Microsoft Ads Platform (Formerly Bing Ads) Overview
Microsoft Advertising Offers Great Value
When it comes to digital marketing, taking advantage of paid advertising on search engines is one of the best ways to get quick results. Google dominates the search engine market share in the United States. As a result, many advertisers don’t bother with Microsoft Bing and its search engine market share – which hovers just under 10%.
We recommend that clients first begin advertising with Google Ads. We actually offer Google Ads Management to our clients so they can focus on their business instead of worrying about marketing efforts. Once their campaigns are achieving an acceptable ROI, we recommend copying those campaigns over and running search ads on the Microsoft Advertising platform. And of course we also offer Bing Ads Management for our clients.
A Quick Overview of PPC Advertising
PPC advertising is used on many different advertising platforms. It is employed on search engines as well as on many other digital marketing and advertising platforms. Google Search Ads, Microsoft Search Ads, LinkedIn Ads, and Facebook Ads all have PPC options (in addition to other ad units.
PPC stands for “pay for click”. While someone who is online may see your ad, as the advertiser, you won’t get charged anything unless someone clicks on your ad.
With search engine advertising on the Microsoft Search Network, your ad may appear when someone searches for services that you offer. You won’t get charged until they click on your ad. When they click on your ad, you are charged by the Microsoft Advertising platform, and the prospect is taken to your website where your site does the heavy lifting of converting your prospect into a paying client.
Microsoft Often Has the Best ROI
When compared to Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising frequently has a much better return on investment for your paid media budget than Google Ads.
- Lower Cost – Many advertisers focus solely on Google. As a result, there is less competition with Microsoft Advertising, and the cost for clicks is generally significantly lower than Google Ads.
- Desirable Demographics – Studies show that the audience using the Bing search engine is a bit older, more educated, and more wealthy than Google users. If your target market is someone a little bit older with wealth, this makes the Microsoft advertising platform appealing a worthy candidate for your marketing dollars.
How the Microsoft Ad Platform Works
Much like Google, with Microsoft Ads, prospects see your advertisement at the exact moment they’re searching for your offerings using the Bing search engine.
In this search for “roofers near me” on Microsoft’s Bing search engine, the searcher will only see ads unless they scroll down. Google provides a very similar experience.
You’ll bid on keywords related to the services that you offer. When prospects go on Bing and enter search terms closely related to your keywords, an ad for your business appears.
Should the searcher click on the ad, they’re taken to a page on your website (a landing page) – that attempts to get them to make contact with your business.
For best results, your ad and landing page must closely match the user’s search. The landing page should make it clear that you’re able to solve their problem.
PPC Management Agency Services for Microsoft
We take over the daily management activities for all of your Microsoft Ads Campaigns.
Most clients that wish to participate in Microsoft Ads already have an existing ad campaign in Google. What we do is port the Google Ads campaign over to Microsoft. Ad campaigns for the two advertisers aren’t wholly compatible. There are a few critical campaign management considerations that we take into account:
- Geographical Targeting – Microsoft Ads and Google Ads don’t have identical geographic targeting options. After migrating the campaign from Google to Microsoft, we then validate that the geotargeting is set up correctly and adjust as needed. Many advertisers get burned by using Microsoft’s automated Google Import tools – only to find that their ad territory has expanded to the entire planet – destroying their advertising budget. We manage this process and eliminate this worry for advertisers.
- Keyword Bidding – The competition in Microsoft Ads is generally less intense with lower keyword click costs. A click in Microsoft should cost less than a click on the same keyword in Google due to less competition. We lower bids to account for this difference. We then monitor keyword activity closely after the ad campaign goes live to make sure that we’re getting excellent performance.
- Feature Changes – Google Ads frequently introduces new features to its advertising platform that aren’t compatible with Microsoft Ads. We stay current with all of these changes and take care in managing your account to ensure that nothing “breaks” when we move campaigns to the Microsoft Ads platform.
The targeting options in Microsoft Ads are very similar to those in Google Ads
Precise Ad Targeting
Microsoft has very powerful targeting for your advertisements to help ensure that only the highest qualified prospects will see your ads. Here’s a rundown of some of the essential targeting options:
Geographic Location Targeting
With Microsoft advertising, you can target the country, state, city, and even zip code level. If you have a physical office or local storefront, you can also set up an advertising radius around your location, and only prospects within that radius will be eligible to see your ad.
If there are areas that don’t fit well for your business based on demographic or other reasons, you can exclude those areas from even seeing your ad.
Run Ads at the Right Time: When Staff Can Manage Leads
Microsoft Ads feature detailed ad scheduling so that you can run ads when you’re available to handle incoming phone and form leads.
For many businesses, especially local service businesses, you only want people to see your ad and call you when your staff is ready and available to take their call. If your hours are M-F, 8-5, you don’t want to show your ad on weekends or after hours. You can vary this schedule daily to ensure the best results.
Targeting by Device (Smartphones / Desktops / Tablets)
Depending on your service offerings, your prospects may convert better on smartphones vs desktop (or vice versa). The great thing about Microsoft Ads is that you can adjust your keyword bids based on the searcher’s device.
