Programming Languages for Digital Marketers

The best growth hackers, hustlers and marketers are data-driven. They make decisions not based on a hunch, gut feeling or experience; but rather through the analysis of numbers, patterns and data. With access to more datasets than ever before, it’s now crucial for marketers to speak the same language as their developer colleagues.

To understand data and make informed decisions, marketers need to learn how to code. While programming languages may seem complex, there are online learning hubs like Codecademy that teach you for free. For some of these languages, it only takes a few weeks to gain a basic understanding to start implementing code into your marketing strategy.

It’s time for marketers to step up their game and put these programming languages into practice. Below, we’ve broken down each language you need to know and how they can be implemented into real-life marketing scenarios.

Three languages you need to learn, and why:

Language #1: SQL

SQL stands for Structured Query Language and is used to pull and make sense of information within a database like Google Analytics. Learning the basics of SQL helps marketers extract the information they need to know about their customers like purchase history, website engagements and product interest.

Jamie Steven, CMO of Moz believes that every marketer should be technical. “Regardless of whether or not you subscribe to these labels, technical skills are becoming a requirement for success in online marketing. The marketers who know SQL, can write code, leverage APIs, and perform quantitative analysis will be the most desirable and productive individuals in our industry.”

Why marketers need SQL

A data-driven marketer using SQL can create marketing campaigns with little to no help from a developer. Here are some ways you can use SQL in your marketing strategy:

Target the right customer: query your email database to find the best customers to send an email campaign about a specific product.
Manage Google Analytics: join tables, create reports and query data. You can also add third and fourth dimensions like "location" and ‘"interest" or advanced filters like the top 10 percent of active users in a certain time period.
Data analysis: build more accurate reports on your customers, query small and large datasets within the company database and eliminate bugs.

Python

Python is an object-oriented and high-level programming language that’s used for backend development and predictive analytics. Typically used by developers and data scientists, marketers can also take advantage of this programming language. In 2017, Python was the fastest growing programming language with Codecademy citing a 34 percent growth in enrollments.

According to Marketing Week, “As marketing becomes inherently more analytical in nature, rooted in rich data and insight, marketers need to understand how their websites function in order to better optimize the customer journey.”

Why marketers need Python

A marketer's dream is to predict where the world is heading. The rate of technological change is so fast that for marketers to keep up, they need to predict the future. Here are some ways you can use Python in your marketing strategy:

Predictive analytics: guide future plans by running prediction projects to see whether a customer will become a repeat buyer. You can use this data to create a marketing strategy that re-engages them with personalized offers.
Optimize the customer journey: at certain periods of the year, determine when you may receive an influx of shoppers and create a journey that nurtures leads who are not ready to buy.

JavaScript

JavaScript is a programming language used for front-end development. It helps developers and marketers enhance the functionality of web pages and solve a customer’s problems by providing a user-friendly experience. JavaScript adds dynamic components to a web page like animated graphics, scroll, web forms and photo slideshows. All this content helps marketers target a user’s pain points and win them over as a customer.

Karen Lewis, Head of Digital and Employment Marketing at Salmat, believes that a good marketer is one who is customer-centric and looks for insights to solve the "job to be done" for customers. “The ability to code comes from the ability to problem solve, and marketers already have the advantage of being problem solvers, so it is merely an extension of their skillset.”

Why marketers need JavaScript

Learning JavaScript gives marketers an edge over the competition. It helps them to identify who their customers are, where they are and how they interact with a website. Here are some ways you can use JavaScript in your marketing strategy:

Tracking and embed data: understand the snippets of code within tracking and optimization tags. Implement advanced tracking like scroll-depth or cross-domain tracking to dive deeper into pageviews, browser information and visitors on your website.
Automate Google Ads: control the data within Adwords with Google’s Adword scripts. Create more powerful ads that market the right products at the right time and automate reports.