3 tips for marketers and developers as they collaborate on digital products

Marketing is all about the “what” and the “why” — what is the essence of this product, and why does this particular market need it? It is the marketer’s responsibility to detect the signals and trends of the market, empathize with pain points and motivations, and observe behavior.

Technology teams, on the other hand, focus on the “how” — how do we go about implementing a technically feasible solution to this problem, and how will we support and maintain it?

Though the what, why, and how sound like a perfect trio, there’s often a disconnect between marketing and tech teams that prevents these three factors from working in unity. Many established corporations continue to operate within a process-based, industrial-era structure in which they divide themselves into efficient, high-functioning, siloed departments and tell each unit to optimize its individual contributions.

When this is the case, it stifles cross-departmental collaboration — something that’s crucial nowadays. Modern consumers are more empowered, and their needs are more complex. As a result, companies must shift from a production mentality, which places what’s being manufactured at the center of every decision, to one that focuses on customer experience and puts people first.

Closing the gap between marketing and tech creates better solutions by connecting the customer’s world with more precise engineering. If a tech team doesn’t have access to enough customer-related information or fails to do the necessary imaginative work to understand customers before beginning a project, the resulting solution will likely miss the mark.

These are the three most important things a marketing team can do to help tech teams come up with the optimal implementation:

1. Humanise the story

The most basic and transformative piece of information a marketing team can share is the human element of the problem. Who are we solving this problem for, and what difference will it make in that person’s life?

Put the problem in context. For example, if you work at an educational software company, don’t just come to the table with a general statement: “We need to redesign our software.” Instead, provide a humanised angle: “Mrs. Brown, a high school English teacher, is struggling to decipher which of her students are at risk of failing. So, she needs a way to visualize and anticipate her students’ performances before their grades start to fall.”

Personifying the problem will provide a new vigor and empathy to the developers’ processes.

2. Paint the big picture

In most cases, a customer pain point or need does not exist in isolation; it’s usually wrapped into bigger problems and larger wants. Marketers should provide thorough descriptions of the issues occurring, identify how addressing them fits into this big picture, and offer the tech team data that will help them along the way. With this key information, they can begin a well-informed development process with scalability in mind.

Again, don’t just come to your team with general solutions. Work alongside them to explore the various ways their work can help solve a pain point and deliver an improved customer experience.

3. Incorporate various perspectives

My company’s core project teams consist of three key people: a product strategist, a user experience designer, and a senior engineer — and each approaches the development process differently. The strategist takes a market-first approach, aligning the customer’s needs with company goals. The designer focuses on utility and aesthetics, striving to create something that people actually enjoy using and that makes life easier. And the engineer cares most about feasibility and maintainability, aiming to build something we can iterate upon in the future.

Marketing teams and tech teams think about problems in vastly different ways, but when they combine perspectives, they end up crafting well-rounded solutions that reach customers — and achieve business goals — in much more nuanced ways.

Ultimately, both developers and marketers want to build things that impact people in positive ways. They want to put into the universe things that are useful and meaningful.

When companies unite these vital teams and get them on the same page, they enable a deeper understanding of customer needs that results in creative problem solving and a real impact on users’ lives.