Do You Need to Learn How to Code to Be in Marketing?
Everything is 'digital' these days it seems. Especially marketing. There's almost no reason to specify that you're into 'digital marketing' anymore since almost all marketing is 'digital' now.I say almost because there's still a surprising amount of businesses that advertise via radio, print, TV, billboards, etc. The old school channels I call'em.Most small to medium sized businesses have gravitated to the web as it typically offers a higher return on ad spend compared to the traditional channels and it's easier to track the effectiveness of your campaigns. It allows you to make more data driven decision with your advertising.
There are a lot of advantages.Now, you're probably wondering then, since the digital realm runs on code, and most marketing is digital, should you learn how to code yourself?Will that bring you any advantages as a marketer? It's a great question! Here's been my experience:I originally started off my marketing career with my own Wordpress blog. I bought a theme and customized it to fit my needs. I barely knew HTML and knew even less CSS and Javascript. I was simply 'hackin' it. I eventually was able to grow my blog traffic to 500 organic visitors a day at it's peak and that success is what landed me my first client. The blog itself didn't really make any money.
It was a music blog that turned out to be really difficult to monetize.Either way, I was on my way to creating a little freelance marketing career now so it was all worth it.Over time I became frustrated with my lack of web development and web design skills. I wanted more control over the websites and funnels I was creating. I wanted more control over building out credit card checkouts so I can improve the experience and therefore improve conversions for my clients.That's when I decided to sit down and learn the foundations of the web. I starting learning how to code.
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Everything is 'digital' these days it seems. Especially marketing. There's almost no reason to specify that you're into 'digital marketing' anymore since almost all marketing is 'digital' now.I say almost because there's still a surprising amount of businesses that advertise via radio, print, TV, billboards, etc. The old school channels I call'em.Most small to medium sized businesses have gravitated to the web as it typically offers a higher return on ad spend compared to the traditional channels and it's easier to track the effectiveness of your campaigns. It allows you to make more data driven decision with your advertising.
There are a lot of advantages.Now, you're probably wondering then, since the digital realm runs on code, and most marketing is digital, should you learn how to code yourself?Will that bring you any advantages as a marketer? It's a great question! Here's been my experience:I originally started off my marketing career with my own Wordpress blog. I bought a theme and customized it to fit my needs. I barely knew HTML and knew even less CSS and Javascript. I was simply 'hackin' it. I eventually was able to grow my blog traffic to 500 organic visitors a day at it's peak and that success is what landed me my first client. The blog itself didn't really make any money.
It was a music blog that turned out to be really difficult to monetize.Either way, I was on my way to creating a little freelance marketing career now so it was all worth it.Over time I became frustrated with my lack of web development and web design skills. I wanted more control over the websites and funnels I was creating. I wanted more control over building out credit card checkouts so I can improve the experience and therefore improve conversions for my clients.That's when I decided to sit down and learn the foundations of the web. I starting learning how to code.
I learned mostly through Mozilla's MDN Learn Web Development guide which is free online here. I also went through a lot of the FreeCodeCamp.com lessons.Years later and I still don't regret the decision. I don't code my websites and landing pages from scratch anymore but the knowledge I gained continues to be helpful in other ways.Is it absolutely necessary as a marketer? Maybe not, but I still highly recommend it!I mostly learned front-end web dev and responsive design.
I did learn some backend languages like Node.js and Ruby to work with the Stripe API but I'd say these are probably not as important to learn as a marketer.I think your time would probably be better spent elsewhere in this case like market research, analytics, conversion tracking, content marketing, sales copywriting, ppc advertising and email marketing automation.If you're wanting a cheap solution for setting up Stripe Payments on your website to sell simple products and services, I recommend the Stripe Client-Only integration which doesn't require any backend code.Another option, if $10/mo isn't too expensive for you, is to use Formspree's Stripe Elements integration. This allows you to completely customize the checkout design and experience on your website, again without having to tinker with backend code.