I came across this post from a friend of mine with
tips for hiring a web designer. One of Adam's tips is to separate your web design and external marketing and not hire the same person to do both. I both agree and disagree to some extent and think the question is an interesting one.
Do you think you should hire the same person or team to be responsible for both the design of your website and marketing or should they be left to separate people?
As someone who offers both services you might think I'd say you should always hire the same person for both. Actually I think it's a good idea to hire people on either end that understand the other discipline, but it's ok to hire different people for both.
Design and marketing clearly overlap. Your website in many ways is your biggest online marketing tool. I think it makes sense to hire a web designer who at least understands the marketing process. Many should, but not all do.
Similarly your marketing team should understand the basics of design since your design will play a large role in how your business and brand are perceived.
However it might be difficult for one company or individual to really be expert in both areas. In my own business I don't offer a full range or marketing services in part for this reason. I offer those where I feel I can provide good value to my clients and if anything I use the marketing side as more of a selling point for my web design and development services.
I know many of the designers here offer marketing services to some degree. Do you offer full marketing services or a limited set? Do you have different people in house working on each or are they handled by the same person or people?
Regardless of whether or not you hire one company for both or one company for each, I do think it's very important to have all teams in place from the start. The disciplines overlap a lot and you want your design and marketing to work toward a common goal. I've seen too many people put up a website first with little to no thought of their marketing and then attempt to attach the marketing later. Much better is to include marketing in your design process. Even better is to include marketing at the product development stage.
What do you think? Should the services be done by the same person or team? Should you hire each separately? Where do you think each should come into the process?