Since the end of the year is when many nonprofits invest the most in online ads, this month’s tip is about expanding your ad reach, and why you should look into Bing search ads.
Google is the biggest… but it’s not the only one
I feel more than a little awkward writing this, because I don’t like to endorse companies, and saying “give money to Microsoft” leaves a particularly sour taste in my mouth. But the reality of online advertising is that most of the real estate comes from just a few players – Google, Facebook, Twitter, and though you may not think of them in this space, Microsoft.
Thanks to the Google Grants program, not to mention their cornering of search in general with 89% market share in the U.S., lots of nonprofits are already advertising with Google. As they should be: Google gives you the best reach, and if you only have time and budget for one platform, they’re the one to go with. There’s a reason why “search ads” is practically synonymous with “Google Ads.”
But if you have time and budget for two platforms, and you’re looking to expand your reach, Microsoft Advertising can be a very effective supplement to your search ad program.
The case for expanding your search ads
After Google, Bing has the next biggest chunk of the market, at 6%, followed by Yahoo! at 4%. That may seem small, but earlier this year, Yahoo!’s ad inventory merged into the Microsoft Ad Platform. I’m on the fence about whether that’s really a good thing for advertisers, but it means that where covering the top 99% of the search market used to require being active on three platforms, it now only requires two. You get more reach for less investment of time and effort – and you can maintain a strong presence on Bing with just 10-20% of the budget you’d use on Google.
Bing ads also have lower competition, because not as many advertisers are active there, which means you’ll almost certainly get lower costs per click, and likely lower costs per acquisition, too.
Bing also reaches a different demographic than Google. Bing users skew older, as do most nonprofit donors, and many of them don’t use Google at all. It might actually be where your donors live on the internet.
30 Minute Exercise: How to get started with Bing Ads
The folks at Microsoft Advertising know their audience: getting set up to run Bing search ads is as easy as creating a new account and importing your existing campaigns from Google Ads. Though there are some differences in features and ad specs, the interface will look familiar, and if you’re comfortable with Google Ads, the learning curve is virtually nonexistent.
If you’re planning to try out Bing Ads during end-of-year fundraising, now is the perfect time to set up an account and see how it performs. It might bring a nice little boost to your ad revenue.