{"id":90180,"date":"2024-01-24T05:51:07","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T10:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/?p=90180"},"modified":"2024-12-20T11:27:36","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T16:27:36","slug":"making-something-tangible-community-spotlight-with-najmah-salam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/making-something-tangible-community-spotlight-with-najmah-salam","title":{"rendered":"Making Something Tangible: Community Spotlight with Najmah Salam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t
\n
\n \t
\n \t\t
\n \t\t\t
\n \t\t\t\t

The Community Spotlight\u2014a monthly blog series highlighting some of the amazing members of the <\/span>email community<\/span><\/a>\u2014is back for 2024!<\/span><\/p>\n

Every month, we interview, highlight, and celebrate the splendid members of the email community. We dig into where they got their start, where they are now, and explore their challenges and passions in email.<\/span><\/p>\n

This month, we\u2019re chatting with <\/span>Najmah Salam<\/span><\/a>\u2014designer, copywriter, strategist, and former teenage graffiti artist.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\nNajmah Salam <\/strong>(she\/her\/hers)
\n<\/span>Marketing Alchemist at NajmahSalam.com<\/span><\/a>
\n<\/span><\/span>Follow Naj on LinkedIn<\/a>, Instagram<\/a> and X (Twitter)<\/a><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What did the beginning of your time in email marketing look like?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Like many other email specialists, I fell in love with email marketing completely by accident. My meet-cute with email happened in my first role in the UK as a marketing assistant for an online personalized gifts company, and one of my many tasks was to create emails every week.<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t long before I was head over heels when I could see the impact I was making on revenue with the power of email and became a full-fledged email geek!<\/span><\/p>\n

How did you first connect with the wider email geeks community?<\/span><\/h2>\n

My first reaction to learning anything new is to head to the library, or nowadays, do my research online. I know I wanted to get better at email and had the good fortune to stumble upon the <\/span>Women of Email<\/span><\/a> community on Facebook and the <\/span>Email Geeks<\/span><\/a> Slack community. Through simply being in those communities, I learned a lot and eventually plucked up the courage to start getting involved!<\/span><\/p>\n

How would you describe what you found in the email geeks community and what keeps you connected to it?\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve said it before, and I\u2019ll say it again: the email geeks community is the best professional community out there! Everyone is willing to share their knowledge or peer-review things you\u2019re working on. Plus the memes are top-notch. I think what keeps me connected. Even though I\u2019m not a pure email specialist anymore, there\u2019s always a feed of the most updated information around email and adjacent disciplines. It also has the most generous and talented people around.<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019re well-known in the email community for several things, but let\u2019s start with the stickers\u2014when did you start making email geek stickers and graphics? What prompted that?<\/span><\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve been a designer and artist longer than I\u2019ve been a marketer. In fact, I think I\u2019ve been scribbling on every surface I could get my hands on ever since I can remember. I used to be part of a graffiti crew in my teen years, and a big part of the culture is making sticker art.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>I remember thinking about the funny phrases I\u2019d often come across in my career and thought it\u2019d be great if they were stickers and tried out making my own designs\u2014I guess <\/span>the rest is history<\/span><\/a>!<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019ve run your own consultancy business as well as worked for some notable companies in our industry. How would you compare those experiences?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Working as a specialist for companies gave me a solid grounding not just in email marketing, but in all of the other skills required to work successfully with other people. Being part of a larger organization teaches you to be a good team player and communicator and is great for setting up structures. However, working as a consultant can be incredibly freeing\u2014I think I became a consultant at the right time in my life. I think if I\u2019d started working for myself earlier in my career, I wouldn\u2019t have built up the good habits that serve me well today.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your skills and consultancy service run the gamut from design to copywriting and public speaking. What are the aspects of each of those that you find satisfying?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Design is incredibly important to me\u2014<\/span>design<\/span><\/a> as intentional creation is a huge part of marketing and to be able to make use of design thinking is something that should be essential for any marketer. I love the process of taking information from a brief and turning it into something tangible.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>In a similar vein, <\/span>copywriting<\/span><\/a> is design with words. I\u2019ve always loved writing but there\u2019s something so immensely satisfying about distilling a potent idea with economic use of words.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Finally, I always introduce myself as a weirdo that actually likes public speaking\u2014I\u2019ve always been a bit of a goof, and I try and find opportunities to bring a fun energy to what I\u2019m presenting. Being a people-person, it\u2019s a great opportunity to connect with people too!<\/span><\/p>\n

