13 July 2010 | Author: D. Warburton Search Copywriter

Thomson Local boosts local business with Bing ads

Travel directories company Thomson Local is now offering clients greater exposure and access to a range of location-based services thanks to a new three-year partnership with Microsoft, which sees Thomson becoming the first UK reseller of Microsoft AdCenter through Bing.

The directory services provider said its deal with Microsoft "will enable Thomson Local to provide businesses with enhanced geo-targeting capabilities, to match their adverts to location specific queries by Bing users."

Similar to Google AdWords, Microsoft adCenter sells PPC ads directly to advertisers, basing the prominence of the ads on how much the advertiser is willing to pay combined with its CTR (click-through rate). One distinct advantage of adCenter is that it allows advertisers to target users based on demographics - including age, gender, lifestyle and income - and ads can be chosen to run on specific days or times.

Brand Republic reports that Thomson's new deal with Microsoft is just the latest chapter in their partnership, but the first time the company will be able to offer its clients the services of Microsoft's rising 'decision engine'.

"We have a long-standing partnership with Microsoft and are delighted to be able to offer our customers new, innovative opportunities to target consumers on Microsoft's new search experience, Bing," said Richard Avery, head of digital and development at ThomsonLocal.com.

"Our focus is to ensure our customers gain the local, targeted consumer exposure they need, and to give users relevant search results across a wide range of media."

Microsoft EMEA ad services manager, Aaron McGrath, explained: "We are really excited about this deal with Thomson Local and the ability to connect their customers to our rapidly growing Bing user base.

"As a 'decision engine', Bing is designed to help people make faster, more informed decisions.

"Our partnership with Thomson Local definitely reinforces this value by providing our users with more local, relevant and accurate sponsored listings enabling them to make those all important choices quicker than ever."