Page 19 - AeM_Sept_2018

BEST PRACTICES & STRATEGIES

Tag management provides structure in

online marketing

Performance improvement, cost savings
and success control thanks to TMS

With tag management systems, marketers can
exchange tags using so-called "container" without
having to interfere with the website's HTML code. The
container is integrated once, as a single tag ("single
line of code") in the HTML code of each web page and
takes all other tags "piggyback". This way, all the tags
of a web page are combined in a single file. The user
interface of modern TMS allows the various containers
and their individual tags to be configured on-the-fly,
Whether analysis, retargeting, A/B-testing or affiliate without the support of the IT department. With just a
marketing: For each of these campaigns, a so-called tag few clicks, TMS marketing managers can then decide
per website must be set to collect the desired data about when and how a tag should be played. Individual
the website visitor. The task of online marketing experts settings, such as changes in the tagging concept and
is then to evaluate and use the data in a targeted the integration of new tags, are made directly in the
manner. Tag Management System and are therefore possible at
any time without much effort.
As customer journeys become more and more complex,
there is a wealth of opportunities for personalized By enabling tags to be rolled out once on all pages,
customer engagement. At the same time, however, the simplifying the implementation of complex tagging
risk of bad investments increases with every marketing concepts, TMS increases the consistency and
channel. relevance of collected data. When rolling out new tags,
marketing departments free themselves from the
To keep track of marketing channels and budgets, a reliance on release cycles of the website. At the same
sophisticated tagging strategy is indispensable, which time, it's easier to get code updates and fix bugs from a
requires, however, suitable tag management solutions. single application.

Just tagging alone is not enough Through the comprehensive analysis of all user data
and relevant marketing channels, conclusions can be
Tags are without doubt an essential part of online drawn about the success of individual measures. It can
marketing. The short code snippets are integrated into also be easier determined which channel mix leads to
the individual web pages of a web presence and serve to the best results and highest conversion rates within the
track the activities of visitors. customer journey. Based on this data, an attribution of
the marketing channels can be made, which means
results can be assigned to the individual channels.
The most common ones are the counter tags (or so-
called "tracking pixels"), retargeting tags, as well as
conversion tags for counting clicks or for determining Furthermore, tag management allows to drive new pilot
whether the customer has also bought after surfing. The projects quickly and easily, to test providers and
data provided by them form the basis for a targeted agencies without great expense and effort, and to
customer approach across all touchpoints and allow an exchange them if necessary. This dissolves
optimization of the channel mix for a campaign as well dependencies and improves the own negotiating
as the budget distribution. position. By dedicating variables and eliminating tags
that are not needed, TMSs also improve page load
times, not to mention that an automated shutdown of
This requires, however, modern tag management
systems (TMS), since it is not enough to simply integrate bad tags has a positive impact on load times and user
experience, too.
the tags into the respective website. For each individual
tracking code, the type of integration into the page must
be defined - in addition to the placement, based on the Clearly, tagging is indispensable for successful online
underlying tagging concept. Furthermore, it must be marketing and a modern tag administration is equally
determined for each individual tag whether it is important – especially for large platforms or an online
dependent on another tag or compatible/incompatible shop. Professional tag management systems not only
with one of the other tracking codes used, activities that save time and money, but also provide cross-channel
cannot be performed independently by the IT access to all relevant information that can be used in
departments without the support of the marketing real-time to optimize campaigns, budget allocations,
departments. and customer journeys. ◊
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