The value of bidding on

your brand termsAn offensive and defensive strategy for digital marketers

Retail

Edition

There is an ongoing debate about the inclusion of brand name keywords in search marketing campaigns.

Performance of brand name keywords

varies according to many factors,

including the competitiveness of the

industry segment.

The researchers at Bing Ads recently tackled a big question that advertisers wrestle with…

“To bid or not to bid on brand terms?”

We analyzed 3 million impressions for retailon Bing in December 2014.

And included the majority of the brand terms searched for in the retail vertical.

We compared two scenarios:

1) When a brand term ad was present on the search results page

2) When a brand term ad was not present on the search results page

Because Bing Ads is a search engine, we have deep insight into what’s happening on the search results page – for any brand, advertiser, and industry.

Since we can see all the clicks on the page, we can tell if the clicks go to your brand, your competitor, or somewhere else.

We found two things.

Advertisers who bid on their brand terms received:

More clicks.

And fewer went to competitors.

By bidding on your brand terms, you are playing offense and defense at the same time.

Driving more clicks on offense, and preventing your competitors from winning clicks to your brand terms on defense.

Score!

Let’s start.

We looked at how many clicks a brand got without a brand ad present on the search results page.

“retail brand”.com

Here’s where people clicked – the top organic positions

Retail

Then we looked at how many clicks a brand got with a brand ad present in search results page.

Here’s where people clicked:

The brand ad (mainline position 1)

The top organic positions

“retail brand”.com

Retail

First let’s look at the results when an advertiser is notbidding on their brand terms in the retail space.

“travel brand” flight“retail brand”.com

For the retail industry, when no brand ad is present, the brand received 60% of clicks on the search results page – from organic listings.

Source: Bing Ads Internal Data, December 2014.

No brand ad

People clicked the top organic positions

Retail

Do clicks increase when we add a brand ad?

Yes! Clicks increased 32% when a brand ad was present.

91%

Brand ad + organic

Brand ad in main line position 1 and top organic listings.

“retail brand”.com

Source: Bing Ads Internal Data, December 2014.

Retail

Booyah! That’s 31% clicks gained as a result of brand term bidding.

Gain

Brand ad + organic

60%

31%

Source: Bing Ads Internal Data, December 2014.

Brand ad in main line position 1 and top organic listings.

No brand ad

60%

Retail

Here’s where the clicks will go:

49%

Brand ad + organic

42%TO BRAND AD

TO ORGANIC

Source: Bing Ads Internal Data, December 2014.

Brand ad in main line position 1 and top organic listings.

“retail brand”.com

Retail

Our research shows thatBrand term bidding helps deliver more clicks.

More clicks? Let’s break that down…

What about cannibalization?

Wouldn’t I receive some of those clicks anyway if I didn’t bid on my brand terms?

Yes, some paid clicks you may have received anyway. But you also received 31% incremental clicks!

Incremental (paid) clicks from the brand ad

Overlap: Paid clicks you may have received free anyway from organic listing

49%

No brand ad

60%

Brand ad + organic

11%

31%

Source: Bing Ads Internal Data, December 2014.

Brand ad in main line position 1 and top organic listings.

Retail

Competitors are getting 40% of clicks when no brand ad is present.

91%

No brand ad

60%

Brand ad + organic

40%

9%Your competitor

You

Your competitor

You

Source: Bing Ads Internal Data, December 2014.

Brand ad in main line position 1 and top organic listings.

Retail

How many of these clicks to competitors were on their ad?

Great question. Clicks on competitors’ ads decreased from 34% to 4% when a brand ad was present.

91%

No brand ad

60%

Brand ad + organic

6%

5%

34%

4%

Competitor ad

Competitor organic

Competitor ad

Competitor organic

Source: Bing Ads Internal Data, December 2014.

Brand ad in main line position 1 and top organic listings.

You You

Retail

Let’s take a look at a few examples from individual retail advertisers.

Without a brand ad present, this major retail company’s competitors can capture over half of the clicks for some searches.

34%

“Retail brand”furniture

57%

“Retail brand” bridal registry

69%

“Retail brand” baby registry

43%

66%

31%

Source: Bing Ads Internal Data, December 2014.

Competitor Ad + organic No brand ad

Retail

Just a few of clicks to competitors were on their organic results.

34%

“Retail brand”furniture

57%

“Retail brand” bridal registry

69%

“Retail brand” baby registry

41%61%

25%

Source: Bing Ads Internal Data, December 2014.

Competitor OrganicNo brand ad Competitor Ad

6%

5%

2%

Retail

Oh snap!

High fives all around for this major retail company. Competitor ads captured only up to 11% of clicks with a brand ad present.

97%

“Retail brand” Bridal

82%

“Retail brand” Home

81%

“Retail brand” Furniture Sale

18% 19%

Competitor Ad + Organic Brand Ad + Organic

3%

Retail

Booyah!

Let’s recap that.

Brand term bidding is a strategy that allows you to play offense and defense at the same time.

Bidding on your brand terms reduces opportunities for your competitors to capture your customers or their mindshare if they bid on your brand terms.

❶ PLAY OFFENSE

Brand term bidding helps deliver more clicks.

❷ PLAY DEFENSE

Brand term bidding means fewer clicks to competitors

What do I risk if I don’t bid on my brand terms?

❶ Getting a lower “click-yield” or rate of clicks/searches, even with a strong SEO strategy in place.

What do I risk if I don’t bid on my brand terms?

As we saw, you can risk losing nearly half of clicks if you don’t bid on your brand terms.

❷ Losing clicks to competitors attempting to “conquest” the searches for your brand.

Don’t let your competitors steal demand for your brand – your clicks and leads.

.

What’s the best way to get started?

To learn more about the value of bidding on your brand terms, check out the complete Bing Ads research study and white paper

data-driven decisions

Ready, set, bid