What are the best practices for training internal teams to use third-party bid management platforms effectively with Bing Ads?

Training internal teams to effectively use third-party bid management platforms with Bing Ads is essential for maximizing the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns. These platforms offer advanced tools and automation features that help advertisers optimize bids, manage campaigns, and track performance at scale. Here are some best practices for training internal teams to use third-party bid management platforms effectively with Bing Ads:

1. Familiarize Teams with Bing Ads and the Third-Party Platform
Basic Understanding of Bing Ads: Ensure that your team members have a solid understanding of Bing Ads (Microsoft Advertising) and its key features, such as campaigns, ad groups, keywords, bidding, and conversion tracking. This is essential since the third-party platform will be built on top of Bing Ads.

Platform-Specific Features: Introduce the team to the specific third-party bid management platform you're using. Each platform (e.g., Marin Software, Kenshoo, WordStream, etc.) has unique features for bid optimization, reporting, and analytics, so understanding how the platform integrates with Bing Ads is crucial.

2. Set Clear Goals for Using the Platform
Define Objectives: Establish clear objectives for why you're using the third-party bid management platform, such as increasing campaign efficiency, automating bid adjustments, or improving return on ad spend (ROAS).

KPIs and Metrics: Determine key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to track within the platform, such as cost-per-conversion (CPC), conversion rate, click-through rate (CTR), and ROAS. This ensures alignment with business goals.

3. Provide Hands-On Training with Practical Use Cases
Workshops and Demos: Organize interactive workshops where team members can see the platform in action and ask questions in real time. Use actual campaigns as examples to demonstrate how the platform integrates with Bing Ads and how to manage bids and campaigns.

Simulate Real Campaign Scenarios: Have the team practice setting up campaigns, creating ad groups, adjusting bids, and applying automated rules within the third-party platform. Simulating real-life campaigns allows them to build familiarity and confidence in using the tools.

4. Highlight Bid Management and Automation Features
Bid Adjustment Rules: Train your team on setting rules for adjusting bids based on performance. This includes adjusting bids by device, location, time of day, and audience targeting.

Automated Bidding Strategies: Show how the third-party platform can automate bidding strategies based on predefined goals (e.g., maximizing conversions, achieving a target CPA, or targeting a specific ROAS).

Budget Management: Teach teams how to use budget management features to allocate funds effectively across campaigns and ad groups, optimizing based on performance.

5. Emphasize Integration and Syncing with Bing Ads
Bid Synchronization: Ensure the team understands how bid adjustments made in the third-party platform sync with Bing Ads. Show them how to ensure that all bid changes, keywords, and ads are up to date in both platforms.

Campaign Structure Alignment: Explain how campaign and ad group structures in the third-party platform align with those in Bing Ads. Proper syncing ensures consistency in reporting and avoids discrepancies in performance data.

6. Incorporate Data Analytics and Reporting Tools
Reporting Dashboards: Train teams on how to use the reporting tools within the third-party platform. Show them how to generate performance reports, track trends, and analyze metrics to make informed decisions.

Custom Alerts: Teach the team to set up custom alerts for important performance metrics, such as budget overspend, underperforming keywords, or low ROAS. Alerts help them stay on top of campaign health.

Attribution Insights: Emphasize how to use attribution modeling in the third-party platform to understand the full customer journey across Bing Ads and other marketing channels.

7. Training on Campaign Optimization Strategies
Keyword Management: Show how the third-party platform can help identify high-performing keywords, suggest new keyword opportunities, and refine existing keyword lists for better performance.

Bid and Budget Allocation: Teach teams how to optimize bids and budgets dynamically based on performance data. Help them understand how to prioritize campaigns or ad groups based on the value they provide to the business.

A/B Testing: Train teams to use A/B testing features within the platform to test different ad copy, landing pages, or bidding strategies to identify what works best.

Performance Review: Encourage regular performance reviews to assess how the automated bidding strategies and optimizations are affecting key metrics, and adjust strategies as necessary.

8. Ensure Continuous Learning and Feedback Loops
Ongoing Support: Provide continuous support and resources for troubleshooting issues or answering questions that arise. Having access to platform-specific documentation or customer support can help with any technical challenges.

Regular Check-ins: Schedule follow-up training sessions or check-ins to review progress, address challenges, and introduce any new features or updates to the platform.

Encourage Experimentation: Foster a culture of testing and experimenting with different bidding strategies, campaign structures, and optimization techniques. Allow the team to explore different scenarios and learn from results.

9. Focus on Collaboration and Communication
Cross-Department Communication: If multiple teams are involved in the campaign process (e.g., marketing, sales, data analysis), ensure there's clear communication regarding how the third-party platform will be used. Everyone should be on the same page regarding objectives, data-sharing, and reporting.

Feedback Loops for Continuous Improvement: Ensure there is a feedback loop between team members working with the platform and the decision-makers who review results. This helps to refine strategies and optimize campaigns more effectively.

10. Monitor and Adjust Performance
Monitor Initial Results: After the team starts using the platform, closely monitor the performance of campaigns to ensure that the automated strategies are performing as expected.

Adjust Based on Insights: If certain strategies or tactics are underperforming, encourage the team to make adjustments. The beauty of third-party bid management tools is that they allow for fast iterations and optimization.

Conclusion:
Training internal teams to use third-party bid management platforms effectively with Bing Ads requires a mix of foundational knowledge about Bing Ads, hands-on practice with the platform, and ongoing learning. By following these best practices, teams will be better equipped to optimize bids, automate processes, and drive meaningful results across their campaigns. This, in turn, can lead to higher efficiency, better campaign performance, and improved ROI for the business.