Tell us about the title, \u201cMarketing Alchemist\u201d\u2014what made you choose that term to describe yourself? How would you define it?<\/span><\/h2>\n

When I was thinking about what term described me best, simply calling myself a designer or content creator or marketer didn\u2019t seem quite right. I do a lot of things, and enjoy them in equal measure. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>For me, marketing is like alchemy. Marketing, unlike design where you can bring something into existence, is dependent on having something to market. I call myself a Marketing Alchemist because I believe what I do is best is bringing together existing elements using the entire breadth of my skillset and turning it into gold.<\/span><\/p>\n

How do your intersecting identities shape the way you approach your career?<\/span><\/h2>\n

I love the saying, \u201cIf the only tool you have is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail.\u201d <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>My intersecting identities mean that I have a set of interesting and varied tools to approach any problem, whether it\u2019s as a designer, or writer, or marketer. I\u2019m able to make a holistic decision on whether a piece of content works best in one format or another. It also enables me to zoom out and think about the problems I\u2019m solving in a holistic way. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>This has served me really well in my career as I\u2019ve often worked in small companies and had to wear multiple hats.<\/span><\/p>\n

What would be the first steps you\u2019d offer someone who wants to take the plunge into consulting work?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Reflect on what your strengths and weaknesses are, and most importantly figure out who you want to help. Then, think about how you\u2019re going to communicate these things in a simple way to your target audience.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Once you\u2019ve clarified these things, you\u2019ve already ticked off a pretty difficult step in your journey!<\/span><\/p>\n

Which songs hype you up, and which songs chill you out?<\/span><\/h2>\n

I have a pretty eclectic music taste but I\u2019m a big sucker for 90\u2019s hits to hype me up and get me in a good mood, like the Spice Girls! I even made a cover of \u201cSay You\u2019ll Be There\u201d because it never fails to make me smile. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>I\u2019m also a big ol\u2019 nerd so to chill out, I\u2019m often listening to gaming and film soundtracks, especially to focus while I\u2019m working. The Skyrim soundtrack is one I go back to time and again.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>I also love creating Spotify playlists with really specific titles like \u201c<\/span>I’m a vice cop in the 70\u2019s<\/span><\/a>\u201d and \u201c<\/span>\ud83d\udc59Floating in a pool contemplating existential questions.<\/span><\/a>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When you need renewal, what sort of activities have you found that help?<\/span><\/h2>\n

I\u2019m lucky to be living in Salisbury in the UK which is very picturesque, so just leaving the house to go for a walk in the surrounding plains is a pretty vital part of my week and creative process!<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Music is a big part of my life, so taking an hour or two to noodle on my instruments and try out some new songs can be refreshing.<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

And as you might suspect, making art is what I love so I\u2019m often sketching away on my iPad or a sketchbook when I need a break.<\/span><\/p>\n

Learn from (and connect with) Najmah<\/span><\/h2>\n

Would you like to know more about Najmah\u2019s work? Visit her at <\/span>NajmahSalam.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Be sure to follow Najmah on <\/span>LinkedIn<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Instagram<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>X (Twitter)<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n \t\t\t<\/div>\n \t\t<\/div>\n \t<\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n\t\t \t\t
\n\t\t\t \n\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t

Boost efficiency and scale email development<\/strong><\/h2>\n\t\t\t

Craft consistent, on-brand emails with Litmus. Create and store reusable templates, code modules, and more.<\/p>\n\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t

