In seeking to increase their reach and help define a target audience, brands must ask themselves whether to advertise on Google or Bing. Advertisement budgets have a limit, so prioritizing one network over the other can be a prudent decision in consolidating resources, especially if you’re certain one advertising network plays better within your industry.

The question often relies on which industry you’re in, since Google works better for some industries, while Bing yields better results for others. Homing in on the top six industry types, we help identify the ideal advertising strategies for each industry, with Google or Bing in mind.

Construction

Construction jobs are typically expensive and time-consuming, which means consumers tend to be picky about which construction firm they use. As a result, it’s important to craft a legitimate and respectable marketing campaign, in addition to identifying effective keywords that find a middle ground between obscure and overly competitive.

Google AdWords makes it easy to investigate keywords with their “Keyword Planner.” The tool lets you type in a keyword and find out how many searches per month it yields, in addition to its suggested price per click. This data can help inform you of the proper keyword to prioritize, whether it’s “commercial contractor” or “construction company.” Since Google is the most popular ad network — thereby demanding a high reputation — and has tools to identify keywords easily, Google seems like a practical choice for construction firms.

Hospitality

Small businesses in the hospitality industry, such as salons, must seize the power of advertising to stand out from their competition, of which there are likely to be several within a few miles. Bing is an ideal solution for small businesses seeking to advertise, since Bing has less competition and lower cost-per-click prices than Google.

Google may be ideal for a huge firm that needs to compete on the highest level. However, Bing’s accommodation of small businesses, with lower prices and competition, in addition to more granular control of campaigns and ad group levels, makes the network an ideal fit for hospitality services like salons, which — apart from major chains — are operating as small businesses.

Fitness Centers and Gyms

Fitness centers and gyms are ideal players in the advertising market, since it only takes a few words to remind someone they need to get in shape. However, there are so many gyms and types of gyms, wading through saturated waters can be a challenge for advertisers. In a case like this, Google’s knack for clearly defined keyword match types makes advertising a bit easier for fitness centers and gyms.

For example, the keywords “CrossFit classes,” “CrossFit gyms” and “CrossFit box Arizona” would all fit under the “CrossFit Classes” or “CrossFit Gyms” ad groups. Meanwhile, adding the keyword “beginner” to any of those keywords would place them in the ad group “Beginners CrossFit” instead. Ad groups help marketers more easily define the audience and locale they want to target, which is essential for successfully advertising fitness centers and gyms.

Medical

Rehab centers and medical facilities are abundant throughout the country, since everyone needs medical care. As a result, rehab centers that are trying to advertise on Google may feel like it’s difficult to stand out among the fierce competition, including rehab centers that have a greater advertising budget. Since Bing reaches 64 million searchers Google doesn’t reach, Bing presents an ideal platform for rehab centers and those in the medical industry seeking to break away from competition and stand out in the digital advertising sphere.

Restaurants

Restaurants are another competition with ample industry, though the niche-based categorization of eating establishments makes competition less fierce. The ideal approach for a restaurant is to focus their advertising on the cuisine or ambiance they offer. Whether it’s an Irish pub, Chinese restaurant, sushi place, Italian restaurant or serving Mexican fare, a quality restaurant advertisement makes viewers exclaim, “I want that tonight!”

Google’s aforementioned defined keyword match types are suitable for the restaurant industry, since they can target specific ad groups, which can further categorize by cuisine type. Just stating a restaurant has good food likely isn’t enough. The advertisement should provide more specifics, like the food type and potential ambiance, which Google will automatically place in its relevant ad group. The categorization of Google ads is ideal for restaurants, where sub-categories and groupings are vital for advertising success.

Retail Stores

Fashion is constantly evolving, with new tastes and trends in each season. Clothing stores are wise to stay up to date on these trends, evaluating their inventory based on seasons and trends. With trends and buzz all the rage in fashion, it’s important for a clothing store to have a notable social media following, especially with millennials the target demographic of many clothing stores.

Bing accommodates social media strengths with social extensions, specifically in showing the number of Twitter followers an advertiser has within their ad. Google takes a similar approach by showing the number of Google Plus followers, though that doesn’t do much, considering Twitter’s exponentially higher user base. For marketers that value a social media presence, like clothing stores and brands, Bing tends to win out due to their embrace of social extensions outside of Google’s own, underused social networks.

These industries can all benefit from advertising on Google or Bing, though the ideal network for them depends on a variety of factors, such as their competition, niche and social media following.

 Author

Lexie Lu is a designer and writer. She loves researching trends in the web and graphic design industry. She writes weekly on Design Roast and can be followed on Twitter @lexieludesigner.