How do these platforms handle seasonal fluctuations and promotions on Bing Ads?

Third-party bid management platforms are well-equipped to handle seasonal fluctuations and promotions on Bing Ads, providing tools and features that allow advertisers to adapt their bidding strategies to capitalize on seasonal trends or special events. Here's how these platforms address these fluctuations and promotions effectively:

1. Seasonal Bid Adjustments
Automated Seasonal Adjustments: Many bid management platforms allow advertisers to set seasonal rules that automatically adjust bids during specific times of the year. These adjustments help advertisers capture higher search volume or increased demand during peak seasons (e.g., holidays, Black Friday, back-to-school).

Platforms often allow advertisers to set a seasonal budget or bid increase percentage for specific dates. For example, if you know that traffic during the holiday season is more competitive, you can set the platform to increase bids automatically by 20% during this period.

Example: If an e-commerce store sells winter coats, the platform can automatically increase bids in the months leading up to winter and decrease them once the season ends, ensuring that you are highly visible when consumers are actively shopping for winter gear.

2. Promotions and Special Events
Event-Specific Bidding: Platforms can also be set to respond to limited-time promotions or flash sales. Advertisers can configure campaigns to increase bids during special sales events, such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, Valentine's Day, or other promotional periods.

Some platforms have built-in tools for managing promotional periods by allowing advertisers to automatically adjust bids for keywords related to the promotion or specific product categories that are featured in the sale.

Example: If you run a promotion offering discounts on specific products for a week, you can increase bids for keywords tied to those products or create ad groups that specifically focus on the promotion. The platform will automatically increase bids during the event and return to normal once the promotion ends.

3. Dayparting and Time-of-Day Adjustments
Dayparting (Time-of-Day Bidding): Bid management platforms can adjust bids based on time of day or day of the week, which is useful for responding to consumer behavior changes during peak periods. During special events or sales, the platform can adjust bids for high-demand hours, such as evening or weekend traffic, to ensure ads are shown when users are most likely to convert.

For seasonal events, this means the system can increase bids during peak hours of the promotion, such as evening shopping hours on a major sale day.

Example: For a flash sale running from 5 PM to 9 PM, you can set your platform to increase bids specifically for that time frame, ensuring that you capture high-intent searches during the event's most lucrative hours.

4. Seasonal and Event-Based Budget Allocation
Dynamic Budget Allocation: Advertisers can set dynamic budget allocation rules based on seasonal demand. For instance, during high-demand periods (like the holiday season), you may allocate more budget to specific campaigns to ensure your ads are seen. Third-party platforms can automatically adjust your daily or total campaign budget based on changes in performance and seasonal trends.

The system can distribute more budget to high-converting campaigns and reduce spend on underperforming ones during these times, ensuring the best use of your budget during critical promotional windows.

Example: For the holiday season, you may decide to allocate 50% more budget to campaigns for gift-related keywords or products that typically perform better during this time, ensuring your ads are shown more frequently and are competitive in the auction.

5. Custom Bid Adjustments for Specific Keywords
Keyword-Level Bid Adjustments: Advertisers can adjust bids for specific keywords based on seasonal performance. For example, if you are promoting a specific product during a seasonal event, you can increase bids for keywords related to that product or promotion.

Some platforms allow for custom rules that automatically adjust bids for a keyword based on real-time data and seasonal trends. This is especially useful for promotions that are linked to specific products or time-sensitive offers.

Example: If your store is promoting summer dresses ahead of the summer season, you can increase bids for keywords like "buy summer dresses," "summer dresses sale," or "new summer dresses" to drive traffic to your promotion.

6. Tracking and Predicting Seasonal Trends
Historical Data and Forecasting: Many third-party platforms offer features to help forecast seasonal trends based on historical data. By analyzing past performance, the platform can help predict upcoming seasonal demand and adjust bidding strategies accordingly.

The platform can forecast increased search volume for particular products or keywords based on previous years' trends and proactively adjust your bids before the season begins.

Example: Based on past years' data, a bid management platform might predict a surge in searches for winter coats starting in October. The system could start increasing bids in the lead-up to that season to ensure your ads are prepared for the demand.

7. Real-Time Adjustments During Promotions
Real-Time Bidding Adjustments: During flash sales or time-sensitive promotions, some platforms allow for real-time bidding adjustments. These platforms monitor performance throughout the promotion and adjust bids on-the-fly to ensure maximum efficiency.

This can involve increasing bids for keywords that are performing well, shifting budgets to campaigns that are converting at a higher rate, or decreasing bids on keywords that are less effective during the promotion.

Example: If a flash sale is generating more conversions than expected, the system can automatically raise bids for relevant keywords to capture more traffic without needing manual intervention.

8. Automated Rules for Seasonal Campaigns
Pre-Set Rules: Advertisers can set up automated rules to ensure that bidding strategies automatically adjust according to specific seasonal criteria. For example, an advertiser could create rules that automatically increase bids for certain keywords a week before a seasonal promotion starts and revert them back afterward.

These rules can help ensure that your campaigns are always in sync with the seasonal changes and that you don't miss out on key opportunities.

Example: Setting a rule to automatically increase bids by 15% for Christmas-related keywords during December, and to decrease them by 20% after New Year's Day.

9. Adjusting for Competitor Behavior During Seasonal Peaks
Competitor Activity Monitoring: During seasonal promotions, competitors may raise their bids, making it more expensive to maintain a competitive ad position. Bid management platforms often monitor competitor activity and adjust bids accordingly.

This can include raising bids during high-competition periods (e.g., Black Friday or Cyber Monday) to ensure your ads remain visible despite increased competition.

Example: If you notice that competitors are aggressively bidding for Christmas-related terms, you can set your platform to automatically increase bids to maintain your share of the auction during the peak sales period.

10. Conversion Rate Optimization During Promotions
Enhanced Ad Copy and Landing Page Adjustments: During seasonal promotions, it's crucial to have optimized ad copy and landing pages tailored to the promotion. Some bid management platforms can assist in aligning these elements with specific seasonal goals, such as featuring seasonal promotions or limited-time offers.

These adjustments help improve conversion rates during critical sales events, ensuring that bid increases lead to actual conversions.

Example: During a holiday promotion, you might want to adjust your ad copy to highlight limited-time discounts or free shipping, and the platform can adjust your bids to focus on these high-performing ads and landing pages.

Conclusion
Bid management platforms provide a robust suite of tools and features to help advertisers manage seasonal fluctuations and promotions on Bing Ads. From automated seasonal bid adjustments and event-specific rules to real-time bidding optimizations and dynamic budget allocation, these platforms help advertisers stay agile and competitive during high-demand periods.

By leveraging historical data, real-time adjustments, and automated bidding strategies, advertisers can ensure they are maximizing visibility and performance during key sales periods without exceeding budget constraints. These tools make it easier for advertisers to respond quickly to seasonal demand and capitalize on limited-time promotions to drive conversions and sales.