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Marin Software

Marin Software

Overview

What is Marin Software?

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…

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Marin Software has proven to be a valuable tool for agencies and businesses across various industries. For example, both ethology and a …
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Marin Software Review

8 out of 10
December 12, 2014
Marin Software allows for easy management across multiple accounts with automation features like scheduling, bid automation, and reporting.
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Old search guy's thoughts

7 out of 10
December 04, 2014
I liked Marin Software at MediaCom as it really help me update and maintain my client accounts and campaigns. As a search specialist, I …
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Pricing

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What is Marin Software?

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…

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Maropost, headquartered in Toronto with offices in New York, London, and Delhi, offers an enterprise level email marketing and automation platform for email-centric campaigns and total customer lifecycle management via an automated workflow. It features social networking "listening" to keep track…

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Product Details

Marin Software Competitors

Marin Software Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

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 with many familiar entitities, like GAP, Macy's, Comcast, Symantec, and many agencies as well.

StitcherAds and SunnyReports are common alternatives for Marin Software.

Reviewers rate Usability and Support Rating highest, with a score of 10.

The most common users of Marin Software are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(64)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Marin Software has proven to be a valuable tool for agencies and businesses across various industries. For example, both ethology and a smaller agency have utilized Marin Software for client bid management, reporting, and account optimizations. These features have enabled them to save time and tailor campaigns to meet the specific needs of their clients. Vistaprint and MediaCom have also benefited from Marin Software's optimization capabilities, campaign management tools, and reporting functionalities for their search campaigns. Clients often choose Marin Software to maintain control over their data and benefit from lower fees compared to other platforms. The software's ability to manage campaigns, keywords, ads, bidding, ad positions, destinations, and budgets across departments provides convenience and efficiency. Additionally, Marin Software streamlines the management of SEM campaigns across multiple accounts with its automation features. Users appreciate the flexibility of the bid rules and reporting functionality within Marin Software, as it allows them to easily manipulate the platform to suit their specific needs. This has not only helped them save time but also reduced the reliance on multiple interfaces for bulk uploading and optimizations.

Easy-to-use Interface: Users have consistently praised Marin Software for its easy-to-use and intuitive user interface, with multiple reviewers stating that it allows them to quickly and efficiently perform tasks. The simplicity and efficiency of the interface were highlighted as advantageous features. Flexible Reporting Capabilities: Numerous reviewers have commended Marin Software's reporting capabilities for their flexibility, providing an in-depth analysis of the account at various levels. This feature was specifically mentioned by several users who appreciated the ability to customize views, create custom columns, and set dimensions and labels for filtering campaigns on a daily basis. Effective Conversion Tracking: Many users have highlighted Marin Software's ability to track conversions effectively as a strength. This feature was seen as a valuable tool for improving campaign performance and cost savings. Several users praised the system's bidding strategies based on position, conversions, or revenue as helpful tools in achieving better results.

Long Support Ticket Delays: Users have experienced long delays in getting their support tickets addressed, with some users mentioning that Marin's customer support could be more responsive and that account representatives and upper management were not always helpful in dealing with business-impacting issues.

Missing Data After Updates: Random missing data occurs after updates, causing frustration for some users who found errors in the system without clear explanations of what went wrong during uploads.

Difficulties in Pulling Reports: Pulling reports in the user interface can be difficult, especially when dealing with large reports or making changes to the user interface. Some users have experienced slow load times and updates, leading to delays in accessing important information.

Users have made several recommendations based on their experiences with Marin software. The most common recommendations are to improve the pricing structure of the software to lower fees. Users suggest using the software for businesses that do not have a large client with a huge eCommerce business. They also recommend that the software work on building out its social reporting and streamlining reporting and automation processes.

Furthermore, users find the user experience (UX) of Marin software to be bulky, cluttered, and frustrating to navigate at times. However, they value the smart sync capabilities of the software, which saves time and helps manage Google and Bing accounts effectively.

Overall, users recommend trying the software as it is an easy-to-use tool that brings everything together in one place. They suggest considering the size and complexity of the account being managed before using the software. Users also recommend utilizing the support and resources provided by Marin, such as scheduled reporting and custom support.

For smaller companies with lower spend requirements, users find Marin software great. They suggest using the chat feature or calling for urgent issues. They also recommend regularly speaking to the account manager and arranging calls with the Centre of Excellence Team to improve PPC account management.

Users suggest considering if the software is suitable for mid to large-sized businesses with developed SEM programs. They also recommend utilizing the dimensions options for tagging and organization of initiatives and accounts. While evaluating platforms, users think Marin should be considered as it continues to improve its offerings.

