By Greg Laugero, VP Services and Strategy
It’s become very clear within the last year that Tag Management Systems are becoming an important part of the digital marketing landscape. However, choosing the right system for your specific needs can be a challenge. It’s important to understand that not all Tag Management Systems are created equal. In this post and follow ups, I’ll be looking at the different factors you should consider when selecting a TMS.
In a nutshell, a TMS provides a centralized system for simplifying the deployment of third-party JavaScript tags. Rather than deploying individual tags to individual pages (thus typically relying on IT to do the work), a TMS relies on a single master tag on each page. This master tag controls which tags are inserted on the page and, in some cases, can even pre-process information prior to sending it to those tags.
This means that, at its most fundamental level, Tag Management reduces the amount of JavaScript required for each page by providing a buffer between your web pages and your vendors’ systems. The potential benefits include faster page load times, faster deployment of new tags, and better tracking and visibility into how tags are deployed across your web properties.
That, however, is where the similarities end. As you choose the right system for your needs, there are a number of factors to consider. In this post, we’ll take a look at three key factors in your choice. In subsequent posts, we’ll dive into the major use cases supported by Tag Management systems.
Free or Paid?
There are free systems out there that handle the basics. A lot of organizations are attracted to low (or no) cost solutions. One of the biggest problems that we see out there is that companies assume that because some free systems fall into the TMS category, they’re just as good as the paid solutions. While licensing cost (or lack thereof) can be initially attractive, selecting solely or primarily based on licensing cost can cause you to miss the long-term costs of ownership once you start living with your choice.
To decide whether a free system is right, you should look at at least two other factors: User Experience and Number of Vendors. The greater your need for these features, the more you’ll benefit from paid solutions.
User Experience and User Interface – Freedom from IT
One of the (often oversold) promises of Tag Management is that it frees marketing from IT. How true this is depends on at least two factors – the skills available on your marketing team and the quality of the User Experience provided by the TMS. If independence from IT is an important goal for your TMS implementation, then selecting a tool with a UI that a marketing professional can use will be a key consideration.
Adobe’s Dynamic Tag Manager (DTM) provides a solid UI, but it still requires a fair amount of knowledge about how JavaScript works. So, while a marketing professional can see and understand the UI, he or she would still need some technical knowledge to effectively use the system. If your marketing team includes some JavaScript and tagging savvy, then DTM can certainly help you achieve this goal. If not, some training and coaching along the way will be part of your solution.
A TMS like Tealium IQ provides a very nice UI that a marketing professional with a solid understanding of data analysis and tagging could use. Properly trained and supported in the early stages of adoption gives you a very good chance of minimizing Marketing’s dependence on IT.
Number of Tags and Number of Vendors
If you have a lot of vendor relationships that require tagging your pages, then you’ll want to be looking at solutions with out of the box “connectors” that fit your needs. Here is where Tealium has an out of the gate advantage. We wouldn’t be surprised to see others to follow Tealium’s lead, but right now, they have the advantage with many connectors to systems including ClickTale, adBrite, Adobe SiteCatalyst, Google Analytics, Optimizely, and hundreds of others.
The quality and quantity of connectors is also an important factor for Marketing’s independence from IT. The more the TMS provides the hooks into the other systems, the easier it is for a non-coder to do the work. This frees up Marketing to do more thinking about what it wants to track and less about how to track it. Make sure you know what connectors your TMS vendor offers and what is on their roadmap.
Conclusion – One Size Doesn’t Fit All
Selecting the right TMS is like choosing any other enterprise software solution. Know your needs and requirements first, and then begin your evaluation. This is a particular area of expertise for Numeric. We have experience with several different TMS, especially Adobe DTM, Google Tag Manager, Ensighten and Tealium. Contact Us if you would like us to help you navigate this emerging and complex market.
Up next, a review of the major use cases for Tag Management and how different solutions match up.
