What is Reddit's opinion of SQL for Marketers: A Quick Start Guide?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

Hey!

I actually also used to be a marketing consultant and transferred into a marketing analyst position at Google last year. What really helped me when thinking about skill development for my new role was thinking inside the following 4-step framework in order to identify where I had some gaps.

As such the four steps you usually have to take when analyzing marketing data are the following:

1. You have to get the data you want to analyze from the data sources.
2. You have to understand, clean, restructure and match data.
3. Only now can you start summarizing and thus analyzing and visualizing your data.
4. Finally you'll put it all into a report. In business, nobody wants to read long reports with boring tables, instead you want topline insights presented with a good story for decision making.

So the skills that helped me and that I would recommend to develop as a beginning market analyst are the following:

• Excel/Google Sheets: I know it sounds simple, but I estimate that at least half of our analysis is still done in Spreadsheet software just because it is the fastest and easiest way. Be sure to have at least a intermediate level at this as it will help you on all four of above stages. Learn it in this course.
• SQL: It will help you a lot to get data independently and the IT department will thank you for not taking up their time. Bonus: No other skill will impress other non-technical marketers as much ;). A good book to start with a focus on marketing.
• Basic Applied Stats: You don't have to have a PhD in Mathematics, but some basic knowledge will help you to summarize the data in a meaningful way and to draw relevant insights. Check out this course and this article.
• Data Visualization: Important for steps 3. and 4. Prepare data in way that makes sense and people actually want to look at. Again nobody wants to read boring tables. Data Visualization 101.
• Storytelling and presentation skills: Don't underestimate this. If you want to make an impact you have to convince other people. Nothing better for this than an awesome presentation or pitch. This book and this book by Nancy Duarte

I think with above you would have quite a strong starter stack. Let me know, if you have any more questions!

Edit: fixed the link.