HIRE MARKETING DESIGNER

In 2020, football fans celebrated Lionel Messi’s 644th goal for a single club. Meanwhile, Budweiser and Copa90’s advertising agency focused on the goalkeepers who challenged the forward along his way.

The ‘Messi x Budweiser 644’ campaign created a customized Budweiser for each goal scored. Additionally, they invited all goalkeepers against whom Messi scored and shifted the focus to their stories. Each of the 160 goalkeepers got a personalized beer for Messi’s goals and the chance to tell their story.

As a result, this campaign gained coverage in 84 countries, achieved 1 million engagements, doubled Budweiser’s online search results, and earned $20M in social media value.

If you want to replicate their success, the first step is to hire a talented, creative marketing designer. In this article, we’ll show you where to find a perfect candidate, how to access their skills, and what value you can add as a business owner. 

Market and design trends: what’s the connection?

Remember the vintage design revival in 2010, when every coffee shop or brewery used to have a stamp-like logo with the “Established in.” tagline? 

Today, clip thinking influences marketing design trends. Modern users move swiftly, scan website pages within seconds, and leave if they don’t see what they are looking for. If you think the average time spent on the website is around 2 minutes, you’d be surprised to know that it’s around 55 seconds.

With such a short timeframe to catch the user’s attention, companies go out of their way to make a positive first impression. For instance, more and more marketers are now focusing on attention-grabbing videos. 

The 2023 Wyzowl State of Video Marketing Survey shows that marketers feel overwhelmingly positive about using video in their creative campaigns. 92% of respondents are satisfied with the ROI that videos provide, and 87% say that videos improve website dwell time.

Another wholesome trend among modern advertising campaigns is promoting positivity. Brands don’t try to leverage and manipulate your insecurities. Instead, they uplift your mood and support you as a mom or close friend would.

One example is Dove’s 2019 #ShowUs campaign. They partnered with Getty Images and Girlgaze and created the largest photo library that showcases a woman’s beauty in any shape. 

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Additionally, they launched the #ShowUs hashtag on social media and asked women all over the world to share their contributions. As a result, the campaign earned over 7 million engagements on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.

The bottom line is that a marketing designer will help you build and cement your brand’s reputation. This expert can analyze users’ data, identify triggers, and create marketing assets that speak to them directly. 

What does a digital marketing designer do, exactly?

Knowing current marketing trends is just one branch of the creative marketing designer’s skill tree. They also can help you work on the following aspects of your brand’s identity:

• Increase brand awareness on social media with well-thought-out design

Statista reports that Facebook hit over 3 billion users in April 2024. What does it mean for business owners? Over 3 billion potential customers. By working with a digital marketing designer, you can talk to that target audience in the best way and increase the brand’s presence on social media, positively reflecting your revenue.

• Improve team productivity

Different departments of your team might have a different vision of the final product. On the one hand, diversity of opinions is always great. On the other hand, it can stun the growth and development of your brand. 

By working with a creative marketing designer, you’ll introduce a universal mediator for your team: they can weed out any imperfections and compose a well-tuned final concept.

• Work on mobile optimization

According to Statista data, mobile orders constitute two-thirds of all shopping orders. This means that any small business today simply won’t survive without cross-platform optimization of its website.

Digital marketing designers can help you optimize mobile interfaces and make them user-friendly, ensuring your customers stay around longer.

• Deliver quality print and offline media

However, it’s too early to ditch offline marketing campaigns and move entirely into digital. According to Google, in 2021, searches containing “shops near me” increased by 90% year over year. A marketing designer can create flyers, posters, and banners, which might significantly improve brand awareness and attract more customers.

• Create a design that engages with users

Our brain is more likely to remember information when it has something to hook onto.  Using storytelling techniques to associate your brand with something positive and appealing is one of the key marketing designer skills. 

‍Coca-Cola campaigns, for instance, feature themes of human connections and shared experiences. These associations cemented the friendly and entertaining brand’s image and earned a lot of user engagement.

Marketing designer vs UX designer vs Graphic designer?

You might wonder why you need to hire a marketing designer specifically. You already have a graphic and a UX designer on your team, and they can work on visuals, right?

A creative marketing designer is proficient in market trends. If you want to create an advertising campaign that attracts customers, you need their guidance. This specialist can also effectively collaborate with your marketing and design departments and improve the overall outcome.

