Who do you hire for what and when?
It can be a challenge to hire the right person but hopefully this mini guide will help.
One person may be good at only one of these roles or they may have some experience with all of these roles in their career. If you hire one, they may need to hire another or get a referral. All of these services compliment one another and will help your business. Knowing what you are hiring for can lead to a better result as not all people are at the same experience or skill level. I always know that when I hire cheap labor I can’t expect the moon (or even remotely close), same goes for these contractors. What they charge will be an indicator of their skill level AND what the quality will be that they deliver. Please keep that in mind the next time you hire out for a job. What quality are you looking for? Dollar store or Tiffany’s?
A graphic designer
is a professional within the graphic arts industry that uses typography, images and graphics to create a design. A graphic designer usually creates graphics for printed publications such as brochures and postcards or electronic media such as banner ads and websites. A designer tries to create accessible, understandable and memorable content for the client and intended audience. Graphic designers can specialize in different areas such as only digital, branding, font design, etc or they can specialize by client market such as health, fitness, entrepreneurs, artists, tech, beverage, outdoor etc.
A digital illustrator
is like a graphic designer but their style is more like a fine artist. Their work is like a painting or drawing but it’s digital. This work can be used in your branding, printed or online materials. Not all graphic designers do illustration work. Their portfolio will be the best indicator if they do this type of work.
A web designer
has skills to produce and/or maintain the front end of websites. They may be a web graphic designer, interface designer, author, user experience designer or search engine optimizer; or a combination of all of these. Web designers also have an awareness of usability and writing mark up. They are usually well versed in web accessibility guidelines as well. They are usually the people that make websites look pretty but not usually the people that code or work on custom functionality.
A web developer
usually refers to the person working on the back end of the website or the non-design side (the coder). They are usually the ones writing custom code or mark up. It can involve only one static page or a complicated several page website. Their language is widgets, css, html, java etc.
A marketer
is someone that communicates to an audience, the value and benefits of a product or service. It can include market research in order to determine the right target audience or the right platform for advertising. Marketing tries to build long term relationships with a brand and its customers. They help bring the customers to your door/website.
A strategist
is someone that comes up with a plan of action and implements it. They set goals and metrics that can be tracked for the success of a campaign (SMART goals). Strategy can be done by all members of the team, single business owners or management. There can be different strategies for financial, design, marketing and sales. All goals usually leading to one of the following: brand and /or product awareness, increased business, deepening relationships and growing your lists.