The job of a marketing professional is to understand the needs and wants of consumers while also finding ways to reach them. Today, however, marketers need to do more than just that. The rise of digital marketing has thrust them into an ever-changing landscape heavily influenced by different pieces of technology. This means being a great modern marketer requires you to be well-versed in the various media and tech involved in reaching your target audience.
Coding and web development are skills that have gained prominence in digital marketing. While these skills are not necessary to become a successful marketer, there are plenty of reasons why you should learn them.
Do marketers need to master coding and web dev?
The short answer is no. Even if you knew little to nothing about coding and web development, you won’t find much trouble performing your tasks. More often than not, your company has professionals who can assist you in tech-related matters. However, understanding even just the fundamentals of coding and web development is already enough to significantly expand your capabilities as a marketer.
So, how exactly does knowledge of coding and web development help a marketer in the digital age?
Provides a competitive edge
As a marketer, having coding and web development skills is an upgrade. It can be considered a luxury — something you acquire to go beyond what is necessary. It will place you at a level higher than most of your peers. Having a good grasp of coding and web development, or mastering them, makes you a significantly more flexible worker and opens up plenty of opportunities. Since you can do more, your value as a worker remarkably increases, too.
Improves collaboration with tech teams
Ideally, your company will have an in-house or a third-party team in charge of handling matters related to tech. As a marketer, you will be working with these teams frequently, and it’s important you can communicate with them well. By learning coding and development, you’ll collaborate with tech teams better since you’ll understand the jargons they use and be able to participate in their discussions. It gives you a better grasp of the technical aspects of your work, allowing you to express tech-related ideas more clearly and with more confidence.
Better SEO rankings
Search engine optimization (SEO) is critical to digital marketing. Knowledge of the best SEO practices doesn’t require you to learn coding and development, but doing so will help you optimize your sites better. Websites that are better coded perform better, boosting their SEO ranking. Moreover, knowing coding and web development will allow you to tweak your website without the help of a web developer. This gives your more autonomy and enables you to apply your desired changes more quickly.
Better understanding of data
Coding and web development give marketers insight into data. Digital marketing is heavily reliant on data, and understanding how data affects your marketing efforts is a huge advantage. Various metrics that affect your business will make more sense to you, and you’ll be capable of taking them into consideration in every marketing decision you make.
Compliance risk management dictates that companies protect their customers’ data. As a marketer, you handle confidential information from your customers and you must ensure they won’t be put at risk. Having coding and web development skills will provide you with knowledge of the best data security practices, helping you ensure customer data is safe and secure
Helps measure performance
Measuring how well your marketing campaigns are performing involves a lot of numbers. Fortunately, data analytics software can help marketers make sense of these numbers. These digital tools assist marketers in deciding which practices to continue or abandon.
Using analytics software doesn’t require you to be well-versed in coding, but it will definitely help you get the most out of them. Coding and web development will also let you create reports and dashboards that will make monitoring different aspects of your business easier.
Better marketing campaigns
Coding and web development skills lead to a better understanding of data, which in turn, leads to better marketing campaigns. It gives marketers insight into customers’ online behavior — their interests, where they go, and what they do. Being able to utilize this information well allows marketers to create marketing campaigns that are fine-tuned for a specific audience. Furthermore, knowledge of coding and web dev enables marketers to make their campaigns more engaging.
Improved efficiency
Marketers juggle a lot of tasks, making it important to work as efficiently as possible. Through coding and web development skills, marketers can boost their efficiency as it allows them to use digital tools and software that can expedite various tasks. These tools can automate repetitive tasks and reduce the risk of human error, allowing you to work more effectively and efficiently.
Final words
Knowledge of coding and web development makes you a better marketer, regardless of the industry your company belongs to. Whether you’re campaigning for a hotel or advertising a restaurant, the tools and opportunities these skills give you access to are a game changer. In summary, if you want to step up your career in marketing, learning coding and web development is a step in the right direction.