What are Bing Ads?

The Ultimate Guide to Setting up Bing Search Ads!

Marketing is all about placing your product in front of your customers at the right time and place.

And therefore it is always a good idea to be digitally omnipresent and connect with customers wherever they go!

As Facebook and Google dominate the world of digital paid ads advertising, most marketers overlook credible platforms like LinkedIn Ads, Amazon Advertising, and even Bing Ads.

Ever since the emergence of Google Chrome, a larger section of the world doesn’t even give it a glance.

But with over 13.7 billion monthly PC searches and 12.8% global market share – Bing Search Engine by Microsoft is a credible platform for Paid Advertising in the digital arena.

What’s more thrilling is that Bing claims a 36.9% Market Share in the US!

It is worth noting that Bing is not a marketing channel to be ignored!

But are Bing Ads as successful as Google and Facebook Ads?

Will marketers get as many conversions and sales on Bing Ads as they do on Google Search Ads?

Let’s find out!

Bing Ads – What are they?

Much like Google Search Ads, Bing Ads, now called Microsoft Advertising, are the search Ads hosted and run by Microsoft’s Advertising Pay-Per-Click Platform.

Bing Ads capture the users of Bing.com Search Engine through Text, Display, Shopping, and Video Ads.

While Google Search Engine dominates the online search world, with the volume searches that Bing receives daily, it is still a notable search engine garnering strong traction for marketers.

Bing is one of the cheaper and less competitive marketing platforms for a PPC Campaign that has great traction due to the daily search volume.

According to Microsoft, about 54% of its audiences use Bing for online product research. (Surprising right!)

After all, the World doesn’t end at Google.com!

Why should you choose Bing Ads?

Advertising on search engines can be tricky, especially when you don’t just have to choose between the marketing channels, type of ads, etc but also the search engine you are targeting. People don’t usually consider anything other than Google for their Paid Advertising, Analytics, etc.

However, using another platform means that you have a whole new world to conquer.

The fact remains that even though Google holds the lion’s share of Internet Search Activity, billions of users still use different search engines. And that’s where Bing Ads come in!
Bing Ads are displayed on not just one but across 3 search engines i.e. Bing, Yahoo, and AOL Search Engines.

With more than 12.8% Market Share, Bing gets more than 638 million unique PC users.
So if you are a marketer and you’re not considering Bing Ads, you are missing out on running cost effective ads that have the potential to bring you more customers.

Not convinced yet? Here are some of the potential benefits Bing Network can bring to you.

• About 74% of the Bing Network users are below the age of 45
• 25% of the Bing Network Audience rule the top 25% income group
• 43% of the users look for Brand Discovery on Bing Network
• Bing Ads are displayed across three search engines!
• More Lead Conversions in half the budget i.e. low Cost-Per-Click and higher Click-through-Rate

Additionally, there isn’t any major difference between the way Google Adwords and Microsoft Advertising works. Therefore one doesn’t really have to reinvent their marketing wheel for Bing marketing.

How do Bing Ads work?

In April 2019, Bing Ads was given a whole new avatar and renamed as Microsoft Advertising. Furthermore, the module was recreated to follow the footsteps of Google (Adwords).

Smart Campaigns were created along with a simple user interface to make the portal more diverse and easy to use.

Keyword Targeting is one of the key aspects that make your Bing Ads work. For this, Microsoft Advertising has rolled out a whole new tool called the ‘Keyword Planner’.

On Keyword Planner, one simply has to enter the keyword for their commercial intent and let the tool do its work. The tool presents you with Ad Groups that revolve around your Keyword along with their quality score, CTR, CPC, etc.

One can select the keywords and bid on them to get the right campaign in place.

P.S. Even this method requires constant restructuring of budgets and targeting to get the right conversions.

Choose the type of Bing Ads that work for your Marketing Plan!

