When creating a marketing campaign, backroom battles between the marketing and design departments can begin to resemble sports team rivalries. Although both departments are working toward the same goal of creating clean, simple, and beautiful web design, each department has different pressures that can create tension.
The symbiosis works in this way:
The marketing and design departments begin working together from conceptualization to execution. By having both designers and marketers in initial client meetings, harmony is created when visualizing the target audience, the message of the website, and its tone.
Communication through every step of the design process is key to preventing cross-departmental tension. Since marketers work within constraints which can be financial or time-related, they have to base their results on research that work toward measurable goals. The design department gets to work in a looser environment based on a “vision” that is subjective. By understanding marketing’s interest in tangible results and design’s interest in aesthetics and user experience, both teams can work together and focus on meeting the audience’s needs.
When developing a concept, clients will chime in with suggestions and guidelines on how to alter web design. Their point of contact will be the marketing department which has to relay the information in a clear and concise manner to the design team. To prevent transgressions, marketers document any feedback or amends to streamline the process and reduce wasted effort.
By bringing designers into client meetings, every department gets to better understand the clients needs. A flat organizational hierarchy allows design and marketing to feed off of each other through every step of the way. Depending on the data and strategy of the marketing department, designers can take this information and alter the tone of the design to reflect the research. On the other hand, design’s unrestricted and creative working methods create a balance to offset marketing’s obsession with statistics.
A balance between data and design is crucial to not only reducing power struggles but also for creating a positive ROI. At the end of the day, planning, collaborating, and communicating through the entire execution process leads to a harmonious marriage of beautiful design with inspirational content.