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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

(1-4 of 4)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Ashlee Anderson | TrustRadius Reviewer
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.
It is well suited for a colleague with large clients. I would not recommend it to a colleague who had clients that spent less than $50,000 minimum a month. There is no benefit to having it for smaller clients because it gives a lot of information that would not be relevant to them. Marin Software provides an excellent FAQ so once you start with the software it can answer most of your questions. I'd also highly recommend taking the certification courses to fully understand the software.
  • Marin Software has provided a positive impact for our overall business objectives regarding increased employee efficiency. It allows each employee to make more informed decisions for the account as well as double/triple check their account set up.
  • Marin Software has provided a positive impact for our overall business objectives regarding client engagement. We have been able to keep our clients more informed and in return they have provided valuable information for the account.
  • Marin Software has provided a positive impact for our overall business objectives regarding account accuracy. We are able to tell more specifically where search metrics such as conversions are coming from which has had a positive impact on our account.
Marin Software stacks the highest against all the above listed products. It provides significant amounts of data for the account all in an easy to use user interface. While Acquisio provides a better KPI tool Marin provides more details at a faster rate. When using multiple channels such as Google and Bing, Marin makes it easier to pull all that information together.
Our company uses Marin Software multiple times a day. Our client is very satisfied with the information we give them from Marin Software. If we stopped using Marin Software as frequently or lost our two largest clients we might consider not renewing due to cost. However, the cost of Marin Software is justified with all the useful information we obtain.
6
A majority are Paid Search Associates who perform the daily tasks and account management. A Paid Search Manager uses it to track ROI as well as keep up to date on employees' findings. Lastly, one of the clients has an onsite specialist who uses Marin Software to keep up to date with our company's performance.
5
To support Marin Software the user must have a decent amount of knowledge regarding paid search to understand the data given, The user must also have a little bit of knowledge about coding for action items such as implementing tracking codes. If the user does not have this skill at least someone in the company must. The user must be able to adapt to new software.
  • Daily campaign management such as bid adjustments and negative keywords
  • Conversion tracking - one or multiple points
  • Return on Investment
  • To track multiple conversion points across Google and Bing.
  • To determine which devices are successful and if we should continue use or not
  • To raise spend year over year
  • To develop KPIs across the account
  • On smaller clients to ensure we are spending their money in the correct way
  • For keyword expansion and search query performance reports to determine which search queries are pulling in conversions.
No
  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Product Reputation
  • Vendor Reputation
  • Analyst Reports
The most important factor was product features. We needed a software that allowed us to get all the data we needed in an easy to use platform. If Marin Software did not allow us to track conversions we would have sadly had to decide against purchasing it. The product features that Marin Software has makes the cost insignificant.
We thought pretty hard behind the evaluation and selection process to decide which software to go with. The only thing I would change is based on timing. More products have come out that do similar things. If we hadn't spent so many years with Marin Software I would suggest at least evaluating other products.
  • Implemented in-house
No
Change management was a big part of the implementation and was well-handled
We hadn't been using any software prior to Marin Software so change management was a big part in the implementation process. We had to dedicate someone specifically to process Marin Software. The major lesson we learned was that the one dedicated person knew the software extremely well while the rest of us had to still learn it. I would recommend everyone learning as they switch to Marin Software.
  • Learning the software
  • Transferring large amounts of data
  • Determining important KPIs
  • Convincing large clients it is worth the expense
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.
I have had mostly successful support from Marin Software with the exception of one individual who I am assuming was new due to their lack of knowledge about the product. I do not hold this against Marin Software significantly because any time I have ever called/emailed with questions I have received help fast and accurately.
No
We were trying to determine if we changed the name of our ad groups if it would affect the search metrics. We called Marin Software and within five minutes we had the information we needed to make an informative decision. If they had given us incorrect information it could have severely effected our account,
  • Negative Keyword Research
  • Performance Reporting specifically View Builder
  • Marin Enterprise Certification
  • ROI
  • Conversion Set Up
  • Synchronization and Posting
Marin Software is has a very well designed user interface. There are however a few items in which I mentioned before which make usability more time consuming than anything else. There is nothing on Marin Software that is impossible to use it just takes some time to learn. I highly recommend taking the certification course to learn the ends and outs of the software.
May 09, 2014

