Whether you run an antiques shop, a hair salon, or a neighborhood café, chances are your small business has a presence on the World Wide Web. According to Zippia, 71 percent of all small businesses have their own websites¹. However, only 45 percent of small businesses utilize pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platforms like Google Ads and the Microsoft Advertising Platform². This is a missed opportunity to connect with current and prospective customers alike, as they search for products and services online. Now, you may ask yourself, “How can I harness the power of search advertising for my business?”
Meet the Microsoft Advertising Platform. By advertising your small business on Microsoft’s Search and Display Networks, you can reach over half a billion people worldwide every month³. In this article, we will outline the benefits of Microsoft advertising for you and your company.
One of the MS Advertising Platform’s key benefits is its higher conversion rate compared to Google Ads⁴. Since Microsoft searchers are an older and more mature demographic than Google’s core users, a staggering 80 percent of them spend more on average than their Google-search counterparts⁴. Additionally, with Microsoft users’ greater purchasing power, promoting your small business on the MS Advertising Platform can generate more conversions and thus greater ROI (return on investment), making it a true win-win⁴. This demonstrates that the MS Advertising Platform is an invaluable marketing tool for your business.
Another advantage of the MS Advertising Platform is that you will not face as intense competition as you would on Google Ads⁴. Sure, fewer businesses use MS Advertising than Google Ads, but that only means fewer businesses competing for the same prime keywords you desire to use. In turn, you will benefit from greater impression share for your campaigns⁴. In this way, you can use MS Advertising to saturate the market with ads for your small business, without the cutthroat competition commonplace on Google’s Search and Display Networks⁴. This once again demonstrates the power of MS Advertising for your small business.
While MS Advertising offers you a higher conversion rate and significantly less competition than Google Ads, it also provides you with less expensive cost per click (CPC) for most keywords⁴. Although you will not see this advantage for highly competitive keywords such as “lawyers,” your average cost per click will be cheaper on the MS Advertising Platform than Google Ads, primarily because the former platform does not have the same level of cutthroat competition⁴. Keep in mind, too, that the average CPC on Microsoft’s Advertising Platform is approximately 33.5% less than CPCs for the same keywords in Google Ads⁴. In short, advertising your small business on the MS Advertising Platform is an investment well worth making.
Still another benefit of promoting your small business on the MS Advertising Platform is its diverse array of ad extensions⁴. While Microsoft ads offer the same call, callout, and location extensions as Google Ads, they also provide a variety of extensions that Google does not⁴. For example, with image extensions, you can upload images of your products and services to feature prominently alongside your ad copy⁴. If you run a neighborhood café, for instance, include photos of your bakery items such as cookies, croissants, muffins, and pies next to your ad. Meanwhile, with multi-image extensions, you can add up to five distinct images alongside your text advertisement⁵. If you run an auto dealership, for example, you can highlight the cars, trucks, and vans in your inventory as shown below⁵. By showing how relevant your ads are to prospective customers, they will be likely to click your ad and therefore make a purchase from your business⁴. Additionally, with Action Link extensions, you can direct users to your website’s call-to-action pages instead of the URL featured in your ad⁴. For example, if you run a resort in the Poconos, you can send visitors directly to your reservation page even if your ad points to your home page⁴. In summary, whether your conversion goal is for customers to reserve rooms, sign up for an email newsletter, or contact you to schedule an appointment⁴, MS Advertising has the ad extensions you need to generate predictably awesome impressions, clicks, and conversions for your business.
(Image courtesy of https://about.ads.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/post/september-2020/drive-higher-ad-engagement-with-multi-image-extensions)
If you already utilize another search advertising platform, like Google Ads or Facebook Ads, the MS Advertising Platform lets you expand your business’s reach by exporting your existing search ads⁶. By importing Google or Facebook ads you have already crafted, you need not recreate them from scratch in the MS Advertising Platform⁶. Additionally, you can customize your strategy by importing only the assets, campaigns, and targets you wish to import into the MS Advertising Platform. You can also edit your bids, budgets, and campaign names (such as “Winter Sale 2023”) as you see fit⁶. This shows that importing your existing ads into the MS Advertising Platform saves you time and headaches, so you can focus on creating predictably awesome experiences for everyone in your organization⁶.
Navitend can help you. Call 973.448.0070 or setup an appointment today.
Sources:
¹Zippia. “20+ Essential Small Business Website Statistics [2023]: How Many Businesses Have A Website” by Jack Flynn. Retrieved from https://www.zippia.com/advice/small-business-website-statistics/.
²Small Business Trends. “45% of Small Businesses Use Pay Per Click Advertising, Survey Says” by Michael Guta. Retrieved from https://smallbiztrends.com/2018/03/2018-small-business-seo-statistics.html.
³Microsoft. “Small business advertising solutions – Microsoft Advertising.” Retrieved from https://about.ads.microsoft.com/en-us/get-started/small-business.
⁴Hallam Internet. “Campaigns, conversion tracking, and benefits of Microsoft Advertising: a complete guide” by Pete Keyworth. Retrieved from https://www.hallaminternet.com/campaigns-tracking-benefits-of-microsoft-advertising/.
⁵Microsoft. “Drive engagement with Multi-Image Extensions – Microsoft Advertising.” Retrieved from https://about.ads.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/post/september-2020/drive-higher-ad-engagement-with-multi-image-extensions.
⁶Microsoft. “Reach more potential customers with Import tools – Microsoft Advertising.” Retrieved from https://about.ads.microsoft.com/en-us/solutions/tools/ad-import-tools.
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