How to Use the New Google Marketing Platform

Earlier this year, Google launched its new Marketing Platform, replacing both DoubleClick advertising and Analytics 360 Suite. It brings seven different programs into one place, and allows for easy integration between all of them.

Source Jellyfish

Marketers are probably already using one or more of the above tools, whether in the premium 360 or free versions. For those people, nothing will really change but everything you need will be better integrated and more accessible for your campaigns through the Integration Center.

When you log into your Google product of choice, or the one you use most frequently, you'll see a link to direct you to the main Dashboard. Here you'll see all the tools that you have access to, as well as ways to potentially improve integration between them.

Here's how to quickly and easily start using each of the seven elements of the Google Marketing Platform:

1. Data Studio

Regardless of what data sources you are tracking, Data Studio brings them all together in one place. From here, you're able to produce reports selecting any of the Google templates (or make your own) and transform your raw data into engaging charts, graphs or other visualizations to bring your metrics to life.

2 & 3. Optimize 360 and Analytics 360

Optimize 360 works hand-in-hand with Analytics 360. The latter tracks how your campaign is performing, while Optimize tests the effectiveness of any changes you make. It means you can quickly set up tests - such as A/B or multivariate - to see how the customer journey can be improved, smoothed out or made more efficient. Optimize will highlight changes that you can make on your landing pages to attract more users and increase engagement.

Click on the visual editor to access the 1) app bar, 2) the editor palette, and 3) your current choice. Editing these elements will allow you to run experiments and quickly improve your user experience.

4. Surveys 360

Once you access the Surveys dashboard, you can create surveys to get more insight into your audience. Simple click New Survey on the interface and then you'll be asked to set certain parameters for your survey, such as audience, and whether you want to set any screening questions, as well as any of the core questions you want to ask.

5. Tag Manager 360

Tag Manager allows you to quickly and easily update tracking codes and related code fragments. The best way to get started is to migrate all your tags across at once (if you weren't already using Google's Tag Manager). When it's completely set up, you'll be able to not only create tracking tags, but also define triggers that prompt your tags to fire, and set variables that can either simplify or automate certain tag configurations.

6. Display and Video 360

Display and Video is the tool for measuring the performance of your cross-channel campaigns, allowing marketers to easily collect and use data to inform strategies. It will also give you estimated reach and frequency for your audience and budget. Through the Integration Center you can integrate YouTube, Google Cloud and Google Analytics into your campaign.

7. Search Ads 360

Replacing AdWords, the Search Ad format will be familiar to many marketers but the Google Marketing Platform makes it easier to control your search campaigns and adjust the parameters. Through the dashboard you can quickly see how your search ads are affecting your content across all digital channels.

Using Google Marketing Platform for your next campaign

Google Marketing Platform aims to bring all the elements marketers would need to run a successful campaign into one convenient place. All of the seven Google programs allow you to gain reliable insights about your audience and use this data to tailor your digital content to better guide users through the buyer journey.

More brands than ever are using data insights to create personalized journeys for their audience and the new Marketing Platform makes it more straightforward to achieve this through consistent tracking and improvement.