Finally, a wholesale marketing designer is skilled in data visualization and storytelling so that they will deliver your product’s mission to the average customer. If you need a design that reels people in and makes them explore your product, that’s the specialist you should hire.

Still, if you have some questions on what are the differences between each designer, here’s a table that conveniently wraps up all of them:

Crucial marketing designer skills

Having learned how to tell different types of designers apart, let’s see what skills you should look for if you need to pick a skilled marketing designer for your team.

• Proficiency in design software

Being comfortable with Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign is a standard requirement if you need a digital marketing designer who can deliver various types of brand media. Also, it’s good to know if your prospect expands their skills beyond the standard program and upgrades them so that you can count on their expertise.

• Creation of design guidelines

This is especially critical for those who work with mobile products or startups. Both Apple and Google have entire workbooks describing how their interface and apps should look. A good marketing designer acknowledges these principles and sets their guidelines for products.

• Knowledge of social media marketing

Ad spending in the social media advertising segment is projected to reach $262B+ by 2028. Ignoring such a vast market is, at the very least, unreasonable. That’s why you need to hire a marketing designer: they will increase the social media presence of your brand and help grow your business.

• Storytelling & visual communication

Your customers want to see a pretty picture and a product that speaks directly to them. The primary hybrid marketing designer's role is to make this possible by telling a story. They can also collaborate with illustrators, VFX designers, AR designers, and other creators to bring their unique vision to life.

• Lead generation

Generating a steady stream of customers is vital for the growth and prosperity of any business. A creative marketing designer will guide your brand’s ship through this stream.

They will perform customer research and identify what users want to see in a final product. So, working with them will help you find and grow your audience.

How do you participate as a business owner?

Now, you can’t simply hire a marketing designer and expect wonders for your product. As an owner, you must ensure the designer won’t move away from your desired vision and create a product you like and enjoy using. Here’s what you can do to achieve maximum effectiveness together:

• Don’t be afraid to experiment and stay flexible

As a business owner, you must understand that creating a perfect design is a fine-tuned collaborative effort. And sometimes, the things you want to see in the visuals might not work anymore. An experienced marketing designer will tell you this, so be prepared to change some things to make the final result more appealing.

• Avoid emotional decisions

Picking a sparkling background for a banking service just because you like it is somewhat weird. The same goes for drawing cartoon dogs all over your brand’s identity kit — unless it’s a pet grooming salon. 

You’re creating the brand’s visuals for your customers, who might feel the opposite about sparkles and dogs. So trust the judgment of your digital marketing designer and leave emotional choices for your personal social media profiles.

• Give detailed feedback

The more detailed feedback you give, the fewer revisions you will get through. When reviewing a design for an email flow or a flyer layout, try to look at it from the perspective of a regular user who sees your product for the first time. You can also show a design to your friends and see what they think.

Where to hire a perfect candidate?

Now, you can’t simply hire a marketing designer and expect wonders for your product. As an owner, you must ensure the designer won’t move away from your desired vision and create a product you will also like and enjoy using. Here’s what you can do to achieve maximum effectiveness together:

Networking

✅ Pros. CNBC research shows that up to 80% of positions are filled through personal connections. Posting about your job on social media or asking a guy who knows a guy among friends might significantly increase the possibility of hiring a great freelance marketing designer. After all, recommendations are one of the most valid proofs that a designer is good at their job.

❌ Cons. One of the potential biggest drawbacks is getting recommendations for workers who are simply not a good fit for your company. Even if they’re great at their job, they may lack industry expertise or not have the cultural fit you’re looking for. You might also search for the desired candidate for months because all the good ones already have projects.

Job Websites

✅ Pros. Taking a traditional route and browsing through job sites like Glassdoor, Flexjobs, or LinkedIn is another way to hire a marketing flyer designer. First, you can pick candidates from the large talent pool. Plus, you will have a scope of the candidate’s experience and skills without asking for a CV.

❌ Cons. Sometimes, you require a designer quickly, preferably for yesterday. Hiring someone through job board websites is time-consuming and may yield mixed results. It’s risky and time-consuming. You’ll most likely need a team to monitor responses, browse through resumes, and select the perfect candidate. And we haven’t even talked about interviewing.

