Why should marketers know coding?
So, you want to build a website. The only problem is you have zero experience with coding, web design, and everything else it takes to build a website. Luckily you stumble on my blog, below I compare three of the most common ways people just like you go about dealing with the complex issue of creating a website. If you read this blog you won’t know how to make a website, but you will know where to start. The three most common ways I am talking about are Codecademy, SquareSpace, and WordPress.
Codecademy is different from the other platforms in that it is an educational website that trains users to build a website from scratch. Codeacademy is a great place to start learning code if for nothing else then because it’s free. Codeacademy has also taken out all the intense setup work from learning to code, no more downloading, and error messages you’ve never seen, with Codecademy all the learning is through your browser. The other thing that’s great about Codecedemy is how many different topics they cover so far they have tutorials on HTML, Sass, JavaScript, CSS, Rails, ReactJS, Ruby, Command Line, AngularJS Git, SQL, and Java.
Squarespace is the most user-friendly of all the options provided. Squarespace is easy even for users with little to no coding experience. Users can create beautiful professional looking designs but are limited in creativity to pre-existing templates (around 30). Squarespace makes life easy for users by combining domain, hosting, traffic statistics, payments, mobile compatible sites all on the same platform. Squarespace packages range in price, you can start with a 14-day free trial, the standard package is $144 per year the unlimited package is $216 per year, and the business package is $480 per year.
WordPress is the middle man of the three options I am comparing. WordPress is a great option if you want to be able to write and add content to your website without coding, but you still want the option for more customization with coding. WordPress is an opensource platform so anyone can create themes and plugins, as a result, there are thousands to choose from. WordPress has a few different packages for purchase, the beginner package is free, the premium package is $99 a year and the business package is $299 a year. WordPress is often used by website developers to allow their customers to edit or add content after they have created the website. It’s also important to note that because WordPress is open source and the plugins can be created by anyone, some of them will not work properly, and you may need someone experienced in WordPress to get your website to the final product you are looking for.
As a digital marketer, it’s a great idea to have a basic understanding of coding to give you a leg up on the competition in the job market. Yes Squarespace is easy and you can learn to use it on the fly, but so can everyone else so it provides little competitive advantage in the job market. Its no secret that jobs are becoming more interdisciplinary especially in the digital world in fact, there were over a quarter-million jobs advertised seeking hybrid talent. If you work for a small startup chance are you already wear a lot of hats and have some knowledge of coding is guaranteed to make life easier when working on website development. On the other hand, if you work with a big team, you’ll be pleasantly surprised when workflows much smoother due to your new-found knowledge of coding here’s a few reasons why it helps!
1. Enhance your marketing tool kit.
Imagine you can resize an image on your website without having to call another person from another team who is working on something more complex, this will save both parties time and the company money. Other reasons could include being able to create more attractive email marketing campaigns, perform better A/B testing or have a better understanding of analytics run by Javascript.
2. Help you understand what is possible.
Without some basic knowledge of coding, you will have no idea what is possible. As a digital marketer, you need to understand the technology you are working with and the limitations. With an understanding of coding, you can become more innovative creating new ideas rather than just looking at what has already been done.
3. Improve communication with developers.
Imagine that you develop a comprehensive plan for a marketing campaign, but you have no idea how the web developers will implement it. This situation is happening all the time for digital marketers and if you have some knowledge of coding you can work as a middle man to smooth out communications between web developers and marketers.