The Google Marketing Platform is the search giant’s latest response to the ongoing evolution of the digital marketing world. Even though it is a relatively new industry, a lot has changed in digital marketing in the last couple of years. We’ve seen channels evolve and privacy requirements tightened up, as well as consumers become much more particular about the kind of digital marketing they are willing to interact with. What the Google Marketing Platform is designed to do is provide a response to this change to enable businesses to better cope with the transition and, especially, to help organisations use data to do more.

Giving brands the tools to understand customers

The Google Marketing Platform is not an entirely new invention, as it combines DoubleClick Digital Marketing and the Google Analytics 360 Suite. The driving force behind the new platform is to put the customer first. This means giving brands a wider range of opportunities to get to know their customers, their needs and to draw conclusions based on data that can help to make campaigns and investment in marketing resources more effective. A customer-first style of marketing is very on trend today but what does the Google Marketing Platform offer to businesses in practical terms?

Getting more from ads and analytics technology

Working with ads and analytics technology has produced some great outcomes in digital marketing and Google is acknowledging that in the development of the new platform. It’s seeking to allow brands to get more by integrating Google Analytics 360 Suite and DoubleClick advertiser products to better understand products and customers in order to create more relevant marketing campaigns. The new Integration Center, for example, provides a way for connections between products to be established and evaluated. Some brands have already seen great results. Travel company BookIt, for example, was able to create more relevant marketing campaigns resulting in a 20% increase in revenue.

Better management of search campaigns

In the new Google Marketing Platform, DoubleClick Search becomes Ads 360, which provides improved options for management, tracking and oversight of search campaigns.

Centralising ad campaign management

The Display & Video 360 element of the new Google Marketing Platform brings together a range of other features from Google’s display advertising products, including DoubleClick Bid Manager and Studio and Audience Center. The idea is to provide a single, central place from which to handle ad campaigns.

Encouraging collaborative working

Fostering collaboration is at the heart of the new Google Marketing Platform. It is designed to limit departmental silos and segregation and provide ways to enable sharing of data throughout the business. The key to this is tools that facilitate information sharing so that collaboration becomes effortless and a true customer-centric focus can be achieved.

The Google Marketing Platform is not revolutionary but has many features and tools that could prove incredibly useful. It’s also a useful indicator of the mood in the digital marketing world – where Google goes, it’s often the case that many others will follow.

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