Google Marketing Platform vs. Marin Software

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Google Marketing Platform
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Google Marketing Platform (a combination of former DoubleClick advertiser tools and Google Analytics 360 Suite) is a set of tools for marketers to manage their advertising campaigns. DoubleClick was acquired by Google in 2008. It focuses on uploading ads and reporting their performance and also provides forecasting tools to help predict future campaign needs. Bid optimization tools help manage pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns across search engines (e.g. Bing, Google, Yahoo!).N/A
Marin Software
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Marin Software is a cloud-based cross-channel advertising campaign management platform which integrates many tools and functions, and it is the name of the company in San Francisco that issues the software. Marin touts cross-display (including mobile-optimized) advertisement retargeting, social marketing management, and many other tools to manage complex marketing and paid-advertising (PPC) efforts. A free trial of this extensive platform is available. Marin Software maintains a client list…N/A
Pricing
Google Marketing PlatformMarin Software
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Google Marketing PlatformMarin Software
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Google Marketing PlatformMarin Software
Considered Both Products
Google Marketing Platform
Chose Google Marketing Platform
DoubleClick was inferior to both Marin and Kenshoo.
Chose Google Marketing Platform
In the past we have tested Marin and Adobe AdLens for automated keyword bidding. Both have not worked well for our business as lead generation comes with a lot of challenges (i.e. verification process, daily and monthly lead caps etc.). AdLens recommends to add as many keywords …
Chose Google Marketing Platform
Marin takes a lot more time for everything, mainly for the campaigns setup. This also leads to many mistakes, which impact the performance. I've used Marin on a couple of previous clients and we've had many problems with it, mainly with correct conversion tracking and account …
Chose Google Marketing Platform
DoubleClick is slightly better to manage, especially in the sense of its user interface, which isn't super easy to navigate, but compared to Marin, is a lot easier. It also has a much easier process in terms of uploading ads to engines such as AdWords and Bing. I also find it …
Chose Google Marketing Platform
DoubleClick is the best tool to use for data management since it is fast, easy to use and provides everything needed for optimizing towards better performance.
Chose Google Marketing Platform
DoubleClick is definitely more efficient than Kenshoo, particularly when it comes to reporting. It's great to be able to pull YoY data quickly, whereas Kenshoo only allows three month increments on most levels and monthly increments at the keyword level.
Chose Google Marketing Platform
I wasn't involved in the selection process however, but I was happy with the functionality because I had to update promotional ad copy on a daily basis.
Marin Software
Chose Marin Software
Double click is easier to use as it offers a couple of clicks syncing with Adwords, while the process with Marin is longer. Besides, you can do any changes in both DoubleClick and Adwords, it doesn't really matter, while it maters with Marin. Speed of Marin is also an issue …
Chose Marin Software
We did platform reviews and decided we would stick with Marin after the recent updates. DoubleClick doesn't have the ability to use web queries as well as Marin and they also have trouble with customer service. Marin has shown plenty of improvement and we are excited to …
Chose Marin Software
The agency I was working at primarily used Kenshoo, DoubleClick and Marin but would sometimes also work direct to engine. Having played multiple roles as an account manager and also the technical lead on the product/vendor team, Marin definitely stood out as my favorite.
Chose Marin Software
I've used Doubleclick Search for bid management and account aggregation, but I prefer Marin as its bid management tool is way better and provides a better ROI. Marin also offers a back-end integration option as well as much better customer service. I felt that our account …
Chose Marin Software
Marin is very comparable to Kenshoo, and (for us anyway) quite a bit less expensive. Sure, Kenshoo has some additional features not offered by Marin that would be cool to have, but those features come at a hefty premium. Marin does everything we need it to do, at an acceptable …
Chose Marin Software
DoubleClick has gotten better, but Marin is easier to use and the service is better. This includes the help section and our Marin reps.
