6 Steps For More Efficient Tracking

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Test Data

Related Industries
  • Business-to-Business (B2B)
Related Capabilities
  • Data Science & Analytics
  • Nurturing & Marketing Automation
  • Strategy & Consulting

In our latest episode of Test. Learn. Grow., we are joined with Level Agency’s own B2B-1 Team Lead, Laura Greenawalt and Media Manager II, Dillan Nardulli to talk about how to efficiently use Google Tag Manager (GTM) for your clients.  

Rather listen than read? In this podcast episode, Myles and Allyn talk to Level Agency’s own Laura Greenawalt and Dillan Nardulli about the work of consolidating one client’s Google Tag Manager data and how that impacts tracking audience behavior and marketing performance.  

 


What is Google Tag Manager (GTM)?  

Google Tag Manager is a tag management system. It lets you configure and instantly deploy tracking tags or pixels onto websites or digital properties. It’s a tool that collects data and tracks behavior on websites and other digital properties. GTM is widely adopted across the industry claiming 90% of the market.  So, Level Agency has made GTM one of its main tools when it comes to efficient data tracking.  


How does GTM work?  

Google Tag Manager allows for easy access to a client’s website data. Otherwise, a client would have to grant access to an agency partner for every platform (ex. LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.). GTM streamlines who has access to a client’s website, and it streamlines the code on the website, which makes site speed faster and improves overall site performance.  

When people take action on a website, such as making a purchase on an ecommerce site, that’s being tracked by GTM. Anything a business does to grow in a digital space can be tracked by GTM. You can then pull the data from GTM for reporting purposes.  

With this particular client’s GTM instance, there were hundreds of lines of data, multiple tags and inconsistent naming conventions. Dillan and his team had quite the task ahead of them. With a two- and a half-week turnaround, they had to approach GTM consolidation in a systematic manner. Dillan and his team took a page from Marie Kondo.  


Marie Kondo and GTM Consolidation 

  1. Commit to Tidying Up 

Dillan and his team made GTM consolidation a priority. They assigned tasks, check-ins and deadlines to ensure completion. Dillan suggests GTM data health checks be done for every campaign launch. At the very least, it should be done once a quarter.  

  1. Imagine Your Ideal Lifestyle 

Consider what are the main goals and metrics for your client’s business? What are the OKRs and the KPIs? What does success look like for the client and the agency? Make note of what worked and what didn’t as you go through the process.  

  1. Finish Discarding First 

Don’t get ahead of yourself. First, redline and document everything that needs to be ‘thrown out’ (I.e. non-essential data or data not in use). Dillan’s team used a color-coded system: Red = remove, Yellow = questionable and they had to consult the client and Green = Stay. Do what works for your team!  

  1. Tidy by Category 

Focus on the main actions you want to track. Start with your source of truth. In this instance, for Dillan’s team, it was Google Analytics. It could be your client’s CRM or another data source. Then prioritize based on secondary and tertiary actions.  

  1. Follow the Right Order 

If Facebook is your main results-driven platform, it should be at the top of your consolidation list. You want to make sure everything is aligned.  

  1. Does it Spark Joy… 

…or in the case of data tracking for marketing purposes, does it matter? Just because you can track every click, doesn’t mean you should. Make sure you understand your clients’ goals in order to track what is most important when laddering performance up to larger organizational goals.  

By consolidating the GTM, less time is wasted, and more time can be spent on actual insights that move your client’s business forward. As marketing evolves, so does the health of the client’s data ecosystem. This kind of data consolidation lays a foundation for success moving forward. Dillan’s team and the client’s team are more agile and adaptive to audience behavior as a result of this data clean up.  

So, if your marketing data doesn’t spark joy, please reach out. We would love to talk more about how we can help you with your data health and efficiency. 

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