\n\t\t\t Learn more<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t \t\t \t\t \t\t \t\t \t\t \t\t \t\t <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meet Najmah Salam\u2014designer, copywriter, email strategist, and guest in this month’s Community Spotlight: a series highlighting the amazing members of the email community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":89980,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[10371,478,9363],"blog_category":[10304],"class_list":["post-90180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-copywriting","tag-design","tag-email-marketing-strategy","blog_category-email-industry-updates"],"yoast_head":"\nEmail Community Spotlight: Najmah Salam - Litmus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Meet Najmah Salam\u2014designer, copywriter, email strategist, and guest in this month's Community Spotlight: a series highlighting the amazing members of the email community.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Making Something Tangible: Community Spotlight with Najmah Salam\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Meet Najmah Salam\u2014designer, copywriter, email strategist, and guest in this month's Community Spotlight: a series highlighting the amazing members of the email community.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/making-something-tangible-community-spotlight-with-najmah-salam\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Litmus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/litmusapp\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-24T10:51:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-20T16:27:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Community-Spotlight-Jan-24-2.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1380\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@litmusapp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@litmusapp\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Email Community Spotlight: Najmah Salam - Litmus","description":"Meet Najmah Salam\u2014designer, copywriter, email strategist, and guest in this month's Community Spotlight: a series highlighting the amazing members of the email community.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Making Something Tangible: Community Spotlight with Najmah Salam","og_description":"Meet Najmah Salam\u2014designer, copywriter, email strategist, and guest in this month's Community Spotlight: a series highlighting the amazing members of the email community.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/making-something-tangible-community-spotlight-with-najmah-salam","og_site_name":"Litmus","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/litmusapp","article_published_time":"2024-01-24T10:51:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-20T16:27:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1380,"height":725,"url":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Community-Spotlight-Jan-24-2.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@litmusapp","twitter_site":"@litmusapp","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/making-something-tangible-community-spotlight-with-najmah-salam#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/making-something-tangible-community-spotlight-with-najmah-salam"},"author":{"name":"marketing","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e7ba48efb15583afda17a94450244541"},"headline":"Making Something Tangible: Community Spotlight with Najmah Salam","datePublished":"2024-01-24T10:51:07+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-20T16:27:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/making-something-tangible-community-spotlight-with-najmah-salam"},"wordCount":8,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/making-something-tangible-community-spotlight-with-najmah-salam#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Community-Spotlight-Jan-24-2.png","keywords":["Copywriting","Design","Email Marketing Strategy"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/making-something-tangible-community-spotlight-with-najmah-salam","url":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/making-something-tangible-community-spotlight-with-najmah-salam","name":"Email Community Spotlight: Najmah Salam - Litmus","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/making-something-tangible-community-spotlight-with-najmah-salam#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/making-something-tangible-community-spotlight-with-najmah-salam#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Community-Spotlight-Jan-24-2.png","datePublished":"2024-01-24T10:51:07+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-20T16:27:36+00:00","description":"Meet Najmah Salam\u2014designer, copywriter, email strategist, and guest in this month's Community Spotlight: a series highlighting the amazing members of the email community.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/making-something-tangible-community-spotlight-with-najmah-salam#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/making-something-tangible-community-spotlight-with-najmah-salam"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/making-something-tangible-community-spotlight-with-najmah-salam#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Community-Spotlight-Jan-24-2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Community-Spotlight-Jan-24-2.png","width":1380,"height":725},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/making-something-tangible-community-spotlight-with-najmah-salam#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Making Something Tangible: Community Spotlight with Najmah Salam"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/","name":"Litmus","description":"Are you getting the most out of your email marketing?","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#organization","name":"Litmus Software","url":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/featured-image.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/featured-image.png","width":600,"height":314,"caption":"Litmus Software"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/litmusapp","https:\/\/x.com\/litmusapp"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e7ba48efb15583afda17a94450244541","name":"marketing"}]}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90180"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90511,"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90180\/revisions\/90511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90180"},{"taxonomy":"blog_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog_category?post=90180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}