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Marin Software has proven to be a valuable tool for agencies and businesses across various industries. For example, both ethology and a …
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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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…
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What is Marin Software?
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Marin Software Technical Details
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
|---|---|
| Mobile Application | No |
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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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!
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- Recommendations
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
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February 02, 2018
Marin Software - alternative to DoubleClick
It's being used as a data management platform to keep the data from all publishers and data sources within one place, to optimize performance, use bidding strategies and track conversions. Out of 10 clients, we are using it on one significantly big client. Previously i've worked with Marin on another big client. The main reason for clients to choose the platform is that they don't want Google to own their data and also due to lower fees.
- Bidding strategies based on position or conversions, or revenue are very helpful for improving the performance of all campaigns and saving money
- It keeps the data easily accessible within one place. Pulling reports, being able to do a web query report, being able to integrate with many data sources makes the platform very useful. Also Marin reps are very helpful
- Marin offers a live chat, which is very helpful when you have an urgent question.
- Tracking templates are easily adjustable
- The filters on the columns don't always work properly
- The platform is sometimes very slow in updating the selected view
January 28, 2016
Probably best if you're managing high volume accounts
Score 3 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Marin Software as a bid management tool across most clients' paid search accounts. The whole team uses it.
- Gives a complete overview across different paid search platforms e.g. it's easy to see how the same ad groups/keywords/ads etc., are working on different platforms.
- You can create bidding scenarios as a test before rolling them out.
- You have to learn to use the platform yourself & there's very little help with this from the customer support team.
- Account managers are very hands off and refer you back to customer support for everything.
- Strategic support would be helpful in terms of how to test and implement.
October 27, 2015
Marin is Good Not Great
Paid search primarily uses Marin Software as a bid management tool for SEM campaigns.
- Easy to learn and use user interface.
- Very easy to make ad copy changes.
- Changes all across the board can be made quickly.
- Account representatives and upper management aren't always the most helpful when dealing with business effecting issues.
- Some small minor changes require a bulk sheet when they can easily be done in the interface if Marin had that ability.
- Doesn't seem like there is any progression by the Marin team to make updates to the tool.
October 23, 2015
Solid tool, but a lot of room for improvement..
Marin Software is being used across the SEM department. It helps streamline management of our clients' SEM campaigns.
- Bulk editing across engines. Can make large-scale account changes in a flash.
- Simple, easy-to-use interface. Makes training new employees on the tool a quicker process.
- Custom dimensions. Allows for flexibility in slicing and dicing your data in a way that's easily viewable directly in the tool.
- Ad extensions - the process for adding/editing ad extensions is cumbersome and needs to be completed in both the tool and the engines themselves. Not consistently supported between extension type or even engines. Process for editing is not nuanced and not intuitive.
- Pivoting features - it would be great if there were a pivot table-like functionality where you could look at aggregated data directly in the UI without having to pull a report.
- Budget pacing - no budget pacing functionality is available which is a key piece of our day-to-day campaign management.
- Bidding - bidding folders are clunky and do not support more nuanced/advanced calculations.
- Data by device - the current format is extremely clunky and doesn't easily translate into an Excel or pivot table. This functionality needs to be improved and more consistent with the typical views in the UI.
- Non-keyword based campaigns - the platform does not support direct UI management of non-KW based campaigns such as YouTube and GDN display.
Marin is our company's bid management software. It is used across departments and we strive to integrate Marin tracking into any new platform or product pitched to us. We use it to upload all our campaigns, keywords, ads, manage our bidding, determine our ad positions, set our destinations, and manage our budget. When it's time for reporting, whether ad hoc or monthly, we use Marin numbers as a rule.
- 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.
- The Marin (corporate) reps we deal with on a daily basis are atrociously condescending, difficult to deal with, and need to work on their transparency. We encounter attitude when requesting logins for new team members! However, the help desk is staffed by the friendliest professionals willing to help.
