Eight Things You Need to Know About the New Google Marketing Platform
Google introduced the Google Marketing Platform in July 2018. If you’re a small business owner, in marketing and have not heard of the platform, or are unclear about the benefits of the platform, this post is for you! We’re going to explain what the platform is, its components, and how it can improve the digital marketing experience.
What is Google Marketing Platform?
The Google Marketing Platform draws together key digital tools to create a unified digital advertising suite for users. Within the platform are: Analytics, Data Studio, Optimize, Surveys and Tag Manager. This set of products in the Google Marketing Platform are designed to be integrated, working together to support businesses as they plan, buy, measure, and optimize digital media and customer experiences in one place.
Google Marketing Platform’s New Features
Let’s take a look at the new features in Google Marketing Platform.
Google Marketing Platform empowers advertisers so that they can use a blend of technology to create an ad. For example, the Integration Center will illustrate how the tools work together and how to connect them. In addition, the new platform means that partner technologies will integrate directly into its Google Marketing Platform’s interface.
What Can You Do With Google Marketing Platform?
Google Digital Tools Are Evolving
The unification of Google products is a natural evolution of its online advertising and management tools. In fact, you may have been using the Google Marketing Platform without even being aware of it. If you use Analytics or Google Ads (formerly Adwords), you likely already use the platform without even realizing it. Visit https://marketingplatform.google.com and use the email address you use to login to Google products and you will see a screen listing My Products, and nearby Platform Tools.
Google Marketing Platform also is a unification of its DoubleClick advertiser products and the Google Analytics 360 Suite under a single brand. Last year Google also announced changes to AdWords and its DoubleClick products for publishers. The new Google Marketing Platform brand — including new product names and logos — is reflected in product interfaces, help centers, training, and more.
Why Google Marketing Platform?
Why the unification? Google believes that its Google Marketing Platform is a unified advertising and analytics platform that will enable stronger collaboration for building on existing integrations between DoubleClick and the Google Analytics 360 Suite. In a nutshell, it will make it much easier for marketing pros and teams to do their jobs by tracking data and gaining insights.
Google’s Brad Bender, VP of Display and Video Marketing, explains on the Google blog: “The online world was very different when DoubleClick debuted in 1996. Things we take for granted today, like texting emoji, sharing funny YouTube videos, or taking smartphone selfies were all years away.”
He adds that changes in technology have meant changes for digital marketers. The massive increase in channels, formats, and data means that consumers are also more aware of how they’re being marketed to as well as how platforms use their data. Google has responded to this new age by recognizing that marketers need new tools in order to get better results and also that consumers want security around privacy.
Google Focuses on Smaller Businesses
Google and Facebook have dominated digital advertising in both the U.S. and Canada for quite some time. Facebook has had greater appeal for smaller businesses because it has excelled at offering various options including boosting organic posts. With enough use, the organic post boost allows Facebook’s Audience Insights to present highly targeted information about your audience. This, in turn, enables you to create custom audiences so that you can target incredibly precisely with Facebook campaigns.
Over the years, Google has attempted to appeal to small businesses but has been held back by a number of things. Privacy issues in the European Union have dogged the tech giant. Furthermore, it has gone through serious problems with programmatic advertising and content related to messages of hatred, discrimination and radicalism, as well as scrutiny for the privacy of user data (both in Europe and the U.S). Changes in Google’s policies and the Google Marketing Platform are strategies by Google to regain the confidence of advertisers and compete with Facebook and the rise of Amazon advertising.
Smart Campaigns and Machine Learning
Google’s new Marketing Platform attempts to mimic Facebook’s appeal to smaller businesses. The new platform will allow it to better serve small businesses and also capitalise on the opportunities they present. For example, Google Ads’ Smart Campaigns was launched at around the same time as the new Marketing Platform. This campaign option is supported by artificial intelligence — specifically machine learning — to make pay per click advertising simpler. Smart Campaigns will let advertisers put advertising on autopilot. Smart Campaigns will manage the work of optimizing advertising by using machine learning and Smart Bidding technology. A user can even use Smart Campaigns to generate Google-optimized landing pages, and quickly set and track goals.
