Bing and Digital Advertising: 5 Things Economic Developers Should Know

We’ve often touted why economic development groups should consider Google for their display and targeted search advertising needs. While that is still an essential digital marketing strategy, we’re starting to recommend to clients that Bing ads should not be overlooked as a potential option for advertisers.

Just like you want to diversify your investment plans, it’s important to put your digital advertising budget into different buckets to have a bigger impact.

Consider these reasons for why you should consider Bing and increase your ad revenue:

1. Bing has a significant market share
While Google is the dominant search engine, Bing still holds a significant share of the search market. According to Statista, Bing had a market share of 6.5% in the United States in January 2022. This may not seem like a lot, but it still represents millions of potential customers that economic developers could be missing out on if they only focus on Google.

2. Bing’s audience points to corporate decision makers
Bing’s user demographic tends to be slightly different than Google’s. According to Microsoft Advertising, Bing users are more likely to be middle-aged or older, have a higher income, and be more educated than Google users. This means that advertisers targeting these demographics may have more success on Bing than other advertising platforms.

3. Competition is less intense
Because Bing has a smaller market share than Google, there is less competition for ad space on the platform. This means that advertisers may be able to get more clicks and conversions for a lower cost than they would with Google ads. Additionally, because Bing is less crowded, your messaging may be more visible and have a higher click-through rate.

4. Bing offers unique targeting options
Bing offers several targeting options that are not available on Google. For example, advertisers can target users by their LinkedIn profile information, which can be especially useful in economic development since LinkedIn is the preferred social media network for entrepreneurs and corporate decision makers. Bing also offers a unique targeting option called “Remarketing in Paid Search,” which allows advertisers to target users who have previously visited their website.

5. Bing is integrated with Microsoft Advertising
Microsoft Advertising, which is the platform that manages advertising on Bing, is integrated with other Microsoft products like Microsoft Dynamics and LinkedIn. This means that advertisers can use Microsoft ads to target users on these platforms as well.

For those EDOs working with DCI to target corporate executives with search marketing, you’ll start to see us recommend Bing as a viable search engine for ad placements given its significant market share, unique audience that lines up with what we know about corporate executives and is integrated with other Microsoft products.

If you’re an economic development group looking to expand your reach, increase search ad optimization and potentially lower your online advertising costs, consider working with us to add Bing to your paid media strategy.