- While the filtering options (filter by account, campaign name, group name, keyword name, destination URL, dimension, strategy, model, etc) are very extensive, you cannot filter for 'either/or'. For example, if I want to filter down to a specific group of campaigns in the same account that contain "A", but do not contain "B", I cannot make this filter in the same area. I would have to find the common denominator between those campaigns on say, the "strategy level", and exclude the ones I do not want on a "model" level.
- Just like any other platform where corporate paid search accounts are managed, sometimes it takes a while to pull reports. However, I've worked across a few other search management platforms, and Marin speeds are tolerable.
December 12, 2014
Marin Software Review
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Marin Software allows for easy management across multiple accounts with automation features like scheduling, bid automation, and reporting.
- Reporting both automated and web query based reporting into excel
- Campaign management and ad, keyword, campaign scheduling
- Bid automation
- KPI reporting
December 09, 2014
Marin Software - Money Well Spent
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Marin Software is being used by the Paid Search department. It is used for two of the largest pay per click clients to manage daily tasks such as bid adjustments and negative keywords. It is also used more in depth to track conversions for the clients and for reporting uses, such as monthly and quarterly.
- Marin Software provides an in depth analysis of the account across all levels. Users can determine where search metrics came from based on device level, campaign level, keyword level and more. This is a strength for Marin Software because it allows users to find all the data it needs on an easy to use user interface.
- Marin Software successfully tracks conversions for the account. If the tracking codes are implemented correctly the user can find all the data they need from any conversion point they want. This is a strength for Marin Software because this is a solution that a lot of other paid search software don't offer.
- Marin Software allows the user to set up alerts based on activity in the account. For example, if the user wants a notification every time revenue drops they can set that up in the user interface. This is a strength for Marin Software because this solution allows the user to be on top of their account at all times.
- Marin Software could better implement the tracking code notifications so that the user knows they were implemented correctly. However, the user should be double checking on their work so this is a minor need for improvement.
- Marin Software could better implement pulling reports in the user interface. Sometimes it is hard to pull dates using the reporting tool.
- Marin Software could create more consistency between the tabs.
May 17, 2014
Marin
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We used Marin at iProspect on many of our large accounts. Personally I used Marin software for daily bid changes and ad creation within both Bing and Google ads. Marin was a huge help to make changes quickly and efficiently within Bing Adcenter and Google AdWords. Marin also provides several steps of checks and balances so you make the correct changes without screwing things up.
- Bid changes were very easy
- Creating keywords was seamless as you just uploaded a spreadsheet with all info
- Ad creation was easy to either create a new ad or duplicate old ads for small changes
- The color scheme on the dashboard was hard to read
- Sometimes errors come through without explanation of what went wrong in the uplaod
- The training was long and not too helpful
May 16, 2014
It saves so much time
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Marin Software to manage cross channel campaigns, including Google, Bing and more. The tool helps us to manage all campaigns in one place, and compare different publisher's performance side by side.
- Bulk upload to edit multiple campaigns, ad groups, keywords...
- Group campaigns in bidding folders and set your own bidding strategy based on business goals
- Group campaigns in dimensions to compare performance and implement AB tests
- Would be greater if Marin can segment out data by device. Eg: compare CTR by desktop and mobile and see trend over time
- The ability to view different dimensions side by side in the Dimensions tab
- The ability to view graph for filtered data
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Marin software to manage complex paid search campaigns for more than one dozen clients.
- Unified Google and Bing performance results
- Fast keyword filtering based on criteria such as impressions, average CPC, rank, etc.
- Bulk keyword and ad text upload
- More drag and drop functionality. For example, the ability to copy or move keywords and ad text between ad groups or campaigns.
- More options to customize charts and graphs to track progress over time.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Marin Software is being used by Vistaprint to manage paid search bids across a wide portfolio of products. We have millions of keywords and it would be impossible to manage all of the bids manually. Marin also makes many account maintenance & optimization functions (adding new keywords, ad copy testing, etc.) easier.
- Adding keywords
- Running ad copy tests
- Managing bids across a large portfolio of products
- Some elements of the interface are confusing.
May 01, 2014
Marin Software in Review
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.
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.
May 01, 2014
Marin Software Review Breakdown
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.