On March 9th, 2023, Microsoft’s Corporate VP, Yusuf Mehdi, announced that Bing had achieved a significant milestone: over 100 million Daily Active Users (DAUs).
While Google is still the 800 pound gorilla of the search engine industry, this news begs the question:
Should I be investing in search when AI seems to be the way everything is going?
It’s a valid question, and it’s one that some of us have been asking long before ChatGPT or other generative AI tools came into the mix.
Actually, we would argue that regardless of where you are in your search advertising, you should be looking at how to potentially leverage EACH channel and take advantage.
It’s a lot to process, but to make it easier on all of our heads, we suggest you try the “Better, More, Next” framework:
Better: optimise your existing campaigns and use the ad spend there. This is the best option as you know these campaigns well and have tested the assets and audience to ensure successful conversions.
More: Expand your advertising to new audiences or launch another campaign. This may have more ambiguity, but you can still be within your comfort zone as you understand the broad behaviour of your audience on the platform.
Once you’ve completed these two stages, you can begin to look beyond your primary PPC platform. But of course with so many options out there, choosing the right platform can be tricky. Some of those options include:
- Bing Ads: Ideal for B2B companies, enterprise firms and older demographics.
- Amazon Ads: Great for e-commerce businesses, wide-market products and product-focused campaigns.
- LinkedIn Ads: Perfect for B2B companies and professional services willing to pay more for reach.
- Snapchat Ads: Excellent for reaching a younger audience and driving engagement.
- Pinterest Ads: Ideal for visual-heavy shopping campaigns and reaching female audiences.
- Quora Ads: Perfect for promoting thought leadership and reaching niche audiences.
- Reddit Ads: Very broad range of audiences segmented by interest groups called subreddits.
To choose the best platform, first create a list of your BEST platforms — where it’s easiest to reach your target audience. For example, attempting to scale a crate based shipping B2B company’s ads on Snapchat may only catch part of your demographic. Perhaps Bing or LinkedIn may be better choices to start from with older audiences and considering what those targets may be doing while they are on those platforms.
Next, determine which platform might be best suited to the assets in your library and your ability to produce more work to meet the needs of the platform.
Let’s go back to the shipping B2B company, LinkedIn might be a great place to play, but if you can’t get together enough images and creatives to prevent ad fatigue, then LinkedIn might not be ideal for advertising. BUT, if you have great copy for your offer, and you can produce more on an as needed basis, then Bing might be a better match.
Also, consider the budget available for your PPC campaigns. Different platforms have different pricing structures, so it’s important to determine which one aligns with your budget. Diversifying your ad spend across multiple platforms can help mitigate risk and increase overall ROI over the long term.
On the flip side of that, let’s be real. Jumping into a new platform, especially if you don’t have a history of ads in that platform, it’s good to be ready for the possibility that you will need to invest for a few months to really squeeze out quality leads or sales. New platforms take time and need patience.
Before moving to the NEXT platform, it’s essential to understand your audience and have a functioning primary platform. Once that’s done, you can explore other options and see where else you can communicate effectively with your audience.
Good luck! Remember we are always here to answer any questions you might have, so reach out to us on Instagram if you have questions, or send us a quick email. We’re happy to help!