As the second most popular search engine in the United States, Microsoft Advertising provides an excellent opportunity for businesses to reach a diverse audience and increase their revenue. With over 133 million unique desktop searches and 5.4 billion monthly searches worldwide, Microsoft Ads provides a massive audience base for businesses to reach out to.
When comparing Microsoft and Google Ads, business growth expert Charlotte Davies said, "If your audience matches Bing’s user demographics, then this could be a better advertising option for you. Choosing Bing over Google can also work out cheaper because, even though there are fewer users, there are also fewer advertisers. This means less competition."
However, it takes more than just setting up an account and creating ads to see success. Here are some best practices to help you drive more conversions and maximize your return on investment (ROI) with Microsoft Advertising.
Optimize Your Campaigns for Targeted Keywords
The success of your Microsoft Advertising campaigns depends heavily on the keywords you target. It’s crucial to choose the right keywords that are relevant to your products or services, have high search volume, and low competition. Start by conducting thorough keyword research and analyzing your target audience's search terms. Microsoft provides a keyword research tool that you can use to identify relevant keywords for your campaigns. Once you’ve identified your target keywords, create ad groups and optimize your ads around those keywords.
Use Ad Extensions to Improve Your Ad Rank
Ad extensions are additional pieces of information that you can add to your ads, such as your business location, phone number, or links to specific pages on your website. Ad extensions can help increase your ad’s visibility and improve your ad rank, leading to higher click-through rates (CTR) and conversion rates. Microsoft Ads provides several ad extensions, including sitelink extensions, call extensions, location extensions, and callout extensions. Choose the ones that are relevant to your business and add them to your ads.
Create Compelling Ad Copy
Your ad copy is the first impression potential customers have of your business. It’s essential to create compelling and engaging ad copy that clearly communicates the value of your products or services. Use language that resonates with your target audience and highlights your unique selling proposition (USP).
Remember what Leo Burnett said about great ad copy…as it is as true today as it was 50 years ago during his heyday: "Advertising should say, 'Here’s what we’ve got. Here's what it will do for you. Here’s how to get it.'"
Monitor and Optimize Your Campaigns
The key to success with Microsoft Advertising is continually monitoring and optimizing your campaigns. Track your campaigns’ performance regularly, and make adjustments based on the data. Analyze your ad copy, keywords, targeting, and ad extensions to identify areas for improvement. Use Microsoft Ads’ reporting tools to gain insights into your campaigns’ performance and make data-driven decisions.
Use Audience Targeting to Reach the Right People
Nicole Farley from Search Engine Land recently said this about audience targeting with Microsoft: "The Microsoft Ads Audience Network is beneficial for brands as it allows them to reach users on a variety of platforms, such as mobile apps and websites. This can be especially helpful for brands looking to target a wide range of audiences – especially B2B."
So try it out in 2023 as Microsoft Ads provides several audience targeting options to help you reach the right people. You can target your ads based on demographics, such as age, gender, and location, or based on their search history and interests. Audience targeting can help you reach a more relevant audience and increase your ad’s effectiveness. Use audience targeting in combination with keyword targeting to create highly targeted campaigns. Microsoft is also continually updating the audience options this year with a suite of new features that were just introduced in January.
Take Advantage of Microsoft Ads’ Automated Bidding and Budgeting Tools
Microsoft Ads provides several automated bidding and budgeting tools that can help you save time and maximize your ROI. Use Microsoft Ads’ automated bidding to adjust your bids based on the likelihood of conversion, maximizing your chances of winning auctions. Use automated budgeting to set a daily budget and let Microsoft Ads manage your spending for you. These tools can help you optimize your campaigns without spending hours manually adjusting bids and budgets.
Test and Experiment with Different Ad Formats
Microsoft Advertising provides several ad formats, including text, image, and video ads. Test and experiment with different ad formats to identify which ones work best for your business. Different ad formats may work better for different products or services, so finding what works best for your business is essential.
Start Running Microsoft Advertising Today
Microsoft's advertisement system has been subject to a considerable overhaul lately, with the axing of Microsoft Rewards and the implementation of a new business model. In order to make sure you're using Microsoft Advertising to its fullest potential, take the time to study its features and benefits. Knowing how everything works before you begin setting up campaigns can save a lot of frustration and give you the opportunity to use it effectively.
After you have got a good grasp of the fundamentals, you can begin establishing your campaigns. To save time and automate as much of the setup process as possible, speak with a MarinOne consultant today on how we centralize advertising data across platforms and make optimizations easy for paid search marketers.