To solve frustrations and save time, users recommend giving Marin software a try. It is recommended for managing a large number of accounts or accounts that require conversion tracking, attribution modeling, or remarketing.

Users find Marin's customer support great and appreciate its easy-to-use interface for accessing campaign information quickly. They suggest voicing concerns to representatives and their superiors to find solutions to problems.

Moreover, users think Marin is a powerful tool for managing search advertising and recommend it for those who need a more sophisticated tool. They suggest watching the tutorial and training videos for better understanding.

In conclusion, users have provided valuable recommendations to improve Marin software's pricing structure, reporting capabilities, user experience, and support services.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(26-32 of 32)
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Robert Frost | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
At ethology, we use Marin Software for our client bid management and reporting platform. All clients are on-boarded to Marin and all reporting is based out of the platform. We also are rolling out bid management to all clients. Currently, the Paid Search department is using it, with account management and finance accessing it for reporting needs.
  • Consolidation of multiple accounts. Google, Bing, other...all in one place. This is why reporting is based out of Marin. One data source vs. many.
  • Bid management for financial goals. Setting a cost-per-conversion goal allows Marin to maximize conversions by adjusting bids up and down. Performance increases are amazing!
  • Reporting. Flexibility of reports is pretty cool.
  • 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.
If you are using Google Shopping campaigns, wait until Q4 to purchase. They are not supported in Marin until then, at the earliest.
Cost: We were able to negotiate a decent % of spend rate, but standard rates can be fairly high, especially when compared to other tools, with the exception of Kenshoo.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Marin Software is being used as our cross-publisher tracking, optimization, and reporting platform. Especially as we continue expanding our paid search globally, having the flexibility to make changes at scale was very important to us. We adopted the app to address the several publishers we work with as well as for its integration features.
  • API feed for importing back-end analytics data into the app
  • Ability to use the filtering function to cross-segment performance data
  • Customized reporting module so reporting can be tailored for specific geographic regions/audiences within the organization
  • Customizable bidding folders to target multiple conversion CPAs
  • Better creative development functionality for Facebook
  • Expansion and development to integrate with other social channels
  • Salesforce/CRM integration
Marin is most effective when search campaigns carry a large budget, have more complex conversion goals, or operate across multiple publishers. As a rule of thumb, Marin and other bid management softwares are best suited for situations where editing with tools like AdWords Editor is no longer time-efficient or where changes need to be made cross-publisher.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Marin is being used across one client to manager their search needs. We use different tools to manage Social and a different tool for another client. It allows us to manage large amounts of keywords & creative in a proficient time frame. It also allows us to create bid rules & their reporting functionality is easily manipulated to fit our needs.
  • Bidding
  • Launching Campaigns
  • Reporting
  • There are often glitches in the system- some can be small or others require a lag time to be fixed
  • Delay in supporting new features as rolled out by Google/Yahoo/Bing
I don't think their support of Tiers (as applicable to auto OEMs) is clear. I would suggest the below questions:

1) How do you support Tiered models (i.e. ensure Tier II doesn't bid up Tier I)

