Over the years, the role of a marketer has evolved alongside the technology available. Direct mail was once the dominant marketing platform, making the copywriter the driving force behind a campaign. The mighty email then came along and the futuristic messages transformed everything; making mass communication available at the click of a button – and placing great emphasis on the designer. Then came social media; with its stream of new platforms, playful nature and instant back-and-forth communication.
Everything is now linked; if you’re not integrating, you’re behind the times. But one thing hasn’t changed, especially in the world of B2C email marketing, and that’s that quality design is still imperative.
We all know marketing is a crucial practice, throughout the good times and the bad. The simple truth, however, is that many small to medium businesses simply don’t have the resources to employ full in-house marketing teams, meaning some roles are becoming merged.
Marketers are designers, designers are marketers
As we outlined in our previous blog, ‘The biggest issues in email marketing design that all marketers face – and how to resolve them’, in the past marketers have always been somewhat reliant on a designer to produce quality emails. Sure, the email service provider (ESP) you were working with had an editing tool, but it’s likely to have been primitive and basic.
The designer, on the other hand, was able to create stunning templates, adding and removing columns and content with ease, bringing a whole new level of targeting to your campaigns.
So how have the roles of marketer and designer merged? Well, marketers now have ability to create designer-like emails themselves. Design tools like our Drag & Drop Editor allow marketers to personalise every email they send, with no need for technical knowledge or coding expertise. They can also ensure their emails are optimised for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, without having to send a dozen test emails. Creating dynamic content emails – i.e. those with tailored content, product offers or call-to-actions based on specific customer data like purchase history or demographics – is also painless with Drag & Drop Editor.
Meanwhile, designers too are changing to think more like marketers. While the aesthetic of any design remains important, designers are more focused on creating messages which will get people to act and convert in some way. This comes right down to the overall customer journey and user experience, from the email to the landing page, and the landing page to point of purchase.
Strict disciplines are no more – the age of well-rounded marketers
The building of an email might have one looked like this: The email analyst would clean, dedupe and segment the email list, before handing it to the copywriter. Once they knew the target audience, the copywriter would craft their words before sending them over to the designer. The designer would then build a personalised template and insert the copy, before giving it to the email marketer, who would give everything a once over, ensure the email tied in with the overall marketing strategy, and upload the contact list to the ESP and hitting send.
That’s just not the way it works anymore. Not only can marketers now design for themselves, but email tools and platforms like those offered by our Drag & Drop Editor are becoming so advanced that email marketing is often a one-man-band within an organisation. Well-rounded marketers who can handle all aspects of digital marketing, from writing content to search engine optimisation and email marketing to social media, are in high demand; particularly in smaller businesses lacking the resources for full-blown marketing teams.
The marketer’s role is always changing, and as more email campaigns are developed, the world of email marketing will be pushed forward faster than ever.