Freelance websites

✅ Pros. If you need something quicker and more representative than job sites, you may consider contacting freelance marketing designers on websites like Fiverr or Upwork. The great thing about these websites is that you can find candidates with industry expertise, a public portfolio, and recommendations, so you can quickly access them and pick the right designer for your project.

❌ Cons. However, those freelance websites have a low entry threshold, meaning everyone can exaggerate when saying they are an experienced marketing designer. You never really know if those snippets of the freelancer’s portfolio are made by them or stolen from another website. Double-checking the reviews and recommendations takes time you might not have at hand. It’s usually an unreliable way of doing things.

Design subscription platforms

✅ Pros. You can choose to find a freelance marketing designer through a subscription platform, such as Awesomic. This is relatively easy: you create an account and choose one subscription plan. Awesomic offers many plans with customized offerings and no hidden fees. You create the task you need; we AI-match you with a vetted designer with the best fit, industry-wise, and skills in as few as 24 hours. 

The advantages of using a subscription service, such as Awesomic, include:

• Unlimited revisions for a flat price.
• Access to all the materials and versions of the visual.
• In-app chat with the candidate.
• Support from a customer success team to deliver the highest quality projects.

❌ Cons. If you’re looking for an on-site marketing designer, Awesomic might not be the right choice, as it only offers remote candidates.

How much does hiring a marketing designer cost?

There’s no universal answer to “How much do I need to pay for marketing designer services?”. You can hire an anonymous designer on Fiverr for as low as $5 per hour or reach out to a professional agency and spend $5,000 or more per project.

The main factors impacting the marketing designer’s salary include the candidate’s expertise and location. Plus, your approach, whether hiring full-time, picking a freelancer with an hourly rate, or turning to design subscription platforms, might drastically vary your spending.

Full-time work

Hiring a full-time marketing designer has several benefits:

• Fixed price per month.
• The specialist can dedicate all their time to your project.
• Typically, those seeking full-time occupations have some years of relevant work experience so you can expect high-quality design.

The drawback is that you need to reach out to the candidates to learn more about their rates to tweak your budget. Plus, spending 9-to-5 at work doesn’t always mean working, and you will often end up paying for other activities that aren’t related to work. 

Finally, insurance, sick leave, and other benefits are typically not included in digital marketing designer salaries and might cost an extra couple of thousand dollars. 

You might want to estimate their rates by looking at the salary expectations of workers of other companies. However, these are typically based on annual market estimates, so the pay might differ.

Pay per hour

Another approach is to hire a marketing designer with an hourly rate. Many websites, including Fiverr and Upwork, have numerous candidates with a reasonable hourly rate.

Upwork allows you to find marketing designers starting from $40 per hour. For this price, you may get visuals for Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or any other social media, as well as market research and guidelines for a Google Ads campaign.

Suppose you need full-fledged brand identity visuals, email marketing optimization, outreach strategy, and lifecycle marketing strategy. In that case, you might need an email marketing designer who charges $100 per hour.

At any point, the research and outreach require a lot of manual work from your side, which will take time—the time you could spend working on mission-critical initiatives. 

Design subscription platforms

The other option would be to design subscription platforms at a flat rate per month. Awesomic currently has two plans: 

• Light ($699/month) — includes lite graphic design work such as social media creatives, ebooks, product packaging, and more;
• Pro ($1,995/month) — gives you access to the full suite of design essentials: logo, brand identity, UI/UX design, mobile and app design, illustrations, and more;

Regardless of the price, you’ll get daily updates on your project, unlimited revisions, and access to source files. Awesomic vets the cosmic talent; only less than 1% of applicants get to work with our clients. 

Hire award-winning Designers

Imagine your brand standing alongside industry giants. Achieving such a feat might feel impossible, but you can set your brand apart with strategic, incremental steps. It may take a while, but the first step will likely involve hiring a skilled marketing designer.

The hiring landscape is intensely competitive, with a tight market for qualified candidates. Navigating through countless resumes and coordinating interviews can consume valuable time, a scarce resource.

Embracing innovative hiring strategies, such as leveraging subscription-based, award-winning talent platforms like Awesomic, can streamline the process. These platforms use advanced algorithms and AI tools to match your needs with vetted candidates worldwide, allowing you to kickstart projects swiftly and see tangible results within days.

And who knows, maybe the next award-winning ad campaign will be yours.