Much like Google Adwords, Microsoft Advertising has different Ad types targeting the specifics of conversions. These include:

• Text Ads – Your regular Text Ads that display a headline, one-line description, and the link for conversion.
• Dynamic Search Ads – These are expanded Text Ads that are automatically targeted at relevant search queries based on the content of the website.
• Product Ads – Ever set up Google Shopping Ads? Bing’s Product Ads are similar but by Microsoft Advertising.
• Microsoft Audience Ads – These are Dynamic Search Ads that are optimized for search advertisers and appear on the Microsoft Audience Network i.e. on premium sites like Outlook.com, Microsoft Edge, MSN, etc.
• Microsoft Advertising on Bing Smart Search – Similar to the Ad Structure shown on the BingAOL and Yahoo Search network sites, the Microsoft Advertising on Bing Smart Search comes with a modern touch experience and is displayed in Windows 8.1 Smart Search results.
• App Install Ads – Text Ads created to drive the audience directly to the relevant App Store for Application download i.e. Google Play, Apple App Store, etc.
• Responsive Search Ads – These Responsive Ads enable marketers to eliminate guesswork involved in creating an ad that works for them. You can provide 15 headlines, and 4 descriptions which the portal will use to automatically design the best ad that generates the best leads.

You can select and design Bing Ads based on your product, target audience, and budgetary planning.

What do the numbers say?

Millions of people are relying on Bing Search Network for all their internet search needs. And millions more are starting to use it!

According to Statista, over the past 5 years, Microsoft has been slowly growing its revenue graph in the search advertising section. In FY2020, Microsoft generated over $7.74 billion in revenue from search advertising.

Moreover, if the revenue of the past few years is to be measured as per industrial Valuations, Bloomberg says that Microsoft’s Search Advertising generates nearly three times the annual advertising revenue of Twitter!

The Vertical Market Segments of Microsoft Advertising show that over 96% of the traffic on Bing Search Network is for Online Shopping out of which over 75% of the audience is under the age of 45.

Over 33% of the search audience is Executives and Professionals and 84% Decision Makers, thereby making Bing Search Network a good choice even for B2B brands/businesses.

How to set up Bing Ads?

After Microsoft Advertising revamped its portal, setting up Bing Ads has become easier than ever.

If you have worked with Google Adwords already, you don’t need to learn anything new to set up a campaign on Microsoft Advertising!

• Create an Account

Create a Microsoft login, Go to the Bing Ads Dashboard and click ‘Create Your 1st Campaign’.

You will be given an option to import your Google Adwords Campaign – this really streamlines the process if you have been using Google Adwords. You can enter the Google Account Name and Password to import your Google Adwords Campaign i.e. Bids and Budgets, Landing Page URLs, Ad Extensions, tracking templates, target audience, etc to speed up the process.

If you are a newbie, creating the campaign from the scratch is just as easy!

• Keyword Planner

This tool allows you to research the keywords that meet your product, business, and budget needs. You can either look up your target keywords and choose from a stream of top-performing keywords on the keyword planner or enter your website URL and let the keyword planner optimize the right keywords for you. Although, the URL option isn’t as accurate as the keyword planner.

• Give your campaign a name

You will have to enter details like Campaign name, budget, geo-targeting, etc to ensure that your ads are aligned with your marketing plan. You can enter your Keyword Template, Target Audience etc and Campaign Design here to design the whole ad.

• Keyword Bidding

Enter the selected keywords (Now that you have used Keyword Planner!) to understand the cost and expected performance of your campaign. Select the bid and match type that works for your product. You can Save and Add Payment to continue with the payment process and make the ad LIVE

Managing campaigns over time is crucial to optimize your Bing Ads performance and attain the best CTR and CPCs for your Ad Campaigns.

Let us begin marketing!

Have you tried Google Search Ads already?

Do your Facebook Ads give you good conversions?

You might have tried a lot of marketing channels, but have you tried Bing Ads yet? Well, it’s time to!

Take it from us, Bing deserves your attention!

If you are into Product Advertising and looking to drive online shopping customers to your website or if you are a B2B business looking for leads – Bing Ads is for you!

All Stars Digital is a Digital Marketing and Brand Scaling agency with top-notch marketing ideas and revolutionary skills to drive your business to the forefront of the digital arena. With quirky marketing campaigns and cutting-edge Marketing Plans, we aim to create a strong digital presence for you! It’s time to explore the many facets of Digital Marketing with Bing Ads and start progressing! Let’s begin!

References:

https://ads.microsoft.com/

https://neilpatel.com/blog/how-to-setup-a-bing-ads-campaign-the-right-way/

https://neilpatel.com/blog/bing-ppc/

https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2015/02/25/bings-ads-vs-google-adwords

https://adespresso.com/blog/bing-ads-tutorial-for-businesses/

https://www.disruptiveadvertising.com/bing-ads/bing-ads-intro/

https://blog.hootsuite.com/bing-ads/