What is Google’s New Marketing Platform and What can it Do for You?

Earlier this week, Google hosted a live web broadcast announcing their new ad service rebrand. AdWords has become Google Ads, DoubleClick has become Google Analytics 360 and they all fall under Google Marketing Platform. A lot seems to have changed but, being a copywriter, I don’t interact much with the backend of advertising and most of the broadcast went right over my head. I sat down with our Director of Digital Strategy, Eric Lucas, for a simplified breakdown of Google’s new services.

What exactly is the update?

Google’s new “Google Marketing Platform” will act as an umbrella service to house: Google Ads, Google Analytics 360, and Google Ad Manager. This is a one-stop-shop for all the front-end and back-end marketing services that Google already had in place including: the research, setup, measurement and optimization of a campaign. Now, marketers won’t have to integrate the separate features to make them work together, but, instead, Google Marketing Platform will allow them to easily toggle between features and allow the features to “talk to each other.” In addition to the bundling of their services, Google Ads will now have “smart campaigns” which use machine learning to optimize ad headlines and descriptions (which are getting a character boost too).

What does this mean for marketers?

Marketers like Eric will now be able to do their job better and faster. With all of Google’s suite of marketing tools in one place, the research, set up, measurement, and optimization will all be in one place. Google Marketing Platform will cut down on set-up time so that marketers can start delivering reports faster and be able to see how effectively your ad budget is being used. There will be better visibility of where the budget is going and what returns on investment are coming back to you.

What does this mean for brands?

Ad campaigns will be much more effective. The new platform will cut down on set up time which and reduce errors that could have occurred before from integrating separate platforms. Measuring and attribution will be easier because the services are better connected. The clarity of results will also improve significantly. For smaller businesses who don’t have a huge ad budget, they may require less long-term professional help. If you don’t have a marketing background, you still might want to consult an agency like Fortress. Business owners will be able to more clearly see what the results are saying about the success of their campaign. The responsive ads that use machine learning will help you to optimize your budget by more quickly assessing which campaigns are working and which ones aren’t. While the platform is more streamlined, if you don’t have a marketing background, you still might want to consult an agency like Fortress.

Will consumers see any change in their ad experience?

The biggest change will be the ability to turn targeted ads on and off. Google will still show you ads, but your data won’t be used to decide which ones you see. Eventually, search ads will become more relevant to you (if you allow targeted ads). Google is allowing marketers to use more characters in the headlines and descriptions which will give you a clearer idea of what the ad will lead you to. This may result in search ads giving you more relevant results than before.

 

Overall, Google’s marketing rebrand will make life much easier for marketers by integrating all their services into one platform. And, although Google has streamlined the process of paid ad marketing, you should still consult an agency. We’ve taken over several campaigns where the client started it themselves and couldn’t clearly see their results or wasted their budget trying to figure it out. In either scenario, we could quickly overhaul and revamp the campaigns to run more efficiently and maximize their budgets. Google has been the leader in paid digital advertising for a long time and is only getting stronger. Check out the recording of the broadcast here if you want to learn more in-depth about the changes happening in the world of Google Ads.

Why Isn’t Anyone Visiting My Website?

You’ve invested time and money into designing the perfect website for your company thinking business will increase, but you’re not seeing results—what’s the problem? Perhaps your site lacks web traffic and in order to increase exposure, you must do these three things:

Search Engine Optimization

Are you utilizing SEO? Most web traffic will come from search engines, so your site needs to be optimized for specific keywords in order to get to the top of search engine results.Note: Most consumers typically browse only the first page of search engine results for products and services, and getting in the top results can be tough. There are definitely measures you can take which will increase organic traffic, but with Google’s constantly evolving algorithm it pays to have an expert craft a professional SEO strategy. Fortress specializes in SEO so contact us if you’re looking to stay on top of the market.

Social Media

Are you using social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and any other applicable sources properly? These tools are hyper popular and are a must to successful promotion of your website. Social media tools have the ability to share information to a large and diverse group of people in an instant. Not to mention, gaining new contacts, building relationships, sharing interests and increasing sales are real potential bonuses.

Interaction

What is the first thing a visitor sees on your homepage? Do you have a contact tab clearly visible and accessible to viewers? In other words, is your website user-friendly? If your site isn’t easy to navigate, you might be driving away potential customers. Make sure to plan where you want visitors to start, where you want them to go and how they can contact you if they have any questions or simply want to get in touch. And most importantly, make sure to respond to any inquiries!

The internet is a big space and, in order to get authentic traffic to your site, you need a plan to implement SEO, social media and interaction.

START A PROJECT

MAKE YOUR MOVE.

Fill out the form, tell us about your project, and we'll reach out to you.

    Services

    LET US HELP TRANSFORM YOUR BRAND.

    START A PROJECT