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Blog post

Cutting through the noise to generate new demand

February 29, 2024
A person laying on a coutch using a tablet.

Imagine this: you've just launched a new product and you're ready to take the world by storm. You've poured your heart and soul into creating something truly unique, and you know that it has the potential to change the game. But there's one problem - your brand is a small fish in a big pond, struggling to get noticed amidst a sea of competitors. It's not enough to have a great product, you need to capture the attention of your audience and make them care.

So how can you effectively introduce your offering to a new and engaged audience? Here are our top tips to cut through the noise and generate new demand:

1. Harness the power of video to capture attention

Whether your potential customers are learning a new skill or planning their next trip, video is quickly becoming the preferred way to consume content. In fact, by 2025, people in the US will spend 4 hours of their day watching digital video, up from 3 hours in 20211 – making it the perfect time to integrate video into your strategy.

Knowing where to start with Video and Connected TV (CTV) advertising can be a daunting task. It often involves navigating multiple platforms and acquiring new skills, not to mention the challenge of finding the right audience. Microsoft Advertising simplifies this process with Video & Connected TV ads - designed for ease of use and to help you reach your target audience through Microsoft's audience intelligence, leveraging signals such as search intent to help you connect with an engaged and valuable audience.

With Connected TV ads in the Microsoft Advertising platform, you can increase your brand awareness with audiences watching their favorite movies and TV shows on their smart TVs and connected devices. You can showcase your brand on the main living room screen on some of the most watched CTV platforms like Netflix, Max, Roku, Hulu, Samsung TV Plus, Discovery+ and many more.

With Video ads, you can reach your audience as they watch videos across desktop, mobile or tablet while they are browsing the web and watching online videos.

A TV sceen and a Laptop side by side with examples of online videos.

2. Stand out with display ads

Display advertising is a powerful tool for generating new demand with eye-catching creatives. However, with the prevalence of "banner blindness," where consumers often overlook banner ads due to overexposure, it's crucial to target the right audience and strategically place your ads. By ensuring that your display advertising reaches the right people in the right places, you can effectively combat this challenge and capture the attention of potential customers.

With premium supply from one of the largest global marketplaces, you can access scaled opportunities to showcase your brand on beautiful display placements across the web, directly in the Microsoft Advertising platform. Plus, you can drive deeper connections with Microsoft’s unique intent signals built from searches, web activity, and more to target highly qualified audiences. These are exclusive audiences that you can only find with Microsoft.

An example of a Surface Pro 9 advertisement on a Microsoft platform.

3. Maximize your ad spend

It’s easy to waste your money with CPM bid strategies on ads that are never actually seen. With Microsoft Advertising, you can rest easy knowing that across our CPM bid strategies, every impression that you pay for is viewable – helping you to guarantee no wasted ad spend and to ensure your ads are seen by your target audience.

But you don’t have to just take our word for it. You can now leverage third-party verification for your ads with Integral Ad Science (IAS) to receive reports on viewability, invalid traffic and brand safety and suitability. If you’re working with IAS, you can easily add your IAS tag URLs to verify metrics on campaigns with a CPM bidding strategy.2

A laptop with an IAS metrics dashboard on the screen.

4. Drive scale on high-quality inventory

When doubling down on your efforts to generate new demand and reach new audiences, it’s important to not compromise on brand safety. Our comprehensive brand safety controls ensure that ads are not displayed alongside high or medium sensitivity content. As an advertiser, it's also important to ensure that your ads appear on reputable and appropriate sites to safeguard your brand's reputation while effectively expanding your reach.

With Microsoft Advertising, you can connect with an engaged audience through Microsoft properties like Microsoft Start, Microsoft Edge, and Outlook, as well as our publisher partners including CNN, The New York Times, USA Today, among others.

We are continuously expanding to provide you with new opportunities to engage with your audience. You can now connect with your audience across additional Microsoft properties – including Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Casual Games – allowing you to reach your audience as they are gaming and getting things done.

Two examples of ads. One on the Microsoft Casual Games platform and one on Microsoft 365.

Getting started has never been so easy

Setting up your campaigns in the Microsoft Advertising platform has never been easier. We recently introduced a new, intuitive way to create your campaigns, helping you to achieve your goals effortlessly – whether it’s brand awareness, generating leads, or driving conversions. Now when you select the goal you want to achieve, you will be taken to the campaign types that can help you to achieve that goal. Plus, getting started with Video, CTV and Display only takes a few minutes. To learn more, check out our new how-to videos on the Microsoft Advertising YouTube channel.

With Microsoft Advertising, you can create a holistic strategy across connected TV, video, display and native that will help you expand your impact and active across touchpoints, all in one connected ecosystem.

So, while it can be difficult to get noticed amidst a sea of competitors, with the right tactics, you can capture the attention of your target audience and generate new demand for your brand. With determination and creativity, even the smallest fish can make a big splash.

Want to learn more? We’ll cover this, and many more product updates for Audience ads that help you to achieve your goals in our webcast on March 21st. Sign up here today.

Help us improve Microsoft Advertising

Your comments and feedback are integral to shape and improve our product. You can use the Microsoft Advertising Feedback portal, in-product feedback, Twitter, or Instagram, and as always, contact Support.

[1] US Average time spent per day with digital video forecasts: eMarketer Insider Intelligence.
[2]  IAS verification: Available for display ads and online video ads, coming soon for native ads.

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