With Microsoft Ads, you can adjust bids based on what device the user conducted their search on. You may wish to adjust bids based on conversion data from each device type.
We will continually monitor conversions (and associated conversion costs) on each device and adjust bidding accordingly to maximize your return.
Age and Gender Targeting: Target Your Best Customers
If we discover that bing searchers of a certain age or sex perform particularly well (or particularly poorly) – we will adjust bids based on demographics. This targeting is crucial for Bing users, as it may differ significantly from Google Ads campaigns due to the differences in user base between the two search engines.
Call Tracking Management
Call tracking is central to the services that we provide.
We record all phone calls generated by Microsoft Advertising activities so that you can listen and analyze calls after they occur.
Calls are also associated with keywords so that we know what keywords are performing best to drive leads to your business.
We do our best to break out spam calls, calls under one minute, and brand-related searches so that you can adequately measure the effectiveness of your ad campaigns.
FlexLeads Reporting Platform
We provide you with reporting for all of your digital marketing campaigns – including your Microsoft Account performance.
Real-Time Reporting Data
We provide daily, monthly, and even some real-time reporting. With our reporting, you’ll be able to tell with a glance how your Microsoft advertising account budgets and conversions are performing.
Budget Tracking
Our reporting lets you know how you’re performing relative to your monthly budget. Based on performance, during the month, we may increase or decrease the ad spend to meet your budget goals.
Conversion Tracking & Reporting
Also within our reporting is conversion tracking. Within reports, you’ll see all lead data. Those who fill out forms or call you count towards the lead total.
A Web Page That Converts Prospects Into Leads
A landing page is a page on a website where prospects arrive after clicking on one of your ads.
All of your Microsoft Ad traffic will be sent to a website that we create and manage for you to ensure the best conversions possible.
This landing page is part of the Website as a Service that we offer our clients.
We need to have full access to these pages which is why we offer them as part of our overall marketing packages. Get more information on our WaaS here.
Microsoft Ads PPC Management: What to Look For
You Own Your Account – We do the Management
You own your Microsoft Ads account – not us. We manage your account.
Some agencies provide search engine marketing services on Microsoft, but they don’t give you full access to the ad campaign. These companies leave you with nothing if you decide to terminate the contract.
With FlexLeads, we take care of the day to day management of your account. While we provide timely, informative reporting, you still can go into your ad account to review activity.
We think it is vital that you own the account and have full access to all the data within it.
Transparency
It is your ad account, you have full access to Microsoft Ads campaign data. You should know the searches that are leading to conversions by clients and customers.
In addition to data, costs should be transparent. Many agencies charge an advertising fee every month. Customers are frequently confused as to how their monthly payment is split between advertising platforms and the managing agency.
You’ll always know where you’re spending your ad money as we make it very clear within our advertising agreement.
Your Manager Will Keep You Informed
Two questions you should never have to ask:
Am I getting a good return on my Microsoft Ads activities?
What is my Microsoft Ads Management company actually doing?
With our services, you’ll always know where you stand.
Our reports provide you with all cost and lead data, so you’ll know for sure that you’re getting a solid return on your investment.
Microsoft Ads Management Pricing
No two of our clients are the same.
Without learning more about your business, your goals, and your requirements we can’t come up with a solution that best meets your needs.
Once we have a chance to establish what you need, we’re able to offer flat-rate monthly pricing for Microsoft Ads management Services.
Management for a Flat Monthly Fee
It is a common agency model to get charged based on a percentage of ad spend.
We find this pricing methodology flawed. It incentivizes less ethical agencies to spend more, even though it may not help the client.
While it may be fine for some agency-client relationships, we’ve witnessed agencies that take advantage of this pricing structure. Rather than looking out for the best interests of their clients, some agencies will find ways to spend additional ad budget on questionable advertising options (like running Microsoft Audience Ads on the Microsoft Audience Network).
We will only advertise where it can result in a direct benefit to you, our client.
Hourly Rate
Some projects are of limited scope and timeframe, where we will do project work on an hourly rate.
Note that for all Microsoft Ads management projects, you will be working with a dedicated US-based account representative with 10+ years of experience.
Cost for Ads
Microsoft Ad costs are usually significantly lower than Google Ad costs due to the smaller reach and lower cost per click.
You will be paying ad fees directly to Microsoft.
Ad costs range anywhere from $100 and $1,000 per month for local service businesses.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is FlexLeads a Microsoft Advertising Partner
No. We used to be a Microsoft Advertising Partner, but as with the Google Partner program, eligibility for partnership with Microsoft is dependent on ad spend goals. As your advertising partner, our goal is to spend as little as possible on Microsoft advertising campaigns, while providing you the best possible return on your investment. Both Microsoft and Google partner programs incentivize increased ad spend on your advertising campaign – at FlexLeads, our goal is to minimize your overall ad spend.
Learn About Our PPC Management Services:
Set up a Call Now
To learn more about our managed Microsoft Ads services, call us at 888-959-6867, or fill out the form below.
