In the world of digital marketing, you might feel like things can be pretty set in their ways. While innovations do happen, there are certain avenues of advertising that work, and as a small business it is easy to stick to those. Yet sometimes branching out from the status quo and trying something new might be a good thing – and that includes your PPC ads.
If you run a small business, you have heard of Google Ads, and perhaps even use it. Google dominates this space and it makes sense, because you can see some excellent results from the most widely used search engine around.
However, you may have also looked into Bing Ads (also known as Microsoft Advertising) and wondered if it is worth investing time and money in. Here we take a look at why it just might be an excellent decision.
Financial considerations
Time is your most valuable asset as a small business, but you also have to think about your financial situation. Bing Ads is still cheaper than running Google Ads – while this might not be the only or even main consideration you make, it definitely is something to think about. This means that even if you are a much smaller business with a limited marketing budget, you may still be able to access and benefit from PPC.
Bing is thriving
While you don’t hear many people say they’re going to “Bing it” when they search for something, Bing is a popular search engine the world over – which means that by not opting for Bing Ads, you are missing out on a lot of potential leads. As the second most used search engine, Bing garners over a billion visits per month, which is a huge amount of people who probably aren’t seeing your presence if you run solely on Google Ads.
Increase worldwide appeal
If your business is looking to attract visitors and customers from across the world, then Bing Ads could be a good way to do it. Bing is available in 238 countries, and has varying levels of usership within each of these geographic locations.
For example, in 2019 nearly 36% of searches in the USA took place on Bing, while it held 23% of the searches in the UK, with the same percentage occurring in Germany. These numbers show that some users prefer Bing, and that this trend has the potential to spread with Bing’s integration with Microsoft products.
Reduce the competition
Because Google Ads makes up the dominant share of businesses, there is simply less competition with Bing Ads. This gives you the chance to stand out from the crowd, which can be essential to getting your name out there as a small business. Combined with the lower cost, this can be an appealing combination.
Attract a different audience
When you ask who is using Bing, there is an answer for that – and it might surprise you. While Google remains dominant, Bing has a smaller and yet very specific pool of common users. They are thought to be older and more high income than the average Google user, which makes Bing a valuable market.
As well as having increased affluence, Bing users are statistically likely to be highly educated (with a degree), and to have children at home. You are also looking at an almost 50/50 split between men and women using Bing. In a smaller pool such as Bing, you can still expect to appeal to a surprisingly wide audience.
If you have a product or service that you want to be seen by a more affluent demographic, then it is possible that adding Bing Ads to your marketing strategy could be an excellent way to reach your intended audience.
Exact keyword matching
Have you used Google to search for something and then mistyped your query? Google usually recognises what you are trying to say and suggests either the correct request – or something completely different. This is because Google does not use exact keyword matching, but rather allows for variations in queries, such as different spellings or complete mistypings. Of course, this seems like a good thing, but some have reported that it negatively impacts the quality of the results. Bing, on the other hand, offers exact keyword matching, which provides high quality results.
Will you be trying out Bing Ads and seeing if you can benefit from this platform? For small, newer businesses looking to make a financially-conscious choice or those who want to diversify their advertising strategy, this could be a great choice.
If you want some support with your PPC marketing strategy, then get in touch with DPOM. We have helped nearly 1000 small and medium businesses grow for nearly a decade, and we would love to help you reach your goals – and exceed them.
