Email marketing: what it is and how to implement it

MICROSOFT ADVERTISING

 Microsoft Advertising (until 2019 Bing Ads ) are paid pay-per-click ads that can be placed on the search engines Bing and Yahoo as well as, for example, Ecosia, DuckDuckgo, or AOL. With the help of search ads, it is possible to address the desired target group directly and lead them to the company's website.

 Microsoft Advertising (Bing Ads) represents an alternative or supplement to search engine advertising with Google Ads by allowing advertising and customers to be generated through other search services.

DEFINITION MICROSOFT ADVERTISING

Like Google, Microsoft allows its customers to advertise in search engines through ads. The ads are paid for according to pay-per-click (PPC): Each click by a user on the placed ad costs money. Compared to the competitor Google Ads (until 2018 Google AdWords), the prices for advertising at Microsoft are often lower. Because the search engines Bing and Yahoo are used by fewer users than the market leader Google and have a smaller reach.

Search engine ads help companies with targeted marketing and direct users directly to the website of a service provider or shop.

STORY OF MICROSOFT ADVERTISING

Microsoft's advertising network began displaying advertisements on its own search engines in 2006 using PPC ads. Thus, the Microsoft model was created a year later than that of Google Advertising, which was founded in 2005. After the merger with MSN and Yahoo with the placement of advertisements on Bing, Yahoo, and MSN, the cooperation with Yahoo ran out again at the end of 2006. 

Microsoft took care of the advertising alone until 2010 when Microsoft and Yahoo worked together again came. From then on, Microsoft Ads Management was known as Bing Ads before the name was changed to Microsoft Advertising in 2019. Alternatively, the service is still known under the names Microsoft Ads or Bing Ads.

Today, advertising is not only placed on Bing and Yahoo, but also on various partner websites. These include, for example, Ecosia, DuckDuckgo, or AOL.

FORMS OF SEARCH ENGINE ADVERTISING

Microsoft Advertising offers three ways to display search ads on Bing, Yahoo, and MSN: search ads, content ads, and shopping ads.

• Search ads (text ads ) are based on what users are searching for and are displayed in the search engine when specific keywords are searched for.

MICROSOFT ADVERTISING

• Content ads (also called banner ads ) appear when a user opens webpage content after a search query. This form of ad is optimized for the user's content and is displayed on Bing's partner websites, such as Yahoo and MSN.

MICROSOFT ADVERTISING

• Shopping ads appear as images next to search results, showing an image of the product and the price.

MICROSOFT ADVERTISING

TARGETING

Microsoft Advertising has targeting options that can be used to target a specific audience. The following targeting options are available:

• book on keywords

• geographical (search + display)

• demographic (display)

• device-dependent (search + display)

• Period of use (Search + Display)

After personalizing the targeting, the ads are automatically shown at certain times of the day, to specific groups of people, and on the preferred devices (e.g. computer or mobile phone) to effectively target the desired audience.

DESKTOP TOOLS

Microsoft Advertising offers two desktop tools for creating content and optimizing keyword lists. These are structured similarly to the Windows interface so that users can easily find their way around. The tools provide an overview of the campaigns to optimize them for SEA :

• The editor can be used to create, improve and manage search engine ads. No internet connection is required to edit the campaigns and keywords. (Offline) work can then be uploaded.

• Microsoft Advertising Intelligence offers users the ability to manage keyword lists of up to 200,000 keywords. This is used to plan future campaigns.

In addition to the desktop tools, Microsoft Advertising provides an app with which campaigns can be adapted and monitored on the go.

COSTS MICROSOFT ADVERTISING

Ads served by Microsoft Advertising are charged at PPC. How high the click prices depend on various factors:

• ctr

• Quality Score

• bids

• number of bidders

Bing Ads advertising space is auctioned off in live auctions due to the limited display area of ​​ads. Depending on the amount of the keyword bid by the company, the ad rank of an advertisement is better or worse.

In addition, the company can set a fixed budget, which allows it to limit and control the expenditure on ads.

CERTIFICATION

Microsoft Advertising offers a certificate for certification as a Certified Professional. If the exam is passed, the company is included in the Microsoft Advertising member list and can use the Certified Professional logo.

BENEFITS OF MICROSOFT ADVERTISING

Because fewer companies are using the Microsoft Advertising service, there is less competition for good ad placements in search engine queries. A clearly visible advertisement can be placed with fewer costs compared to Google Ads.

Bing is usually used for search queries by a target group that can be easily classified. 40% of users are between 35 and 45 years old (Instapage 2020) and over 50% are married (Microsoft 2020). With the help of Bing Ads, it is, therefore, possible for companies to address a specific target group in a targeted manner. Does this group agree with the ideas of the buyer persona of a company agree, advertisements on Bing and the associated partner websites all the more useful?

An advertisement through Microsoft Ads helps a company target the user group of Bing, Yahoo, and MSN online and to grab their attention. When Bing Ads are used to match the target group's user behavior and with the help of suitable keywords, they enable companies to generate leads and/or increase sales more effectively.

For companies with a smaller budget, Microsoft Advertising creates a good entry into the area of ​​SEA. Companies that are already using Google Ads should also consider Microsoft Advertising as a supplementary search engine advertising to cover the entire search engine traffic and market. Increasing the diversity of marketing channels is also helpful.

LIMITS OF MICROSOFT ADVERTISING

Microsoft's advertising service is available in a total of 35 countries, including the USA, Great Britain, and Germany. This puts Microsoft behind Google, which offers product ads in over 90 countries. Depending on the company and the type of product, the market covered by Microsoft may be too small.

USE IN ONLINE MARKETING

Advertisements on search engines make it possible to draw a user's attention to one's own website by entering keywords. Search engine users can become potential advertising recipients through advertisements optimized for keywords.

In 2020, approximately 15% of desktop searches were conducted through Bing and partner websites. To cover the entire search engine search market, it makes sense to run Bing Ads and Google Ads in parallel. In this way, all users can be reached through advertisements.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF MICROSOFT ADVERTISING?

An advertisement on Bing and the associated partner sites can be reached on the appropriate target group. In addition, the greatest possible diversity in the marketing channels should be the goal of every company.

HOW MUCH DO ADS COST WITH MICROSOFT ADVERTISING?

An ad is calculated based on the number of clicks on the advertisement placed. The price per click is calculated based on the click-through rate, the quality of the ad, and the number of bidders.

HOW DO I REACH MY TARGET GROUP?

With the help of targeting options, an ad can be adjusted to the search queries of the target groups. Depending on keyword use and user demographics, an ad can be tailored to effectively reach the target audience.