In-house workshop 5 days · 4–12 participants

Understand the technology
that drives your
online marketing.

You work in online marketing and want to understand the technical side? TRACE5 makes you and your team less dependent on IT. In just 5 days, you learn to master GTM, server structures, and tracking data yourself — for online marketing without technical bottlenecks. Delivered as an in-house workshop at your office or online.

Book a workshop → View the 5 modules
Marketer drawing the tracking architecture themselves — GTM, GA4, pixels, and consent as layers of a data pipeline

Why this matters

Without technical understanding, you are at the mercy of the ad platforms.

Many online marketers know their own discipline extremely well. They know how to optimize Google or Meta Ads, or how to set up SEO. But when it comes to technical topics like tracking and web development, they often cannot diagnose or fix errors precisely. That is a serious business problem: you can be the best ad strategist in the world — if your site is broken in the background, or if an invisible technical error distorts your data, your optimizations go nowhere. Budget is burned. And when someone says, “Our ads are performing badly, we need to do something,” you do not know whether the campaigns are the problem or the pipeline is.

From chaos to structure: transforming the data pipeline

What happens when online marketing lacks the technical foundations?

Running online marketing without understanding the technical foundations is not just frustrating. It is a hard business problem with real consequences, including:

01

Three tools,
three truths

Google Ads, Meta, and GA4 never show the same number — and nobody can explain why. Decisions are made blind.

02

Errors surface
after the budget is gone

A conversion tag fires on every page instead of only the thank-you page — and Smart Bidding optimizes for weeks on completely wrong data.

03

Every change
is an IT ticket

New conversion goal? Ticket. Remove a tag? Ticket. Fix a bug? Ticket. Then you wait two weeks for implementation.

04

Consent as a
blind spot

The cookie banner is live. But whether Consent Mode v2 is configured correctly, or whether Meta keeps tracking after rejection, nobody on the team really knows.

Digital sovereignty

I have seen
these consequences myself.

My name is Emilian Buza. I am a digital marketing consultant and lecturer for AI-supported online marketing. In 16 years of client work, I have seen the same pattern again and again: companies that run online marketing without understanding server work, GTM, and tracking quietly waste a large part of their budget on Google Ads, Meta Ads, or LinkedIn Ads. Most companies only notice they have lost control when it has already become expensive.

So I built a workshop that helps companies and agencies regain control over their digital marketing.

Book a workshop → Discuss priorities
Portrait

From 16 years of tracking audits

“In 16 years, I have audited countless tracking setups and almost always saw the same thing: bidding optimized toward numbers that were simply wrong. Not slightly off — wrong enough that every budget decision based on them became a bet.”

— Emilian Buza

The answer

The solution is
TRACE5

TRACE5 is a 5-day intensive workshop that I run either at your company or online. You learn the technical foundations online marketers need in order to judge whether marketing measures are technically sound — or silently undermined by hidden technical errors.

This is not just theory. We work on your real systems and your real data. Your team leaves with concrete skills — not with a slide deck that is forgotten three weeks later.

Book a workshop →
5
days intensive workshop at your office
4
platforms Google Ads, GA4,
Meta, LinkedIn
50%
Hands-on minimum live setup
16
years of experience practical experience
in tracking

The framework

What exactly does TRACE5 mean? And how is the workshop structured?

TRACE5 is the name of the workshop — and also the didactic framework behind it. It is designed to help online marketers acquire the technical knowledge that matters in their daily work as quickly as possible. Each letter stands for one module and one concrete skill your team owns after the workshop. Each day builds on the previous one. Every exercise can be transferred directly to your real systems.

Day 1 T Tool landscape
Day 2 R ROI-Tracking
Day 3 A Attribution
Day 4 C Consent
Day 5 E Enhanced Conv.
5 days 5 Framework
T
Day 1

The tool landscape

Topic of the day: which tool sees what — and why no single tool is enough.

GTM, GA4, Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn: no single tool sees the entire customer journey. Your team learns the role of each tool, its blind spots, and why a solid data pipeline is structured the way it is.

What we do live that day

Set up GA4 via GTM, use Preview Mode, and see the data flow in real time.

What you can do after this day
  • Check GTM containers
  • Read Preview Mode
  • Explain the data flow
R
Day 2

ROI-Tracking

Topic of the day: conversion tracking — all platforms, one setup

The direct conversion tag beats the GA4 import. Always. Your team sets up tracking for Google Ads, GA4, Meta Pixel, and the LinkedIn Insight Tag: lead forms, newsletters, and e-commerce purchases with dynamic order value and transaction ID.

What we do live that day

dataLayer variables, custom event triggers, and a complete multi-platform test in Preview Mode.

What you can do after this day
  • Build conversion tags yourself
  • Read the dataLayer
  • Deploy setups without developers
A
Day 3

Attribution

Topic of the day: data quality — the right answer for management

UTM parameters, naming conventions, attribution models: why Google Ads, Meta, and GA4 never show the same number — and why that is not a bug. Plus a 4-step debugging workflow for every tracking problem.

What we do live that day

Systematically debug a GTM container with intentionally built-in errors.

What you can do after this day
  • Establish UTM conventions across the team
  • Interpret numbers correctly
  • Find errors in minutes instead of weeks
C
Day 4

Consent

Topic of the day: compliance — what technically happens when someone declines

Consent Mode v2, default values, timing, modeled conversions: the technical truth behind the cookie banner. You learn a 4-check workflow that exposes every setup error — including a privacy audit checklist for daily use.

What we do live that day

Find and fix consent errors on the demo website. Privacy audit with the 10-point checklist.