AdWords was introduced in 2000, so the changes and rebranding have taken 18 years. However, the next unveiling will likely not take as long. As AI and machine learning pick up the pace, Google will have new challenges to overcome in the near future. One of the biggest challenges will be that in the next three to four years half of all search engine searches will be by voice.
Is Google Looking Out for My Best Interests?
Smart Campaigns has been designed by Google to handle the hard work, such as PPC skill and knowledge. In turn, this means that more people will be able to advertise on Google. Is this good or bad? It depends on how you look at it. It’s important to keep in mind that your goals and Google’s may not be the same. The tech giant’s objective is to make money from digital advertising. This may sound attractive, but you must still be able to understand your own goals, establish conversion tracking, manage your account, and track results so that you are earning a profit. In other words, if you use this system without managing it or tracking it, Google will provide you with clicks but not always with sales while taking your money.
Finally, Google will need to be ready for the ultimate disrupter, Amazon. The e-commerce giant is making strides to move in on the digital ad industry with its own programmatic system. It wants to work with ad tech companies, digital agencies and media companies to make the process as easy as it has made online shopping. This is pretty ambitious, especially when you take into consideration Google and Facebook’s leading positions. However, many marketing analysts are predicting that Amazon will account for $6.4 billion in digital ad sales in the U.S. alone by 2020.
Does all this information about Google’s marketing platform feel overwhelming? We’re here to help you make sense of it all. Take a look at our online advertising services or give us a call at (866) 288-6046 to find out more about how we can help you using Google’s marketing platform.
About the Author
Rebecca Hill is the Outreach Coordinator at TechWyse, an SEO agency in Toronto, Canada. While she isn’t building relationships with bloggers and influencers in the marketing world, she can be seen rooting for the Blue Jays.
What is Google Marketing Platform?
The Google Marketing Platform draws together key digital tools to create a unified digital advertising suite for users. Within the platform are: Analytics, Data Studio, Optimize, Surveys and Tag Manager. This set of products in the Google Marketing Platform are designed to be integrated, working together to support businesses as they plan, buy, measure, and optimize digital media and customer experiences in one place.
Google Marketing Platform’s New Features
Let’s take a look at the new features in Google Marketing Platform.
- Platform Home. Platform Home is the centralized location for user management, administrative control, and billing across the Google Marketing Platform. If you use Google Analytics 360 Suite, Platform Home replaces Suite Home.
- Integration Center. The Integration Center in Platform Home helps you get the most out of Google Marketing Platform by showing you what product integrations available and their benefits. It will display existing links between products and opportunities for new integrations.
- A common product switcher. Seamlessly navigate across all of Google Marketing Platform from a common product switcher in the header of each product. You’ll see products you currently have access to in the switcher.
Google Marketing Platform empowers advertisers so that they can use a blend of technology to create an ad. For example, the Integration Center will illustrate how the tools work together and how to connect them. In addition, the new platform means that partner technologies will integrate directly into its Google Marketing Platform’s interface.
What Can You Do With Google Marketing Platform?
- Understand an audience on a more meaningful level. You can achieve this by integrating and accessing data for a much better picture of customers. Then connect the data with Google cross-device and intent signals to identify the most valuable audiences.
- Work faster, thanks to automation. Now that your day-to-day digital ad processes are automated with Google Marketing Platform, your time is freed up so you can focus on whatever you like while its machine learning automatically surfaces your ad trends and patterns.
- More control over your digital ad costs. You will be able to do this by observing what’s working so that you can make more accurate decisions about improvements.
- Ensure team members have access to insights. Data and reporting will be in one location so that everyone in your organization can access it and, if necessary, discuss and share insights.
Google Digital Tools Are Evolving
The unification of Google products is a natural evolution of its online advertising and management tools. In fact, you may have been using the Google Marketing Platform without even being aware of it. If you use Analytics or Google Ads (formerly Adwords), you likely already use the platform without even realizing it. Visit https://marketingplatform.google.com and use the email address you use to login to Google products and you will see a screen listing My Products, and nearby Platform Tools.
Google Marketing Platform also is a unification of its DoubleClick advertiser products and the Google Analytics 360 Suite under a single brand. Last year Google also announced changes to AdWords and its DoubleClick products for publishers. The new Google Marketing Platform brand — including new product names and logos — is reflected in product interfaces, help centers, training, and more.
