5 Ways Low Code is Transforming Web Marketing

Low code is a user-friendly approach to software development, allowing for fast and agile development in a space previously dominated by heavy, time-consuming coding-led practices. Examples of this include app builders such as Bubble, website builders such as Squarespace and business management software such as Salesforce.

What features does low code provide?

• Visual modeling tools: Built-in components represent information in an easily digestible and accessible format, allowing both normal business users with no tech skills and professional developers to benefit
• Out-of-the-box functionality: Eliminating the need for building core modules from scratch, saving valuable time and money
• Drag and drop interfaces: Prioritizing convenience and promoting a streamlined working environment, drag and drop tools allow for accelerated construction
• Reusability: Allowing users to develop upon pre-built and pre-configured modules, plug-ins and applications to enable rapid turnaround.
• Scalability: Built to handle an increase in user uptake, allowing companies to remain consistent no matter the size of their customer base
• Constant reporting and monitoring: Low code platforms can track and analyze workflow, processes and effectiveness, promoting agile development, streamlining debugging and deployment

The low code revolution has led to a complete revaluation of priorities in marketing. It has created a solution for the considerable coding and development knowledge gap faced by marketing firms, agencies and individuals today, biting back at the 'learn to code' rhetoric spun by news reports and high-end developers alike. Data and information are king, and marketers needed an interface to produce these materials in an agile, 'code-free' way.

Utilizing visual interfaces, combined with streamlined logic and simple drag-and-drop features, allows low code to cater to a broader audience, increasing potential users and bridging the gap between professional and citizen developers.

This trend is set to rise, with low code tools predicted to make up 65% of all app development by 2024. This dramatic uptake is more than understandable, as even outside of the citizen developer spaces, professionals are starting to see its benefits. With less time bogged down in rapidly turning over projects, seasoned developers see this general autonomy as freedom, allowing them to focus on more high-priority tasks.

But how exactly is low code transforming web marketing?

1. Releasing the workflow bottleneck

The rate at which customer needs now shift and evolve is faster than ever, but businesses are struggling with bottlenecks when attempting to match this pace.

According to Forrester, by sharing the workload across the organization and providing meticulous testing and approval capabilities, low code solutions reduce employee burnout, remove potential roadblocks and potentially complete development ten times faster.

By producing enterprise-grade results over a period of days, compared to its heavy coding predecessors, low code also allows for a faster time to market. This provides marketing professionals with greater agility in their solutions to consistently meet changing consumer demands.

2. Freeing up the budget for bigger and brighter ideas

Reducing time to market is not the only way low code solutions can lower development and launch costs.

Many companies do not have the workload to justify a full-time, in-house programmer, nor do they need it to reach their full potential. Low code approaches can help mitigate costs for companies that require application development on an as-needed basis. The stable, constantly updating 'low code' platforms available on the market, paired with their citizen development capabilities, removes the need for a fully-funded team of permanent in-house developers. Employees can learn how to create new system features independently. This autonomy will allow them to push the platform's potentials, making way for bolder and brighter ideas on a budget.

Through this redistribution of funding, the face of marketing is changing. More businesses than ever before are producing high-level, innovative business concepts than previously thought possible.

3. Less coding = greater productivity

Low code doesn't just provide a more agile, cost-effective solution to companies looking for a new way to build their marketing models.

These low code solutions allow for minimal time spent on the 'build' stage of the idea. A less error-prone and time-consuming format than traditional code enables developers and stakeholders to work more creatively and conceptually, focusing on functionality goals and requirements rather than the physical manipulation of the code. Teams will then spend less time sweating the small stuff rewriting base code and more time focusing on the bigger picture. This will create a more ambitious workforce, in turn boosting productivity and long-term results.

4. Building more meaningful customer relationships

Utilizing the cross-platform capabilities of low code applications and solutions allows for a greater understanding of your client base. By holding space across all major platforms and devices and utilizing a rapid time-to-market offering, companies can gain a thorough understanding of the impact of their new marketing strategies.

This holistic view of customer experience and a hands-on approach from a wide variety of team members allows marketers to shape every stage of the customer experience, combining the roles of creator and author and ensuring that their core message is received every step of the way.

Combine these factors with the already in-depth understanding that citizen developers hold over their market, and a highly successful campaign can be created.

5. Increased agility

Possibly the most significant and crucial benefit that low code options have for marketing is the agile landscape it creates. Being extensible and turning moving parts such as APIs and web services into reusable blocks on which to build the foundations of a marketing message allows marketers to shift and rapidly overhaul their platforms. This not only increases customer relationships, boosts productivity and saves money, but it allows for a more resilient and agile response to changes within the market. This approach is essential in today's modern world of micro-trends, mini-seasons and rising user expectations. Low code allows the market to meet users' needs almost immediately, boosting customer loyalty, reducing customer acquisition costs and, most importantly, promoting their message ahead of the curve.

Low code is seemingly the future of marketing; with its minimum speed of delivery, agile nature and the autonomy it provides creatives with, there is no wonder it is becoming such a growing trend. It has transformed the typical marketing approach, welcoming a new and adaptable future where creatives and customers are at the forefront of innovative ideas.

Further reading:

• High Code vs Low Code: Which One Does Your Business Need?
• Low Code Tools and Decoupled Components: The Best of All Worlds
• Building the Composable Enterprise