The majority of marketing for products, services and businesses happens online. There’s a time and place for traditional marketing, but to be successful in today’s tech-run world, you have to master digital marketing. As technology continues to leap forward at lightning speed, marketing professionals are constantly improving their range of skills to stay on top of the game. Coding is the new frontier, and here is how you can use it to unlock your potential.

Learn Basic Coding Languages

Everything you see online runs off code. From email formatting to web page layout, HTML and CSS make up the foundation of learning how to code. Digital marketing professionals should know the basics of coding in HTML and CSS. With this knowledge, you can fix small mistakes and make last-minute changes to an email blast or landing page by going into the code yourself. Once you have an idea of how coding works at the basic level, you will start to understand why things such as code signing are so important to consumers. 

Get Behind the Scenes of Your Campaigns 

Marketing is all about look and experience. Visual and multimedia campaigns are the standard in the industry, and as a marketing professional, you have to have a fantastic eye for detail and aesthetics. Coding goes hand-in-hand with the visual aspect of digital marketing campaigns.

In one scenario, you brainstorm a beautiful layout and have a vision for the CX, also known as customer experience, but when you communicate your idea to the development team, it doesn’t go quite right. Imagine having coding skills in your tool kit as a digital marketing expert. This way, you can explore the code with the development team and have access to the exact pieces of code that control the look and feel of your campaign. 

Become a Master of Data and Surveys

In today’s digital marketing environment, every aspect of your campaign is measured and recorded. You have to collect as much data as possible to adapt to what’s working and what isn’t. You may be comfortable with relying on a professional to manipulate data and build out graphics and charts, but once you learn the appropriate coding languages, you can do these tasks yourself. SQL, VBA and Python are all examples of coding languages you can use to get the data you need in an efficient and timely manner. 

Increase Your Productivity

Learning how to code can save you time and energy at work. You can automate tasks, avoid going back and forth between multiple iterations of a campaign and perform certain essential functions yourself instead of depending on an extra team. This is especially critical if you work on a small team or for a startup.

Emerging businesses cannot always afford to maximize coding by hiring a team of developers. Another situation is that the team you do have might be slammed with work, and your campaign or project is far down their priority list. When you can perform some coding yourself, it will make everyone’s jobs easier. You will become even more indispensable to your company when you can get these processes started on your own. 

Make Teamwork Seamless

Digital marketing relies so heavily on code that it only makes sense for the marketing team to have at least a basic knowledge of things like HTML, CSS and Javascript. Whether you work on large teams or in a startup environment, learning how to code will make you a better team player.

Your communication with developers will become much smoother when you have a working knowledge of what they’re dealing with on a day-to-day basis. It will also be easier to check work and move through multiple iterations of marketing campaigns when you have a clear insight into what coding entails.  

Reach for Next Level Knowledge 

As you become more familiar with different coding languages and programs, you will soon see the benefit of gaining more advanced knowledge. If you can take a course on a programming language such as Python, you will unlock an entirely new level of skills to put into practice at work. Advanced coding is absolutely going to improve your digital marketing skills. You will be able to improve the look and usability of email campaigns, run automatic data collection, design cutting-edge websites and landing pages and much, much more.

In the future, there will be more businesses looking to hire employees with hybrid skill sets. The next pioneering startup might be looking for its marketing expert to be able to code at an advanced level. This will put you at a huge advantage in the field. 

Push the Boundaries

In the saturated field that is digital marketing, you need to find something that sets your campaign apart. Getting that click-through is the first step to getting the sale, and you can’t rely on yesterday’s marketing strategies to reel in potential customers. Innovation is the name of the game. One important benefit of using code is that you can discover what is possible in order to reach your customers with new and exciting experiences. 

After you can grasp the ins and outs of coding, the possibilities are endless. Your own inspiration and creativity can take over as you dream up innovative and boundary-pushing campaigns. The developers you work with will also appreciate the fact that you can see what is and isn’t possible. Your respect for their profession will go a long way to opening up their creativity as well. 

Many companies are starting to prioritize the professional development of their staff, and this is the perfect time for you to take advantage of that trend. Coding and digital marketing are deeply intertwined. Out of all possible areas for continued learning, coding is going to get you the farthest and offer you the most benefits. Not only will you have a better understanding of how your campaigns get built from the ground up, but you will also be able to unlock a different kind of potential for your own career in digital marketing.