Marketing Ideas Worth Sharing — Why You Should Advertise on Bing
Introduction
I know that some people think that Bing is only good for is bringing up Google. However, there’s a reason why Microsoft continues to support Bing and that is because Bing is secretly a success. Bing controls roughly 36% of the U.S. desktop search market and that far reach can be put to good use by a savvy marketer. In fact, for certain segments, Bing is even better than Google for advertisements. So, let me show you what Bing has to offer for marketers and why you should consider using it for advertisements.
You might not know it yet but you probably are already using Bing
A common misconception people have about search is that you can only use one search engine in your life. This is wrong! The fact of the matter is that roughly 62 million people use both Google and Bing for web searches.
If you use these products and services from Microsoft, chances are you are using Bing:
- The Windows 10 search bar.
- The Edge and Internet Explorer browsers in their default settings.
- Microsoft Office apps such as Word.
- Xbox consoles.
- Amazon Alexa devices.
I was surprised by the above list too because when I thought about it in closer detail I realized that I used Bing quite a lot in my daily life. When I do a search with Windows 10’s search bar, guess what? It’s Bing powered! When I use the researcher tool in a Word document, guess what? It’s Bing powered! So, when I thought I was too much of a Google snob to use Bing I was wrong. In reality I use Bing regularly in my life.
And I am not alone. Unknown to users all 100 million plus Amazon Alexa devices are Bing powered and most people think Alexa is smart. Believe it or not, Bing plays a major role in making Alexa work.
As a result, the estimated 62 million people who use both Google and Bing should not be overlooked especially when you factor in people who only use Bing. These only Bing search engine users are roughly 66 million strong.
This means that a total of 128 million people are on Bing which is a massive audience for marketers! A number like that gets my attention . Now I want explore the missed marketing opportunity marketers are wasting by not advertising on Bing.
Be a Big Fish in a Small Pond
Google Ads has about 4 million advertisers on its platform. Whereas, Bing has about 500,000 advertisers on its platform. This smaller advertiser size on Bing has implications for marketers that makes Bing potentially better than Google Ads.
Like Google Bing uses an auction system where advertisers bid against each other to get a certain ad spot. The smaller amount of advertisers on Bing means that there is less competition. This results in cheaper cost per clicks on Bing than on Google. On average Bing is roughly 33.5% cheaper than a comparable Google Ad in terms of costs per click. In certain circumstances like the case study in the below chart, Bing advertisers can save even more. Lastly, advertisers will mostly likely get better positions for their ads on Bing than on Google.
Bing Ads has more to offer than merely being a cheaper alternative to Google Ads. Mark Irvine from WordStream has found that “Bing had almost a 50% higher ad click through rate (CTR) than Google.” Also, Bing’s average cost to acquire a customer, or cost per action (CPA), is about 30% lower on Bing than on Google.
I think that you get the picture that a marketer can make a big splash on Bing that delivers both lower costs and better value with superior digital marketing metrics. This means better return on investments for marketing campaigns!
Clearly Bing’s smaller advertiser network gives it distinct advantages over Google for marketers willing to advertise on it. But before you start advertising on Bing, you first need to understand what target segments can best be reached on Bing.
The Bing Audience
If you remember from earlier, I mentioned that the Edge and Internet Explorer browsers when used in their default settings are a way for people conduct search on Bing. So, it then is logical to ask, what major market segment uses Edge and Internet Explorer?
The quick answer is people on their work computers! When someone is at work, they will simply use whatever default browser and default search engine the computer has on it. This is because people do not want to spend the time personalizing a computer that is not theirs.
As a result, an estimated 44% of all business and finance related paid searches occur on Bing Ads. Also, Bing Ads serves an estimated 47% of paid searches in the healthcare industry. Similarly, for the telecommunication industry, Bing Ads delivers an estimated 40% of paid searches. Other industries that are well represented on Bing can be seen in the below chart.
This leads to the main point that business professionals are Bing’s primary user segment. So, I would recommend that business marketers use Bing to promote their advertisements. Moreover, a business professional segment also makes your job easier for ad time publishing because you know that they will only be on their computers during working hours.
And with that, I think that you are Bing marketing ready!
Please see the further readings below as they provided inspiration for this post.
Further Readings
Who Uses Bing, Anyway? 10 Surprising Ways You Probably Do by Mark Irvine
7 Ways Bing Ads Beat Google AdWords by Mark Irvine.
10 Reasons To Encourage You Using Bing Ads In Addition To AdWords by Vasu P.
