When talking about paid ads, it’s no secret
Google is the top dog. There’s no denying it. The search engine giant handles a majority market in paid advertising.
However, there’s a lot of competition for each keyphrase on Google, raising the cost-per-click (CPC) rate, sending budgets upward. Many of our clients are smaller businesses, which means they have a much tighter budget than most. Any way we can help them maximize ad viewership while minimizing cost is a huge plus.
Enter into the mix Microsoft Advertising, formerly known as Bing Ads (though the search engine is still named Bing). Why should you care about alternative platforms like this when Google is better? Here’s the thing: Though not the first place people go, Bing is also a viable paid traffic platform, and an additional tool we use for some of our smaller-business clients. The quarterly market share it handles is massive, with 5.5 billion searches and 137 million unique users in the U.S. alone.
Microsoft Advertising also lacks competition. Let’s be honest. People look at Google as the dominant search engine, head and shoulders above the rest. While I’m not suggesting you stop using Google Ads, leveraging a smaller, complementary platform can allow you to be more recognizable to more people for a cheaper rate, especially if you have a limited marketing budget.
However, just like with any ad campaign, the most important path to success is doing it correctly. Here is how you can utilize Microsoft Advertising more effectively, based on our agency’s own experience.
Use data to make better campaign decisions.
One of the advantages of Microsoft Advertising, in my opinion, is its full transparency. From industry, device, location and even scheduling ads, you’re able to see all the data you need. You should use this data to:
• Plan for better strategies
• Choose a more productive schedule
• Pick trends that work for you
Visualization is crucial for small businesses. You want to get as much insight into the people you’re targeting as you can so you can cater to what they like, and more importantly, stay away from what they don’t like.
As an example, let’s say you sell accessories for boats. The data that you’ve gathered can show you if you are selling to more recreational boating enthusiasts, or to professional fishermen. With this knowledge, you can now formulate your next campaign targeted toward that particular group, and how they like to search.
Target your audience more accurately.
One of the key reasons why an advertising campaign will suffer in the return on investment (ROI) department is because of a lack of interest from the people you are advertising to. To solve this, it’s important to target a specific audience, meaning people more likely to purchase your product.
In the Microsoft Advertising platform, I’d recommend utilizing the Negative Keyword List feature. This gives you the control to not have your ad show up if certain keywords are used. It might not seem like a positive thing on the surface, but if used correctly, it can reduce cost tremendously. For example, if your company sells parts for machinery made of out of iron, you can exclude your ad from appearing when people are searching about comic book character Iron Man.
This kind of focused targeting means your ads will be seen by those who are most likely to buy, thus increasing your chances for a positive ROI.
Tap into industry vertical insights.
Our company uses the data we get about search terms to greatly enhance the visibility of the ads we place for our clients. When we can see what exactly potential customers are searching for, we can base an ad campaign around that particular phrase. With all the data that the average marketer has to manage, easy-to-consume marketing insights help.
One of the free insights tools we use are the presentations in Microsoft’s Slideshare account. Even without a login, anyone can access them, making it easy to find the data you need. For example, you will be able to see what customers search for when looking for products similar to what you sell.
While this is not unique to Microsoft Advertising’s Slideshare account, we’ve found it to be a really easy way to obtain the information we’re looking for. Then, you can customize your campaign to match what potential new and returning customers want. It can help you form keywords and figure out who and what to target. There are hundreds of insightful data points that you can use, and you don’t need to use their service to access it.
Insights like these are vital in creating a marketing campaign that is successful — not only now, but in the future as well.
Take advantage of LinkedIn data.
A few years back, Microsoft purchased LinkedIn. This means marketers can now utilize LinkedIn data for their ads. You can target people from a certain company or have ads target people within a specific industry. This is crucial for businesses aiming to reach a larger business to business audience.
How big is this audience? Keep in mind that LinkedIn has over 575 million users, all of which are professionals in their respective fields. Targeting is huge when it comes to advertising. You will be able to not only find people within a specific industry, but you can target decision makers within those companies.
My best advice for someone just starting out is to make sure you are targeting those that can make actual decisions in the company, rather than anyone who happens to work for that company.
Microsoft Advertising, along with other alternative platforms, can be a viable PPC ad platform to use in your campaigns. It can give you a more significant chance at a broader market share while getting lower cost per click. Google Ads is still the market leader, but keeping the tips above in mind, an alternative platform, like our experience with Microsoft Advertising, can add more to your paid marketing strategy.