2) What tactics/strategies do you use to ensure your tool is staying abreast of changes as they are rolled out by Google/Yahoo
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Marin Software is being used exclusively by our Search team. The Search team has a number of different accounts, which utilize Marin's software in a number of different ways. However, across all of the accounts Marin helps with many of the Search processes such as automated bidding, appending tracking to URL's, ad scheduling, and making bulk changes to multiple vendors as once.
  • The overall layout of Marin is very user friendly. For Search professionals, there is a similar feel between Marin and the major Search vendors' user interfaces. This allows for a seamless transition onto Marin.
  • Marin's help section is very useful. They have a comprehensive list of articles that can help users with the more common issues that may arise. Additionally, they are reachable by email or by phone, and in my experience with Marin, their customer representatives are friendly and knowledgeable.
  • Marin's filters are very user friendly. The platform makes it very easy to view only the information that you are looking for.
  • Marin only syncs data from publishers once a day. I have found that this could lead to the previous days data not being published within Marin until a few hours after I've been at my desk. For up-to-the-minute data, I still need to go into the UI.
  • Marin can take some time to pull in larger changes made to the UI on the Publisher side. Dealing with Enhanced Campaigns was a bit tough, since we had to wait for Marin to update its system before we could switch over the campaigns on our end.
  • When working with very large accounts, Marin can start to get a bit slow. I work on an account with over a million keywords (which is understandably a lot), but the slower load times and reporting can still become frustrating.
I don't think that every account requires Marin. It is a very useful tool for larger accounts that require bulk changes, and automated bidding to be in place. If someone works on a smaller client, then I don't think this software would be as necessary. However, I think that for any larger account, Marin could significantly help to streamline the more monotonous tasks.
Valerie Anderson | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Marin is currently being leveraged across my teams for several clients. We utilize Marin for much of the heavy lifting in launching, managing, optimizing and reporting on paid search accounts across engines. Through Marin we're able to spend less time creating tactical paperwork and more time building strategic and effective search campaigns.
  • Marin does a great job providing an aggregated dashboard for paid search. Through their portal we're able to identify what's working well for our campaigns, weed out elements that are sub par and fine tune each aspect of the account.
  • Marin also takes the heavy lifting out of managing paid search campaigns. Through their tool we're able to bulk upload, schedule, create, augment and optimize. By being able to make changes across many campaigns at one time, my team spends less time navigating different engine UIs and more time optimizing and bringing strategic insights and optimizations to our clients.
  • Through customized views, Marin makes it easy for our teams and clients to see just the right amount of data to answer their question without having to export and manipulate data to arrive at the answer. By creating dimensions for each account we're able to segment performance even further, making optimizations even simpler.
  • The onboarding process with Marin can be a bit clunky. The request to launch a new account is vetted by the Agency Lead which is then queued for the Professional Services team. By potentially getting a new PS team for each onboard, you're potentially working with people not familiar with your business. Once the onboarding is complete, the account is transitioned to the Engagement team. With different teams touching the account at various phases, it creates a disconnect in the transition and often leaves our team explaining the situation on multiple occasions.
  • Custom metrics can be hard to come by in Marin. There are some "custom" features hard-coded into the tool that are generally available, but several that are not, such as converting seconds into hours and minutes.
  • Data tying the date/time stamp of the click to the conversion is a custom report that has to be requested specifically by the team but is something, from a conversion path standpoint, that should be standard in the user interface, regardless of integration type or complexity of account.
Marin integrations work well in most situations. We've had to deal with strict regulatory and security concerns for one client and Marin was able to provide a solution that fit the needs of all parties involved. Additionally, we've needed to integrate Marin with various ad servers and have run into little issues. Marin is constantly improving its list of "preferred partners" whereby creating relationships with the likes of MediaMind and Turn.

Key items to understand:
What type of integration will work best for your overall needs and objectives?
What different tools need to be tied together and what can be automated versus requires manual attention?
Any known custom requests should be stated upfront to ensure the account is built to meet the needs of your campaigns.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Marin Software is a way for our company to manage all of our accounts in one interface. It is a great way for us to manage our Bing and Google accounts and campaigns in one place. The area where Marin really shines is when we need to make changes to multiple accounts without having to go into each account individually. We are able to select all of the accounts that we need whether it be Google or Bing, or both, and we can easily update both with one task. Marin also really helps for setting up a bidding strategy. We do a lot of bidding to position for our ads, and Marin makes this very easy to set up and implement. Overall, Marin is a very nice and easy tool to use, and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a way to manage a large account spanning multiple search networks.
  • Marin does a nice job managing both Google and Bing.
  • Marin has a nice bid optimization tool to either bid to position or bid for conversions for example.
  • Marin makes it easy to quickly make changes in a bulk sheet and upload and be all set.
  • The social tool needs a little improvement, like for managing Facebook and Twitter, they are a little lacking. I have used some social tools that have better features.
  • A better way to push everything live when we need it, not just during the nightly sync.
  • Marin can be slow at times when trying to pull a large report, possibly need better servers.
Marin is best suited for managing Google and Bing accounts. I would not recommend Marin if you are going to solely use it for Facebook and Twitter. Marin has put the most time into managing search networks and it shows when you try and use it to manage an account like Facebook.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Marin for our Adwords and Adcenter campaigns for all of our clients products. Marin seamlessly allows us to optimize and manage our clients products for their respective KPI's. By housing all of them under one platform, it makes our job mush easier. We look good as an agency for our client.
  • The Autotagger makes it so all we have to do is upload the URL's
  • Marin has a feed with another platform for our conversion tags, we don't even have to log into Mediamind!
  • The bid automation system is superb, it's more than just if/then statements
  • There isn't any automatic emails that can be sent out if there is an issue with an upload or a campaign/account
Marin is a large company and Google/Yahoo/Bing always seems to look to Marin first for integration. Which is a big bonus for us
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