Bing: Is It Worth Investing In? Strathcom Attends Bing’s Connect Breakfast

Strathcom Media recently attended the Bing Ads Connect breakfast event in Vancouver, hosted by Maor Daniel of Microsoft. After sharing in brunch and a little networking with other local online marketing firms, we sat down and took a handful of presentations on something quite foreign to the majority of digital advertisers: Bing.

So what exactly has been developing with Bing advertising over the past few years? And where is Bing going in the near future?

In terms of PPC, we tend to treat Bing like the neglected, less exciting toy in the toybox while Google gets all the attention. Most, if not all of us in the advertising industry, are guilty of this. However, this seminar brought to light several important facts and statistics about Bing that should make potential clients consider (or reconsider) investing into advertising through this alternative avenue.

Event Insights and Highlights

Some of the more interesting arguments we discovered were:

• Unique searchers on the Yahoo-Bing network spend 26% more online than the average Internet searcher, and they spend 12% more than Google searchers.

• Canada’s Bing audience tends to have higher-than-average household incomes, with nearly one-third of the audience earning $100,000+ and nearly one-half earning more than $75,000.

• Bing’s Canadian audience tends to fall into ‘mature’ age groups: 35 years and older, living in smaller households (2 or 3 persons), and tending not to have children living with them.

We also learned about other exciting features related to the Bing Search network, including the fast and ready-to-use Bing search bar on Windows Phone 8 models, as well as through the Xbox menu.

For Windows Phone 8 users, a Bing search is standard, even on the go.

How does this relate to advertising for car dealerships?

It seems like almost anyone with any legitimacy in the online advertising world has already optimized itself on Google. The low-hanging fruits have all been harvested, and online firms hoping to realize growth in advertising are now having to find mastery through Microsoft.

This actually works to the advantage of car dealers, since the users they’re trying to target are ultimately expected to invest a large sum of money on a new vehicle. If the users on the Bing network have more disposable income than the average web searcher, then it’s smart business to consider investing in Bing as a supplement to your Google investment. It would make perfect economic sense when the competition on Bing is not as intense as it is on Google—the territory still up for grabs—which would lead to a lower cost per click, and a more affordable cost per lead.

But are you ready to take to the open terrain of Bing while the prospects are still very much uncontested?

Xbox users search through Bing.

Let Strathcom Find You More Leads through Bing

Who knows what will be the next media format in which the ambitious Bing search engine will attempt to gain a greater market share? You can get ahead of the wave and be set up to capitalize by letting the Strathcom Media PPC team take care of your Bing online pay-per-click advertising. Contact any of our PPC staff today to get started.