Natalia's Review

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Marin software was being used to effectively manage pay per click accounts for several clients. It was only being used by the SEM department. It addressed the problem of achieving desired metrics in a manageable way.
  • One platform to manage Google, Yahoo, MSN, Facebook pay per click accounts
  • Ability to automate PPC optimization
  • Advanced reporting and access for clients dashboards
  • Easier optimization concepts
  • Ability to connect to second tier search engines
  • Ability to easily find link between SEO and SEM efforts
Well suited for accounts for large budgets and strict cost per lead metrics. Also helpful for accounts that require different locations, time zones, currencies. Not appropriate for smaller size accounts that are solely focused on branding.
  • Decreased cost per lead
  • Ability to identify conversion opportunities
  • Employee effiency
I no longer work in the field of PPC, I have switched to digital display advertising.
15
Marketing, Advertising
5
Understanding of the way pay per click works, search engine specifics, and marin's optimization logic.
  • cost per lead/sale optimization
  • identifying opportunities for expansion
  • increasing number of leads/sales
  • ability to track facebook leads/costs
  • seo metrics being presented in an easy to understand fashion
  • link between seo and ppc
  • transparency with clients
No
  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Positive Sales Experience with the Vendor
No, the Marin team was very knowledgeable and helpful.
  • Vendor implemented
Change management was minimal
  • training of users
  • understanding of work flow, processes
Stream lined process, easy to follow along
Statisticians that will go above and beyond to explain the way marin works. Great support
No
Marin representatives held weekly calls with our team to solve any outstanding issues. We could also hold calls with optimization experts that walked us through set up.
  • Reporting
  • Optimization folders and logic
  • link between seo and ppc
Great interface, intuitive processed, helpful support
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.
  • Positive: Increased efficiency for sure.
  • Positive: More comprehensive reports.
  • Negative: Fees come off our bottom line. We've been able to pass through a portion of the fees to clients, but only a handful. The rest is lost revenue.
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 cost.
We have a solid Marin account team that is thoroughly invested in our business. They are insightful, helpful, and are always willing to walk us through any new features or retrain us on old ones. Additionally, the sales dept at Marin has been helpful in providing use-cases, whitepapers, and other documents that have assisted our sales team with closing new business.
10
Paid search specialists, account managers, paid search management team, finance dept., several end clients.
1
It's pretty much just me that supports our users. I have the most experience with Marin and have gotten the most training. We rely heavily on our Marin account team and the Marin support team as well.
  • Reporting
  • Bid Management
  • Account Consolidation
  • Using Web Query reports to forecast account spend and adjust daily.
  • Use exported CSV reports to import into our homegrown reporting tool.
  • Extensive bid management automation.
  • Facebook management (if we'd ever get a client who wants to advertise there).
  • Using their Revenue Connect tool to add adMarketplace campaigns.
  • Baidu/Yandex campaigns.
No
  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Positive Sales Experience with the Vendor
Price was probably the number one deciding factor when we first made the decision to use Marin.
Perhaps. I was really impressed with the Doubleclick demo we got (and they are very inexpensive), but their integration with Bing and Facebook isn't so great.
  • Vendor implemented
  • Implemented in-house
No
Change management was a minor issue with the implementation
  • Adoption by employees
  • Tracking setup for Google Analytics
  • Bidding setup
I think if we had known what we wanted, the implementation would have been perfect. Since we didn't, there was quite a bit of back and forth between ethology and the implementation team at Marin. The process ended up taking a lot longer than we expected it to take, but worked out in the end.
While they are getting much better with the new restructured support dept, the previous ticketing system was prone to long wait times, inexperienced techs who would just link you to help desk articles that didn't apply, and unresolved issues. I think the addition of a direct support phone number in addition to our account team was a huge help.
Yes
The most recent one, no...it's been escalated to an advanced support team. Prior to that since the new support system, yes.
Needed to add Google Analytics tracking to Marin, something that must be done on the back end. The tech was able to get this accomplished within 30 min of my logging a support ticket.
  • Onboarding process was super easy
  • Reporting is awesome
  • Segmenting data
  • Bulk uploading
  • Bidding
  • Dynamic Actions
  • Facebook campaigns
No
As mentioned previously, the bidding setup is confusing, with way too many settings that can make or break your campaign.
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.
  • Our overall ad position has increased.
  • Our CTR has also improved with Marin.
  • Our ad spend has increased as well.
I really like Marin, I have used it the most of any bid management tool, and it is by far my favorite. Marin has an easy to learn interface and a nice training program that helps get everyone up to speed when they are new to using the program. It is an awesome tool.
Now that I know the majority of the features available, I like that I know how to use the program already and I do not want to have to learn a new system. I have talked to a lot of people as well, and everyone I have talked to has said that Marin is their favorite.
30
The people that use Marin represent the entire search advertising department at the company. We all use Marin very heavily to manage all of our accounts. We use it to build new campaigns, pull reports, set up bids, and run daily budgets to make sure that we are always on track,
2
We have a few people that have been using Marin for a few years now, so if there are any difficult questions we can go to them to get an answer on these. If these people are not able to answer the questions we will usually use the Marin help hotline to get our questions answered.
  • Managing Search campaigns.
  • Tracking Outcomes.
  • Building campaigns.
  • Managing cross channel campaigns.
  • Tracking several outcomes.
  • Creating custom columns to find data for our client.
  • We might try out social campaigns.
  • Set up a numeric value to our outcomes.
  • Conversion optimized bidding.
No
  • Product Usability
  • Prior Experience with the Product
  • Third-party Reviews
Marin is provided to me through the company that I work for, but if I was going to select a software in the future, I would select Marin for sure since it has been very easy to use and I already know a majority of the features in the software.
If I was to redo the evaluation and selection process for selecting a software, I would most likely contact some current and former coworkers that I know have used the service in the past and ask them about the product. I would also ask some people who have used other products to see how they liked that product.
  • Vendor implemented
No
Change management was a minor issue with the implementation
There was not a lot of issues in the implementation with Marin since we started using it at the same time that we won the account that we are managing, so it made the process easy since we were not using a different program before. We uploaded everything into marin from the start.
  • It took time to upload the large accounts
  • It was a little slow uploading these large accounts, the system was bogged down
  • Not everyone knew Marin so it took a little while to get everyone up to speed.
Not too much comes to mind for key insights regarding the implementation. Marin made the process as smooth as they could with the large account that we were working on. Once we had everything into the account, they walked us through the basic processes of the system and made sure everything was working properly.
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.
No
One of the times I had an issue uploading a campaign, and when I was on the phone with Marin, I shared my screen with the representative and he told me exactly what needed to be done to be able to upload the campaign with out receiving any errors with the upload.
  • The filter option is very easy to use
  • Bulk uploads
  • Updating campaign budgets
  • Setting up tracking codes
  • Bidding folders
  • Optimizing for conversions
No
Marin has a very basic layout, which makes it easy to use and easy to learn and this is very important in a fast paced environment, when there is not a whole lot of time to learn a new program without getting caught behind. Marin has some nice training that makes this whole process super easy.
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