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Google releases a tag management tool: reactions from some of our tag partners

  • Ben Plomion
  • Oct. 5, 2012, 3 p.m.

Earlier this week, Google revealed a new product called Google Tag Manager. This product is a free tool to help online marketers manage the plethora of tracking codes added to their web pages by advertising networks, as well as, Google Analytics to track site activity. Tag management tools are essential for retargeting companies like Chango.

What does this new product mean for marketers? To find out, we asked several of our tag partners to share their views:

Mike Niemann, Director of Product Management, IBM Enterprise Marketing Management

Tag management's primary goal has always been about balancing the collection and sharing of digital data across multiple marketing partners with the need to reduce the IT overhead associated with those activities.  It's this goal that drives IBM's efforts with its Digital Data Exchange tag management platform, and it's this overriding objective that has fueled our ongoing initiative to establish an integrated marketing partner community built on a set of industry standards for tags. Google's entry into tag management appears to initially be more about building efficiencies across the products within its platform, and less about tackling the broader goal of helping businesses more effectively manage their entire marketing partner ecosystem.  Just the same, it serves as a first step that presumably addresses demand from small to mid-size customers.

Find out more about IBM EMM

Ali Behnam, CEO, Tealium

Google Tag Manager helps validate the fast-growing tag management market, while also reflecting the increasing demand for solutions that streamline digital complexity. It will be a suitable fit for small businesses that have limited digital marketing requirements, and are dependent on Google products, such as Google Analytics. However, it is probably not an option for enterprise web sites that rely on a wide array of digital marketing vendors and have complex needs. One issue that Google will face is vendor neutrality. According to a recent report by Econsultancy and Tealium, “The ROI of Tag Management,” the number one vendor criteria among those looking for a tag management solution is vendor neutrality, i.e., the ability to work with any technology vendor. It is simply not in Google’s best interest to integrate with competing solutions for web analytics, retargeting, advertising and more. This hurts marketing’s ability to use the solution(s) that best fit their needs.

 

Find out more about Tealium

 

Maggie Neuwald, VP, Solutions Marketing, Tagman

The Tag Management sector has grown exponentially over the past couple years, both in terms of solutions available in the market and the demand for such services from companies of all sizes. Google Tag Manager is one more indication of this growth and further validates the need for tag management. For companies, particularly long-tail advertisers, who wish to invest solely in the Google stack, this launch represents a way to start leveraging the benefits a tag management system will bring. However, many businesses will require a true enterprise TMS and wish to use various technologies not sourced from Google. It’s those marketers that will look towards companies like TagMan to provide an independent and universal solution that works seamlessly across all technologies, such as TagMan does.  In the same way that larger clients who use Google Analytics usually invest in an enterprise version of an analytics provider when they need enhanced capabilities and large scale data management, we’re likely to see these same clients requiring a more sophisticated Tag Management System that offers greater customisation options.

Find out more about Tagman