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Google Marketing PlatformMarin Software
Ad Network Integration
Comparison of Ad Network Integration features of Product A and Product B
Google Marketing Platform
9.5
28 Ratings
25% above category average
Marin Software
-
Ratings
Data Transfer10.023 Ratings00 Ratings
DSP integration9.026 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad Campaigns
Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Product A and Product B
Google Marketing Platform
7.9
32 Ratings
1% above category average
Marin Software
-
Ratings
Ad campaign creation8.432 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad deployment8.432 Ratings00 Ratings
Display advertising8.029 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad display and retargeting segmentation7.730 Ratings00 Ratings
Sequence targeting7.023 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Google Marketing Platform
7.2
32 Ratings
8% below category average
Marin Software
-
Ratings
Ad dashboards6.730 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad performance reports7.332 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad conversion tracking7.331 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad attribution reporting7.030 Ratings00 Ratings
Cross-channel ad management7.325 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad forecasting and optimization7.524 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Google Marketing PlatformMarin Software
Small Businesses
Google Ad Manager
Google Ad Manager
Score 8.6 out of 10
Mautic
Mautic
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk
Score 8.0 out of 10
The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk
Score 8.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Score 8.8 out of 10
Iterable
Iterable
Score 8.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Google Marketing PlatformMarin Software
Likelihood to Recommend
7.4
(44 ratings)
10.0
(32 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(13 ratings)
7.6
(23 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(2 ratings)
10.0
(6 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(4 ratings)
10.0
(6 ratings)
Online Training
8.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
6.0
(2 ratings)
9.8
(5 ratings)
User Testimonials
Google Marketing PlatformMarin Software
Likelihood to Recommend
Google
I feel pretty neutral about Google Marketing Platform. For the longest time, my company wasn't using it because each of the features (Data Studio, Analytics, etc.) could be accessed separately. In fact, most of the time, I don't even go into Google Marketing Platform because it's easier to directly navigate to the individual platforms. There are very few features about GMP that can only be accessed from the GMP UI. The Integrations Center is probably the main feature I utilize from the GMP UI, which allows me to see a summary of the integrations I have in place across all my client properties and accounts.
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Marin Software
It's well suited when you have to integrate it with another data source, like an FTP for example. The dimensions you can assign to campaigns or ad group levels help for easier performance management and reporting. What makes it difficult is that everytime you need to update anything on the account, you can't use the publisher but have to do it through Marin. This makes the whole process very time consuming and causes more mistakes. Also if you have paused anything on the publisher and you don't remember to sync marin after, all changes on the publisher will get lost if you make new changes on marin
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Pros
Google
  • Bringing together data from multiple channels and engines and allows you to visualize the data in an easy to use platform. This saves time from using multiple logins for the different platforms.
  • Auto bidding tools save time from manual bidding, as it allows you to set the specific terms around what levels you want to cap your CPCs at. You then let DoubleClick adjust your bids to gain the most conversions from the cheapest CPCs. This frees up time to do other in-depth analysis and strategy.
  • DoubleClick also has the ability to track conversions and clicks on any page using their floodlight tags. This is good for tracking certain actions on yours or a client's site and is especially good if they do not use any other tools, such as Google Analytics or Adobe, to track conversions and user actions on site. You can also use these in conjunction with the auto bidding tools.
Read full review
Marin Software
  • Marin is a self-serve platform. You can tailor your campaigns per your preference/convenience/needs. You can customize your view, see % changes, create custom columns depending on your Key Performance Indicators, and set any sort of dimensions and labels that will help you filter for your campaigns on a daily basis.
  • Bidding and changes to destination URLs can be done through mass edits within the UI, without having to upload bulk-sheets. You push any changes from Marin to the Engines, and can also pull in your changes from Bing/AdWords engines by syncing your campaigns as well. The system will not publish anything you do not manually post until Midnight PST. You can copy paste straight from your excel bulksheet into the uploading tool (or upload the document through unicode text).
  • The Administrative log keeps track of all changes, and keeps users (through their logins) accountable for any edits. This way, you can filter for your name, and find the edits that you made, just to double check your work, or to make sure you are publishing the correct changes. There is a keyword- group- and campaign-level history/settings log, where you can see the name of the user who created, edited, published, paused, activated, deleted, etc. any item.
  • You can set up alerts that will help you manage accounts: anything from active campaigns with 0 ad copy, to finding keywords in low ad positions.
  • If you push duplicate keywords, the system will reject them, keeping our accounts from getting clouded due to human error. There is no need to download existing keywords or groups and use their keyword or group IDs to make any edits--instead, editing is a breeze because the system detects the new changes automatically. The only need for IDs is when making edits to creative.
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Cons
Google
  • The process for on-boarding new users can be difficult if they do not already have a Gmail or Gmail-linked account.
