Feeling a little overwhelmed by the wonderful world that is Google Marketing Platform?
Have you been told numerous stories about the software and its capabilities, but you still don’t have a clear idea of what it is and if it’s the right move for your business?
Not to worry, you are most certainly not alone. Welcome to the Google Marketing Platform Beginners Club!
My name is Bobbie, and I am the GMP Account Executive at iProspect. As the newest member of the GMP team (and founder of the Beginners Club), I understand how daunting it can be researching the various platforms and the information overload that soon follows.
As Google Marketing Platform Partners, it is our responsibility to simplify this information into a language that everyone can understand, so you can fully appreciate what a powerful technology it is and the endless, constantly evolving tools it can provide for your business.
The three platforms that we specifically specialise in at iProspect are Display and Video 360, Campaign Manager and Search Ads 360. Together they make an incredible ecosystem that allows a business complete control and autonomy across their online advertising and search campaigns.
To get you started, below are simple explanations of what each platform is, what it does and just a small number of the incredible benefits each one can deliver:
Display and Video 360 (DV360)
DV360 allows an advertiser or business to bid in an automated online auction for advertising space in real time, as it becomes available on a publisher’s website.
The platform permits the user to format their advertising campaign with specific guidelines and brilliant control.
When advertising space then becomes available, the system follows these unique guidelines as an indicator as to whether it is worthwhile bidding for the space in the online auction.
Just some of the features available in DV360 when setting up a campaign include:
· Precise audience targeting
· Detailed budget and spend allocation
· Controlled placement and location of ads
· Sophisticated brand safety filters
· Real-time reporting that gives you an invaluable insight into how your campaign is performing
Simply put, you can choose what advertisement is shown, to which demographic, at what time and where that will be!
Search Ads 360 (SA360)
A search engine management solution, SA360 provides the user with the ability to optimise, report and manage numerous search campaigns across multiple engine accounts, all from one interface.
Agencies and marketers no longer have to review and make edits on each separate engine. SA360 allows for bulk uploads of new campaigns, ability to copy and paste campaigns between engines with the click of a button, and bulk edits all within one platform.
Below are just some of the SA360 features that allow a user to save time, act quicker and achieve better optimisation:
· Bid strategies that automatically adjust by predicting the best bid for a keyword to achieve your unique business goals
· Gather valuable search insight with Floodlight tags
· Measure every aspect of your campaign performance with powerful reporting tools
Campaign Manager (CM)
This is the platform that we find our clients know little or nothing about, but for the right business, is arguably the most powerful of them all.
I personally like to refer to Campaign Manager as the cogs that run in the background, working hard to provide the other platforms with as much intelligence and data as possible.
Of course, SA360 and DV360 work perfectly fine as standalone platforms, but for a best in class solution, CM is what we would highly recommend. So, what can CM do?
· Creation of floodlight tags – these are pieces of code generated in CM, that a user then places on specific pages of their website. The tags fire when a user visits a page, recording a conversion and providing vital data about how users interact with your site and their journey to conversion. Floodlight tags also allow you to create audience lists by capturing a user’s cookie ID. These lists can then be pulled through to DV360 and used for re-marketing campaigns
· Placement tags/ad tags – a user uploads their creatives to CM and assigns them to a placement, creating a placement tag. These tags allow CM to serve the creatives directly to publisher’s website as and when requested
· Reporting and attribution – the reporting and attribution tools available in CM provide marketers and in-depth insight into a user’s journey and how effective their campaigns are performing. As SA360 and DV360 can be fully integrated with CM, you can track your search and display activity in this one central platform
Want to know more?
The above only scratches the surface of the Google Marketing Platform capabilities, but gives you a top-level breakdown of each platform and what they can do for your business. If you would like to discuss anything that you have read here today, please contact the iProspect team at GMP@iProspect.com who would be happy to help.
