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6 Things You Need to Know About Google Marketing Platform

In June 2018, Google announced the fusion of its marketing products into Google Marketing Platform. According to Google, the platform is, “a unified advertising and analytics platform for smarter marketing and better results.” Ready to learn how Google Marketing Platform improves your marketing strategies? Keep reading!

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What is Google Marketing Platform?

Google Marketing Platform merges two of Google’s key marketing products: Analytics 360 Suite and DoubleClick. This is characteristic of Google, as the company’s been clear about its goal to create an integrated and consistent marketing experience. The platform also features seven main elements:

  1. Analytics
  2. Data Studio
  3. Optimize
  4. Surveys
  5. Tag Manager
  6. Display & Video 360
  7. Search Ads 360

It also offers free marketing tools, as well as paid premium products for larger companies. With Google Marketing Platform, marketers and businesses automatically receive critical insights from all their tools, which helps you understand your audience better. With the improved collaboration of Google Marketing Platform, it’s also easy to share data across your teams.

6 things marketers should know about Google Marketing Platform

As a full-service platform for marketing, Google Marketing Platform features a variety of tools and features that help you create smart, data-driven campaigns, which lead to better results for your business.

What should every marketer know about the platform, though? These six things:

1. Google Marketing Platform integrates Google Analytics 360 and DoubleClick

Google Marketing Platform is a result of the unification of Analytics 360 Suite and DoubleClick. This should not come as a surprise, as most of Google’s marketing tools are more effective when used in collaboration with each other. Google Analytics Suite contains a premium version of Google Analytics, along with five other products.

If you’re a larger business or corporation, Google Analytics Suite is a go-to choice — though it is a paid option. The other element, DoubleClick, debuted in 1996 — Google acquired it in 2008. Now, as a part of Google Marketing Platform, it has become Search Ads 360. Its goal is the same: to help marketers plan, buy, and measure search campaigns. The unification of DoubleClick and Google Analytics 360 emphasizes the importance of analytics and advertising campaigns working together.

Did you know that Google Optimize and Optimize 360 solutions will no longer be available as of September 30, 2023?

Learn more about the Google Optimize sunset here!

2. Google Marketing Platform supports more than 100 other solutions

Google chose the word “platform” to describe Google Marketing Platform because it is not a cookie-cutter product that marketers can take or leave. It is a platform with multiple offerings, allowing marketers and businesses to use what works for them, as well as add and integrate in-house solutions. Businesses own all the data they collect in Google Marketing Platform, and they control who has access to it.

It emphasizes Google’s repeated sentiment that it wants users to choose what they buy, how they buy it, and how they measure it. In the spirit of true flexibility and versatility, Google Marketing Platform supports more than 100 other integrations. These compatible exchanges and measurement solutions allow users to interact with their data in whatever way works best for their business — and all from a single interface.

3. Google Marketing Platform renames DoubleClick features

Google decided to rename DoubleClick because it believes the “Google” brand resonates more strongly with users, which is probably true. The rename also provides more continuity during the transition to Google Marketing Platform. DoubleClick for Publishers and DoubleClick Ad Exchange are now under one umbrella: Google Ad Manager.

Likewise, the new Display & Video 360 integrates previous display advertising products, including:

  • DoubleClick Bid Manager
  • Campaign Manager
  • Studio
  • Audience Manager

Display & Video 360 allows marketers and businesses to create and execute advertising campaigns all in one place. It also emphasizes that Google Marketing Platform maintains a lot of the previous features of Google’s various tools — only now, they’re housed under fewer headings, which is convenient.

4. Google Marketing Platform features Google Marketing Platform Partners

As an additional benefit, Google now offers Google Marketing Platform Partners. This program gives users access to resources that help them make the most of Google Marketing Platform. Currently, there are more than 500 certified technology companies, media companies, interactive agencies, and other businesses.

Google Marketing Platform Partners focuses on training and skill-building for all Google Marketing Platform products. Google’s partners have always had to meet rigorous requirements, and now is no different. Google Marketing Platform Partners consists of three categories:

  • Certified Individuals: These are individuals with access to Google’s library of materials and certifications. They also have expertise in specific Google Marketing Platform products.
  • Certified Companies: These companies provide consulting, training, implementation, and support. Becoming a Certified Company has many requirements, including having a certain number of certified individuals, industry experience, and excellent customer references.
  • Sales Partners: These are like Certified Companies, but they work more closely with Google to consult and provide support, as well as sell Google products.

Google Marketing Platform Partners replaces the previous Google Analytics Certified Partners and DoubleClick Certified Marketing Partners program, but Google says this new program offers a more, “robust ecosystem of resources.”

5. Google Marketing Platform adds cross-device capabilities

Google Marketing Platform also brings enhancements to Google’s existing products. One of the main improvements is the addition of Cross Device capabilities to Google Analytics. The Cross Device feature allows you to see the journey users take on your site across multiple devices, as well as where they are in the conversion funnel on each device.

For example, a user might see an ad for your product on a mobile device, research it later using a tablet, and then finally make a purchase from a desktop. Cross Device on Analytics allows you to track the sequence that your target audience typically follows. This information lets marketers optimize their campaigns better.

For instance, if a company notices that most of its conversions happen on desktops, it might reasonably dedicate most of its time to optimizing desktop ads and the desktop site. But what the company may not know is that users typically discover its brand through a mobile ad. Therefore, by decreasing the time spent on the mobile experience and only improving the desktop experience, the company may lose desktop conversions.

Fortunately, the new Cross Device feature helps prevent this kind of mistake by allowing marketers to adjust what kind of ads or content they serve by knowing where in the funnel users tend to be when they are on each device. Of course, audiences are well aware that companies market to them — which is why they want more control over the type of advertising they see. Google feels that consumers prefer more customized advertising, and the Cross Device feature is just one way it can give them the personalization they desire.

Keep in mind, however, that you will only get Cross Device data for users who have opted to receive personalized advertising. For the sake of trust and transparency, Google has made it easier to opt out, which could mean a smaller sample size for your Cross Device data.

6. Google Marketing Platform encourages collaboration at every level

The seven elements behind Google Marketing Platform are useful on their own, but they are designed to work even better together. That’s why Google Marketing Platform allows users to make connections between the different elements in ways they couldn’t before. The integration of these tools encourages collaboration between marketers, creatives, bosses, and clients.

Data and reporting are now in the same location for all the tools, which means you can easily share your insights and results across teams. The platform also eliminates some need for email chains within companies, which allows for more seamless work. That helps your team save time, which can lead to not only better campaign results, but also more productivity in the office.

With this new suite of tools, Google provides businesses with an integrated, flexible, and collaborative-friendly platform. By creating Google Marketing Platform, Google is confirming what has always been true: analytics and advertising are inherently linked, and marketing is better for it.

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