Taking the pain out of tag management

But just when you're ready to put its promise of rapid return on investment to the test, you find that it needs a very specific set of tags on specific pages with specific variables before it will allow you to easily track the metrics you are interested in.

That means you need to knock on the IT manager's door and ask for a developer, to help you set up and launch the tags you need. Three to four months later, you're finally in business.

The good news is that this particular problem is rapidly becoming a relic of the past. Thanks to tag management systems from Google and a range of other vendors, the once tedious process of creating and updating tags is becoming a simple and automated task.

Removing an obstacle

Tag management systems are all about getting rid of a technical obstacle for the smooth running of digital campaigns. They allow analysts to add or update tags to Website code and mobile apps with just a few clicks - all without needing to touch the sites code.

They streamline the whole process of managing Web analytics, content management systems, agency, mobile app, conversion and social tags. The benefits are numerous.

The first is about time. In the past, it was a laborious process to add and update tags across a range of Web properties and systems. Now, adding or editing a tag can be done nearly instantly.

The result? Remarketing and other data-driven programmes can be executed quickly so that marketers have the agility to take advantage of marketing and sales opportunities before it's too late.

Secondly, tag management systems free marketers from their reliance on the IT department. That means IT can focus on activities that add real value rather than on the chore of managing tags.

Cleaning up

Tag management solutions also help marketers to keep their digital houses tidy. They allow for neater tagging structures and eliminate issues such as double attribution when running affiliate programmes.

Error checking built into a good tag management system means that marketers know that their tags work and that they are collecting accurate data from all their Web proprieties.

In addition, tag management systems can address the weight that tags place on their Web pages. Through data consolidation and only serving tags when needed it, reduces the size of Web pages and speeding up download times, giving end-users a better experience.

Another benefit is that automating tag management makes it simpler and easier to test ad-serving and analytics platforms, and to change systems.

Many marketers are tied to unsatisfactory systems because they're terrified of the work involved in migrating tags.

Choosing the right platform

For any organisation running a digital strategy, automating tag management is a must. The most important question is which solution out of the dozen or so on the market best fits the business's needs.

If you are in the market for a solution, you should look for one that is an open platform that will work across a range of digital marketing systems and environments. You should also ensure that it is scalable enough to scale beyond your current needs to serve your future data collection requirements.