Maybe.

We all know that everyone thinks of Bing as Google’s less talented younger sibling that never caught up to the original’s greatness. After all, the term “Google,” indicative of users trying to hop over to their favorite search engine, is consistently the #1 search query on Bing worldwide. But who actually uses Bing and what would a paid search campaign do for someone in the B2B or industrial sector?

Why Would B2B Marketers Use Bing?

That being said, if you are in the B2B or industrial space, Bing can be a reputable channel of your paid search and overall digital marketing strategies. As Microsoft Windows pushes for a competitive advantage in the corporate space, they are also subsequently pushing Microsoft Edge (or let’s be honest, Internet Explorer), which defaults users to search the internet using their very own Bing search engine.

Currently, the demographics on Bing are slightly different from other search engines. The reason is that more users search Bing from Windows devices, particularly from their work computers. For a standard 40 hour work week, Bing has a strong edge in reaching many working professionals’ searches. In addition to that, Bing’s audience is slightly older in age, averaging 45 years old, and more educated.

In recent years, Microsoft has been focusing on large corporate customers and cloud-based business tools. If they continue down this path, there is an opportunity for them to shape who uses Bing. For industrial and business-to-business marketing strategies, the relevance of having more working professionals as your audience shouldn’t be ignored.

How Can I Get More Leads with Bing Search Ads?

A few months ago, we observed one of our paid search accounts that is in a very competitive B2B sector, for a 6 month period. During this period, we essentially had the same paid search campaign running on both Bing and Google. The results were interesting and provided a peek into how Bing and Microsoft Advertising’s paid search may be a digital marketing secret weapon that is beneficial to certain B2B and industrial markets. 

While I can’t disclose specifics, the average cost-per-click for the main Bing keywords was $4.90 while for the same terms, the average Google CPC was $8.65. Although you do get more bang for your buck with clicks, we got nearly double the clicks for the same ad spend. For conversions, those results were a little closer - Bing’s CPA only bettered Google’s by roughly $2.

Limitations of Bing and Microsoft Advertising

One would have thought Bing would have had higher quality converting traffic based on the previous thesis of the work week searchers’ audience. Some things that could have affected the results were certain limitations to Microsoft Advertising’s targeting that don’t make the campaigns completely identical. But Microsoft Advertising has been quickly catching up to Google interface- wise.

Case-in-point, you may be able to afford more clicks and save a few bucks on your CPAs by using Bing, depending on your industry. The increased clicks one could afford in this case due to a lower cost-per-click on Bing increases the potential for additional requests for quotes, calls, and contact us submissions downstream. 

How Much Should I Spend on Bing Search Ads?

One important thing to note is that many B2B and industrial sectors are fairly niche markets with lower search volumes than common consumer markets. In that case, I believe Bing should only be added as a test channel in addition to an existing Google Ads strategy. But, if your market and search volume are large enough, I highly advise you to consider Bing.

To start, a good ad spend indicator would be to compare the proportion of organic traffic from Google search and the amount of organic traffic from Bing search that comes to your site. Let’s say the ratio is 9:1 (Google:Bing.) In that case, start Bing using Microsoft Ads at 1/10 of the spend of your Google Ads efforts.

Can You Save Money with Bing Search Ads?

All in all, in this case, we saved $2 per conversion and were able to afford nearly double the clicks for a specific product in a particular industry, and the assisted conversions are not even being accounted for. In the future, as Microsoft continues to drive towards increasing its competitive advantage in the corporate sector and catering to cloud-based business solutions, there is a strong chance that Bing searchers become increasingly 40-hour work week searchers. For your business-to-business and industrial paid search campaigns, Bing is worth your while as long as your market has ample search volume.

Get Started with Ecreative Paid Search Today!

The SEM team here at Ecreative will help you structure an optimized paid search strategy. Let us know what your goals are today! Contact Ecreative. We are the premier digital marketing agency for clients in the B2B and Industrial space.