While the vast majority of global search traffic still goes through Google, there are a handful of other active search engines that receive significant volumes. For example, Bing, the search engine owned by Microsoft, actually controls around 25% of the market share in the UK, with over 900 million monthly searches performed.
While most people’s first instinct is to turn to Google when looking to promote their business, our experience has shown that in fact, some types of businesses would be better suited to explore Bing.
Advantages of Bing
Bing has a couple of important advantages that are sometimes forgotten when people start out with digital marketing.
Firstly, as it gets much less of the search traffic it is often overlooked and therefore less competitive. This makes it easier to rank highly in the organic results, and cheaper to place paid ads.
Secondly, the user demographic of Bing is slightly different to other search engines, meaning it may be a better and more cost-effective way to reach your specific target market.
Understanding who uses Bing is the first step to working out whether it could be an appropriate platform to help promote your business.
Differences in Demographic
As mentioned, there are several key differences in the user demographics of Bing, which in turn make it more attractive as an advertising platform for some industries over others. In particular:
- Age – Bing users are typically older than Google users
- Family status – Bing users are more likely to be married with children
- Income – Bing users have a high average household income
As a result of these traits, many marketers and businesses have found that they get higher conversation rates from Bing users than other traffic sources.
Research suggests that adverts from industries that appeal to this demographic fare particularly well, such as:
- Employment or Career services
- B2B
- Finance & Insurance
- Apparel & Accessories
- Retail
If your product or service is targeted at the more mature end of the market, with higher disposable income, then it is highly likely that you would benefit from exploring Bing as a channel to promote your business.
How does Bing fit into your overall marketing strategy?
While Bing undoubtedly can offer big benefits to certain specific industries or businesses looking to reach particular demographics, it is sensible to consider your use of Bing advertising in context with the rest of your marketing plan.
For instance, will you focus solely on Bing ads, or split your resources across Google, or social media outlets as well?
At AsOne we have a wealth of experience building holistic digital business development strategies that look at all the available options to find the best outcome for your business.
If you’d like more information on whether Bing could be a good channel to help promote your business, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
