Most of what you read about Claude Code is written for software developers. But don’t get it wrong: if you’re on a marketing team, it’s also a very useful tool, and almost none of that work involves coding.
By going beyond the usual Claude chat, we’ve used it to build websites, reports and proposals, optimise webpages, set up ads, and research and compile data for our clients.
What Is Claude Code?
Claude Code is an AI assistant that can work directly with the files on your computer. A normal AI chat gives you text, and you copy and paste it somewhere else. Claude Code can open your files, follow a set of steps and save the finished document for you.
It’s a tool that reads your codebase, edits files, and runs commands. For a marketer, that “codebase” can simply be a folder of reports, keyword lists and templates. It runs in the Claude desktop app and in a web browser, so you do not need to learn programming tools to try it.
Two features matter most for marketing work:
- A house rules file. It is called CLAUDE.md. You write your team’s rules in it once, such as how files are named or how long a page title can be. Claude Code reads this file at the start of every session, so you don’t have to repeat the instructions.
- Skills. A skill is a saved set of instructions for a job you do again and again, like “build this month’s report”. Anyone on your team can run it and get the same result.
What Do We Use Claude Code For?
Here are the six kinds of marketing work it helps with most:
- Websites. Our web team uses it to build and update client websites and landing pages. It sets up the things search engines look for, such as page titles and image descriptions, while each page is being built instead of after launch. This is how we build our AI SEO ready websites.
- Reports. Every month it collects each client’s numbers from Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Google Ads and other platforms, and puts them in one place, then builds the report from there. Once you’ve mastered the report building process, you can use it to connect to more platforms and create customised reports for your clients.
- Optimising webpages. It helps us review a client’s existing pages and suggest clearer page titles, descriptions, headings and image descriptions, so each page is easier for Google and AI tools to understand.
- Setting up Google Ads. It helps us plan new Google Ads campaigns: grouping keywords, drafting ad headlines and descriptions that fit Google’s character limits, and listing negative keywords to block searches that would waste budget. Our team reviews every campaign before it goes live. See how we run Google Ads campaigns for clients.
- Proposals. It pulls together what we already know about a prospect’s website and market into a first draft. Our team then checks it, shapes the plan and finishes the proposal before it goes out.
- Research and data compilation. It gathers keyword data, competitor details and outreach lists such as bloggers for a campaign into one spreadsheet. It can also analyse the data for you and help with decisions, saving you time.
How Can a Marketing Team Start Using Claude Code?
Start small, with one job your team already repeats.
- Pick one repeat task. A weekly report or a content brief works well.
- Do it once and write down every fix. Each time you correct the output, note what was wrong and why.
- Turn those fixes into house rules. Add them to the CLAUDE.md file, for example “page titles must stay under 60 characters”.
- Save the job as a skill. When the output needs very few corrections, save the steps so anyone on the team can run them. The skill can be created by Claude.
- Keep it away from live accounts at first. Never paste passwords into it. Let it read your ad accounts or Google Business Profile and suggest how to optimise them. Once the workflow is stable, you may grant it more access, like editing the profiles live.
Want Your Team to Learn This Hands-On?
We teach this in our AI training workshops. In the Workflow Automation for Marketing module, each team builds working automations during the session and keeps them afterwards. Our workshops are up to 100% claimable via HRD Corp, and you can find the details on our AI training and consulting page.
If you would rather learn on your own, the AI Method online course covers the same tools at your own pace, including a module on AI agents.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to know coding to use Claude Code?
No. You type what you want in plain English. You only need to know where your work files are kept on your computer, because Claude Code opens and saves them there. It also helps to have one person on the team who checks what it produces.
What is the difference between Claude and Claude Code?
Claude is a chat app. You ask a question, it types an answer, and you copy that answer into your own document. Claude Code can do much more. It has access to files on your computer, makes the changes you asked for, and saves them, saving time on copying and pasting. You can also connect it to various platforms and apps to assist with your work.
Which marketing tasks suit Claude Code best?
Tasks you repeat often and do the same way each time suit it best, such as monthly reports, auditing webpages and gathering data into one spreadsheet. Work that needs your judgement, like deciding your marketing plan or talking to clients, is still best done by humans. Claude Code takes care of the preparation so your team has more time for that.