  • Difficult to troubleshoot technical issues (with the platform, with tags, etc.) because of the lack of customer support. Unclear if the agency has a dedicated team or individual to assist, and often have to deal with out-sourced support teams.
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Marin Software
  • Support. They are addressing this currently, and things seem to have improved lately, but we were experiencing long delays in getting support tickets addressed.
  • New Google Shopping campaigns will not even show in the tool. Old PLA campaigns are fine however.
  • Random missing data. Typically this happens after an update, but we've seen data missing in various clients. Usually logging a support ticket and having Marin Support rerun a backend process resolves the issue.
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Likelihood to Renew
Google
Due to its adapting behavior with industry ad formats and seamless integration with publishers and DSP's, I don't see myself moving away from DCM. As we see the display advertising is getting more programatic and automated due to the rise of DSP and concept of RTB, Double Click has evolved with new advanced best practices
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Marin Software
I've used Marin Software now at three separate companies where I evaluated the platform along with several other internal partners. In each case, we did make the decision to renew based on our positive experience with the app and the customer support we received at the Enterprise level. Especially when we had complex integration questions or faced the change to Google's enhanced campaigns - Marin worked closely with us to make the transition seamless.
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Usability
Google
The Doubleclick interface is easy and simple to get a hang of. The options are slightly limited compared to other DSPs. But, for a simple campaign, this is a great DSP to move forward with. They have a ton of data and can plug into a lot of different partners
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Marin Software
Marin Software's usability is bar none in the paid search world. All that said, I think Marin Software only appears superior because all the tools in the space provide extremely subpar support. Kenshoo is so complex that I don’t know think half the people that work there know how to use it.
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Support Rating
Google
They do not have strong support team. It is tough to get answer when I need it. They always refer you to an online guide and not an actual person. If so, the person is based out of an offshore team in India and does not know the specific client goals .
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Marin Software
The times that I have had to contact Marin support, they have been very helpful. When I spoke with them on the phone, they walked me through the process to be able to resolve the issue that I had, The gentleman walked me through all the steps and easily helped me resolve the issue that I had.
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Online Training
Google
No answers on this topic
Marin Software
Interactive helpful videos, summaries, and quizzes help a user learn the platform in demo-mode. The only challenge was that once you clicked certain buttons per instructions, you couldn't necessarily go back to retake notes without redoing the entire module.
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Implementation Rating
Google
I would highly recommend asking clients to provide 3PAS tags or use an internal 3PAS
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Marin Software
As I said previously I would just highly recommend everyone being hands on during implementation to make sure everyone knows how to use the product. Marin Software does an excellent job with training and answering questions so this is not a significant insight however it makes the process easier in the long run
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Alternatives Considered
Google
Marin takes a lot more time for everything, mainly for the campaigns setup. This also leads to many mistakes, which impact the performance. I've used Marin on a couple of previous clients and we've had many problems with it, mainly with correct conversion tracking and account optimizations. Besides, Marin is behind all the new features available on AdWords, which makes the tracking also not very flexible.
Read full review
Marin Software
Marin is a must have for any enterprise-level PPC account. The time savings from task automation and the very sophisticated bidding platform can help any advertiser or agency effectively scale any account. In both AdWords and Bing, the bulk editing and automated bidding features are less reliable and prone to error. The interfaces are also unnecessarily complicated and outdated. While Google Analytics is a great tool, there are no features that tie true revenue data into these interfaces, limiting the amount you can really optimize around ROI.
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Return on Investment
Google
  • DS3 has improved ROI considerably due to its ability to make the work of a team of digital marketers to go further and improving internal efficiency.
  • There is a notable improvement in account performance for those integrated with DoubleClick as opposed to not, with better tracking, new bid strategy options, and a more responsive interface.
  • The additional fee on top of media spend is a considerable expense for a large advertiser, but the necessity of a product/solution such as this means that there is always likely to be some comparative cost.
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Marin Software
  • It has definitely increased employee efficiency because we run on Yahoo Gemini, Bing, and Google. If we had to optimize/report per engine, it would take hours and hours each week.
  • I think it's made optimizations less of a daunting task in my daily routine. I've been able to pinpoint where our ROI suffers and work from there in a matter of minutes.
  • The customer service has gotten better and could still be improved. Our Marin rep used to be horrible at returning messages but once he got support, we were able to implement a ton more pixels and betas.
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ScreenShots