Why Google Marketing Platform?
Why the unification? Google believes that its Google Marketing Platform is a unified advertising and analytics platform that will enable stronger collaboration for building on existing integrations between DoubleClick and the Google Analytics 360 Suite. In a nutshell, it will make it much easier for marketing pros and teams to do their jobs by tracking data and gaining insights.
Google’s Brad Bender, VP of Display and Video Marketing, explains on the Google blog: “The online world was very different when DoubleClick debuted in 1996. Things we take for granted today, like texting emoji, sharing funny YouTube videos, or taking smartphone selfies were all years away.”
He adds that changes in technology have meant changes for digital marketers. The massive increase in channels, formats, and data means that consumers are also more aware of how they’re being marketed to as well as how platforms use their data. Google has responded to this new age by recognizing that marketers need new tools in order to get better results and also that consumers want security around privacy.
Google Focuses on Smaller Businesses
Google and Facebook have dominated digital advertising in both the U.S. and Canada for quite some time. Facebook has had greater appeal for smaller businesses because it has excelled at offering various options including boosting organic posts. With enough use, the organic post boost allows Facebook’s Audience Insights to present highly targeted information about your audience. This, in turn, enables you to create custom audiences so that you can target incredibly precisely with Facebook campaigns.
Over the years, Google has attempted to appeal to small businesses but has been held back by a number of things. Privacy issues in the European Union have dogged the tech giant. Furthermore, it has gone through serious problems with programmatic advertising and content related to messages of hatred, discrimination and radicalism, as well as scrutiny for the privacy of user data (both in Europe and the U.S). Changes in Google’s policies and the Google Marketing Platform are strategies by Google to regain the confidence of advertisers and compete with Facebook and the rise of Amazon advertising.
Smart Campaigns and Machine Learning
Google’s new Marketing Platform attempts to mimic Facebook’s appeal to smaller businesses. The new platform will allow it to better serve small businesses and also capitalise on the opportunities they present. For example, Google Ads’ Smart Campaigns was launched at around the same time as the new Marketing Platform. This campaign option is supported by artificial intelligence — specifically machine learning — to make pay per click advertising simpler. Smart Campaigns will let advertisers put advertising on autopilot. Smart Campaigns will manage the work of optimizing advertising by using machine learning and Smart Bidding technology. A user can even use Smart Campaigns to generate Google-optimized landing pages, and quickly set and track goals.
AdWords was introduced in 2000, so the changes and rebranding have taken 18 years. However, the next unveiling will likely not take as long. As AI and machine learning pick up the pace, Google will have new challenges to overcome in the near future. One of the biggest challenges will be that in the next three to four years half of all search engine searches will be by voice.
Is Google Looking Out for My Best Interests?
Smart Campaigns has been designed by Google to handle the hard work, such as PPC skill and knowledge. In turn, this means that more people will be able to advertise on Google. Is this good or bad? It depends on how you look at it. It’s important to keep in mind that your goals and Google’s may not be the same. The tech giant’s objective is to make money from digital advertising. This may sound attractive, but you must still be able to understand your own goals, establish conversion tracking, manage your account, and track results so that you are earning a profit. In other words, if you use this system without managing it or tracking it, Google will provide you with clicks but not always with sales while taking your money.
Finally, Google will need to be ready for the ultimate disrupter, Amazon. The e-commerce giant is making strides to move in on the digital ad industry with its own programmatic system. It wants to work with ad tech companies, digital agencies and media companies to make the process as easy as it has made online shopping. This is pretty ambitious, especially when you take into consideration Google and Facebook’s leading positions. However, many marketing analysts are predicting that Amazon will account for $6.4 billion in digital ad sales in the U.S. alone by 2020.
Does all this information about Google’s marketing platform feel overwhelming? We’re here to help you make sense of it all. Take a look at our online advertising services or give us a call at (866) 288-6046 to find out more about how we can help you using Google’s marketing platform.
About the Author
Rebecca Hill is the Outreach Coordinator at TechWyse, an SEO agency in Toronto, Canada. While she isn’t building relationships with bloggers and influencers in the marketing world, she can be seen rooting for the Blue Jays.
