strategy, distributes the piece out to the avenues they determine them to go. After the run of the piece, the Marketer will look at the general success of the project/campaign and report back to the customer with suggestions, upgrades, or a finished report.

In conclusion, the distinction between a Marketer and a Designer is huge, but in the end you should feel confident in both enough to trust your business, project or event will be successful.