As a product marketer, one of the most fascinating parts of my job is to be a listening post for product feedback. We are constantly looking to improve at Microsoft Advertising and talking to customers always yields incredible insights into how we can be better.
While we understand that the tried-and-tested approach may be reliable, we also know that developing innovative new products and services is more important than ever before. As a company with a long history of using technology to make the world a better place, product innovation and a creative approach have always come first and foremost in everything we do.
One of the more challenging problems we face is how to find a balance between our two most common pieces of feedback:
1.
“Make it more like Google” on the one hand and
2.
“Stop being like Google” on the other.
Both pieces of feedback are valid and reasonable. There is an understandable desire for product parity with the market leader. Google parity makes our advertisers’ lives easier when managing campaigns and reduces the need for repetitive optimisation. But there is just as much a desire to be different. To innovate and do something unique.
We take this feedback very seriously and we acknowledge that we have to try and do both. Our goal is to find the right balance between the two. We aspire to create products that match Google functionality and performance, while at the same time delivering new search experiences that will inspire and delight.
Delivering product parity
We are always working to strike that balance. In the first half of 2019 we released 30 new products, many of which are Google parity features including:
- DSA with page feeds–dynamically create ads based on priority pages on your website
- In-market Audiences–target the people in the market for specific products
- Auto-bidding functionality (Maximise Clicks and Maximise Conversions)–automatically adjust bids to meet your advertising goals
- Scripts–create bespoke functionality within our platform
We have listened to your feedback and prioritised the products you care about the most to bring them to the Microsoft Advertising ecosystem. But we are also innovating and differentiating.
Driving innovation
I want to touch on just three product innovations we have that set us apart:
- 3D ads–have 3D models of your products in the SERP
- Action Extensions–include call to action buttons in your ad
- LinkedIn Profile Targeting–bid boost on LinkedIn audience features like job function, industry and company
We want to give you unique product experiences that you can’t find anywhere else. Products like 3D ads, which give you the ability to have a tactile 3D model of your product that responds to touch, that can spin around and be seen from all angles, that lets you try out different options and colours, and gives you an interactive ad experience overall.
Action Extensions is another recent innovation that has been launched in all our markets globally, allowing you to put a call to action button in your ad. We’re also working closer with our partners at LinkedIn to give you LinkedIn Profile Targeting–a unique layering of data unavailable outside of Microsoft which adds new audience targeting options to your campaigns.
These three
–3D ads, Action Extensions and LinkedIn Profile Targeting–are just a few examples of the innovation we are driving in the market. There are many more and, if you would like further information about them, I would highly encourage you to reach out to your account manager to hear what’s new at Microsoft Advertising that's setting us apart.
It's a fine balancing act and our commitment is to walk the line between parity and innovation.