What you can do after this day
  • Debug Consent Mode v2
  • Run GDPR audits independently
  • Assess data loss realistically
E
Day 5

Enhanced Conversions

Topic of the day: future-proofing — cookies disappear, data stays

Remarketing audiences from real events, Enhanced Conversions with hashed first-party data, cross-device matching. Outlook on Server-Side GTM: what it solves, when it is worth it, and exactly what to brief a vendor on.

Final audit

A real GTM container with 10 hidden errors — your team finds and fixes them.

What you can do after this day
  • Build remarketing audiences strategically
  • Set up Enhanced Conversions
  • Audit any GTM container yourself

What remains

And when the workshop ends?
The manual remains.

On the final workshop day, every participant receives the complete TRACE5 manual — more than 60 documented Standard Operating Procedures. Every workflow from the five days is described so precisely that someone can use it six months later, or even if they never attended the workshop.

60+ documented SOPs
5 workshop days
fully covered
7 sections per SOP
— always the same
0 EUR extra charge
— included in the price
Climber on a rope — the TRACE5 manual gives your team support when it works on its own

How every SOP is structured

  1. Short explanation — what it is, with an everyday analogy
  2. When you need it — typical triggers in daily work
  3. What you need — tools, access, preparation
  4. How to do it — numbered step-by-step instructions
  5. What you see — how to interpret the result correctly
  6. Common errors — recognize and fix them
  7. Next step — which SOP comes next

What is covered

  • Tool landscape inventory, GTM container check, GA4 setup, Preview Mode, dataLayer checks, duplicate tracking detection.
  • ROI-Tracking conversion tags for Google Ads, GA4, Meta, LinkedIn — including e-commerce with dynamic value and developer briefing for dataLayer events.
  • Attribution UTM builder, naming convention, attribution reports, the 4-step debug workflow for every tracking problem.
  • Consent Consent Mode v2, default values, timing checks, privacy audit checklist, the “new tag” three-question rule.
  • Enhanced Conversions remarketing audiences, hashed first-party data, Server-Side GTM briefing, the 10-error final audit.

How it works

Five days.
No lectures.
Hands-on from the start.

Half of every day is pure practice. All exercises run on a fully prepared demo website with a ready GTM container. You have no setup work beforehand. From module 2 onward, we can work directly in your own accounts if desired.

Where

In-house
at your office

The workshop takes place at your company, or remotely with shared screens. No travel costs, maximum practical relevance to your own setup.

Who

4 to 12
participants

The ideal group size for live exercises. Everyone works actively. No GTM development background is required; basic ads knowledge is enough.

Duration

~6 hours
per day

Including breaks and enough time for concrete questions about your setup. Flexible scheduling: five consecutive days or split into weekly blocks.

Optional

Live audit
of your container

On the final day, we audit your real GTM container together. You leave with a clear inspection report and a prioritized fix plan.

TRACE5 workshop — hands-on team training

After the five days

What your team
can do afterwards — concretely.

No abstract learning goals. These are concrete skills anchored in your team after TRACE5.

Metrics and measurement: data-driven results
Day 1–2

Build
independently

Set up conversion tracking for Google Ads, GA4, Meta, and LinkedIn — including Preview Mode, cross-checks, and clean publishing. Without an IT ticket.

Day 3

Debug
systematically

Audit an existing GTM container and systematically fix the twelve most common error types. No more blind trial and error.

Day 3

Explain
the numbers

Know why Google Ads shows 85, Meta 72, and GA4 38 conversions — and confidently explain to management which number is the right one.

Day 4

Verify &
secure consent

Configure, verify, and debug Consent Mode v2. Understand the legal and data consequences of a wrong setup.

Day 5

Brief
vendors

Give developers or agencies precise technical briefings — whether for dataLayer events, Server-Side GTM, or the Meta Conversions API.

Day 5

Audit any
container

Use the 12-point checklist to check any GTM container for errors and privacy issues in minutes — yours or your agency’s.

Frequently asked questions

Sounds good —
but…

Who is the workshop for?

For online marketing managers, performance marketing teams, and anyone running ads who wants to understand what happens on the website afterwards. Basic knowledge of Google Ads or Meta Ads is helpful. Programming skills are not required — the workshop is made for marketers, not developers.

What do we need to prepare beforehand?

Almost nothing. All exercises run on a fully prepared demo website. You only need laptops with Chrome and access to your own Google Ads and GA4 accounts. If we audit your container on the final day, we need access for that.

Do the 5 days have to be consecutive?

No. We can run the workshop over five consecutive days or split it into weekly blocks, for example one day per week. Because each module builds on the previous one, the weekly format is often even more effective: the team has time between sessions to apply what it learned.

What changes afterwards — and what stays the same?

Different: your team understands the pipeline, diagnoses errors itself, and builds new tracking setups without IT tickets.

Stays the same: highly complex backend setups may still require a specialist. But after TRACE5, you can brief that specialist precisely and assess the quality of their work.

Our tracking setup is extremely complex — is that a problem?

The opposite. The more complex your existing setup is, the more your team benefits from finally understanding it. In the discovery call, we clarify your current state and adapt the exercises to your reality. No abstract theory.

Can I request TRACE5 together with FreeStack?

Yes. That is the most direct route to full digital sovereignty. If you request both, you get a holistic overview in the first conversation and can then decide calmly where to start.

The first step

Ready for a team that understands its tracking?

Tell me about your current setup, your challenges, and your goals. I will get back to you within 24 hours with an initial concept for your workshop — free and without obligation.

What your team takes away
  • Complete conversion tracking for 4 platforms
  • 12-point audit checklist for every container
  • UTM naming convention template
  • Debug workflow reference
  • Consent audit checklist (10 points)
  • Complete workshop documentation
Duration
5 days
Participants
4–12
Format
In-house / remote
Language
English / German
Next step: entering a new world of tracking
Book a call

Choose a suitable time for a non-binding 30-minute call.

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