When digital marketers think of PPC advertising, it’s Google Ads that tends to come to mind. But what are marketers leaving on the table when they overlook other potentially valuable channels, such as Bing Ads? In EDGE of the Web Episode 299, EDGE hosts Erin Sparks (Site Strategics CEO) and Tom Brodbeck (Site Strategics Digital Media Director) speak with Product Learning Strategist John A. Lee of Bing Ads to find out what’s in store for Bing Ads in 2019 and why marketers should be using it.
John A. Lee: His Background and Experience
As a Product Learning Strategist for the Bing Ads advertising platform, John is on the team that helps build training materials and helps with the improvement of Bing Ads. As a digital advertising professional, his experience includes Pay Per Click search advertising, display advertising, social advertising, SCO and analytics. He’s been in the industry since 2006, working with Hanapin Marketing, WordStream and as co-owner of Clicks Marketing at Microsoft. John is actually a learning strategist creating training experiences for Bing Ad customers. At Bing Ads, John is the one responsible for making sure all the account managers and salespeople are up-to-speed on everything Bing Ads offers.
Exciting Developments at Bing Ads
It’s hard to believe how much Bing Ads has developed in the past decade. It’s now definitely a mature platform and offering for search engine marketing, and it’s a bigger business than many people realize. A surprising amount of Internet traffic flows through Bing. In terms of advertising, Bing has rolled out some great features for targeting search ads:
- Remarketing: Back in 2015 Bing Ads rolled out its remarketing feature, what people familiar with Google would refer to as RLSA. Bing’s twist on this feature that allows ads to be served up specifically to people who have visited your website extends the feature beyond search to include product ads in shopping campaigns.
- In-Market Audience Targeting: When Bing Ads pilot-tested this feature that targets people who can be identified as actively being in the market for a particular product or service, the results were impressive – 28% higher click-through rates and 48% higher conversion rates. Even more impressive, Bing beat Google by rolling out the feature in May 2018, with Google following in late June.
- LinkedIn Profile Targeting: This is the most recent development that everyone is talking about. It’s a no-brainer because if you can identify that your best customers tend to work in particular industries, then there’s going to be real value in targeting the right LinkedIn profiles. This is still in beta testing mode, but it’s going to be rolled out soon. And of course, this is made possible by the fact that Microsoft purchased LinkedIn 2016.
- Dynamic Search Ads (DSA): Bing’s DSA offering came out in 2017 and continues to be improved, such as the recent addition of page feeds to streamline and simplify DSA campaign management. There is also a tie-in to native inventory through the Microsoft Audience Network so there can be a connection between search queries and dynamically serving up related native content. The important thing to keep in mind is that the native inventory is going to be premium content. Even better is that soon there will be a feature for audience campaigns. Similar to how it works in Google Ads, you’ll be able to create a native-only campaign within Bing that targets the Microsoft Audience Network, and that is going to be huge advantage of using Bing Ads because it’s exclusive to Microsoft.
- Automated Bidding Options: Lots of choices here, including max CPC, max CPA, target CPA, or just max clicks which is a great option for those with a limited budget.
The important thing to see here is that Bing Ads is doing a lot of new and effective things, and in some cases we’re getting out ahead of Google, and that’s no laughing matter (for Google, that is).
But Why Use Bing Ads When Everyone Uses Google Ads?
If you’re devoting all of your search ad budget exclusively to Google Ads, then you’re only getting 70% of the pie. Would you go to the store and buy only 70% of a pie? Of course not! You want the whole pie, so take an appropriate portion of your search ad budget and spend it at Bing Ads. When you do that and then drill down into the nitty gritty details of click-through rate and cost per click and conversion rate comparisons, you will undoubtedly be very pleasantly surprised at how well Bing Ads works for you.
If you want to find out more from John Lee about the benefits of including Bing Ads in your digital marketing strategy, listen to the full interview at EDGE of the Web Episode 299.
Connect with John A. Lee and Bing Ads
John Lee on Facebook: @johnleeclix
John Lee on Twitter: @John_A_Lee
Bing Ads website: https://bingads.microsoft.com
Bing Ads Academy: https://academy.bingads.microsoft.com
Bing Ads Facebook: @BingAds
Bing Ads Twitter: @BingAds
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