With Facebook floundering in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data breach debacle, and Google Adwords CPCs (Cost-per-Clicks) growing increasingly expensive, perhaps it’s time to look at alternative digital advertising platforms, like Bing.
Here at Dentons Digital we are successfully making use of Bing Ads for several of our local small business clients. The Microsoft owned and operated search engine, Bing, is rapidly growing in popularity and advertisers have realised that although Bing accounts for less than a quarter of search engine activity in the UK, that percentage represents an audience that isn’t always being reached on Google.
It’s unlikely there’ll ever come a day when the term “Bing It” will replace “Google It” in everyday parlance regarding search engines. There is, however, definitely a case to be made for using Bing Ads alongside Google Adwords for digital advertising campaigns, and in some cases carefully targeted Bing PPC (Pay-Per-Click) campaigns are all it takes to get relevant customers down the conversion funnel. Independently Google Ads will bring you good results, but run alongside Bing Ads, at a lower cost-per-click, you’ll be covering all the bases and get great results.
GOOGLE IS KING BUT THERE’S ROOM FOR BING
Undeniably Google dominates with the greatest reach, but there are some aspects of Bing that our PPC experts are convinced make it worth using, if only to reach that small percentage of your audience that are not on Google. This can be accomplished relatively easily, because on Bing you can directly import an Adword campaign.
Why are some internet users not using Google? Because they are probably using Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge as their default browsers and have not opted to change the default; thus they are searching with built-in Bing. Statistically these users are more likely to be searching on desktops at work, so they are a specific type of audience ripe for the picking!
Bing is definitely a great deal cheaper (up to 70% cheaper according to one source) than Adwords when it comes to cost-per-click. How come? Because there are fewer ads on Bing, and therefore less competition. Of course this may well change as more advertisers discover the benefits of Bing Ads and jump on board. You might well have a great cost advantage in your particular niche if you are the only brand, or one of few, advertising on Bing.
BING’S ADVANTAGES
An interesting fact that we have noted from our own experience with Bing Ad campaigns – and one that is corroborated by research – is that the Bing audience tends to be older and well-educated. Nearly 75% of Bing’s audience is aged over 35, and falls into the upper income bracket. This means the platform is particularly useful for advertisers of financial, automotive, travel or high-end retail products.
In some respects Bing has advantages over Google when it comes to tailoring ads to a particular audience, for example particular demographics, time-zones, languages and devices, including the ability to modify bid settings for tablets as opposed to mobile phones. With Bing you can set preferences for gender and choose age ranges for your ads.
It’s also useful that Bing’s analytic reports give better identification of where traffic originates from, enabling the campaign manager to improve digital ad strategy and SEO.
THE FATE OF FACEBOOK
Finally, a word about Facebook. The company’s shares may have dropped because of the recent data privacy uproar, but with 2.2-billion monthly users the social media platform remains a most desirable advertising platform.
Facebook won’t be killed off in a hurry, but its demographic and algorithms are constantly shifting and “damage control” after data breaches is likely to mean even more changes. The scrutiny that Facebook is now under may well ultimately begin to affect its ability to gather the data used for crucial ad targeting, which is a critical part of ad efficiency on the platform. This means if you advertise on Facebook you need to be on your toes and keep up with the latest developments to get the best return on your investment.
Dentons Digital PPC experts know just how to get the most out of your money on any PPC or social media ad campaign, and which platforms to utilise for top targeted results. We recommend giving Bing a try – there’s not much to lose and potentially plenty to gain.
