On 3/26/14 Bing announced that Product Ads (Bing's equivalent to Google Product Listing Ads) are now available to all U.S. retailers. This is great news! The steps below will guide the configuration process needed to launch. NOTE: For additional help Bing has created a 3 part video series here:
General Login
1.
Login to Bing Ads by visiting this link and clicking "Sign in to Bing Ads":
http://advertise.bingads.microsoft.com/en-us/home
2.
Enter your login credentials. Note that Bing has two login methods, one via email address (new method) and another via username (old method). If you need to login via username (and not email) click the "Sign in with Bing Ads user name" on the login screen. You may be prompted to convert your account to the new login method (probably a good idea).
Bing Merchant Center Access or Creation
3.
After you have logged in, click "Tools" in the top right corner.
4.
Click "Bing Merchant Center".
5.
You should now be presented with a list of your stores (usually it will just be one store with your name). Click your store name. NOTE: If you have no stores configured here, you will need to click "Create Store" and setup your store. If you do need to configure a new store, please send VersaFeed your login credentials once the store is created.
Bing Merchant Center Configuration
6.
You should now see a list of tabs "Store Summary", "Store Settings", etc.
7.
Write down your "Store ID" and "Store name" for later reference.
8.
Click "Store Settings".
9.
Under "Catalog Settings", make sure both "Product Ads" and "Rich Captions" are selected. Click "Save". If you encounter any errors here, you will need to contact Bing support. The Bing system does have some hiccups as it is relatively new and there are many new accounts being created.
Catalog Management
10.
Now click "Catalog Management" and select your "Catalog Name". Typically, there is only one catalog in this area. NOTE: if you do not see a catalog, please click "Create Catalog" and once configured, contact your VersaFeed account manager to begin feed uploads.
11.
Scroll down to "Recent catalog files", double check that you see recent upload activity. This indicates that your VersaFeed feeds are indeed uploading. If you do not see feed uploads or feed uploads dates are old, please contact your VersaFeed account manager. NOTE: ignore "Catalog file updated" and "Catalog file created" dates -- they are misleading. The only dates to double check are "Recent catalog files" at the bottom of the page.
12.
Double check your tax and shipping settings by clicking on the "Tax" and "Shipping" tabs near the top of the page. NOTE: shipping settings may already be included in the feed (especially if you have shipping rules that are not simple).
Launch Product Ads Campaign
13.
Now that you've verified your Merchant Center feeds and configuration, you can click "Campaigns" at the top of the screen to actually create a new campaign for your Product Ads.
14.
Click "Create campaign" and then select "Product ad campaign". NOTE: alternatively you can try importing your AdWords Product Listing Ad campaign, however, this method can be messy and may not import correctly.
15.
Fill out the various campaign options and double check that under "Product Extensions" your previously noted "Store id" and "Store name" match. Complete campaign configuration falls outside the scope of this article, please contact your SEM agency or Bing Ads directly if you have questions here.
16.
Save your new campaign and you're set! Please note that it can officially take up to 48 hours for your ads to begin appearing, however, we have seen this take even longer. If you are not receiving impressions after 2-4 days, contact Bing Ads or your VersaFeed account manager.