A microsite employs different branding techniques to reach a new target audience, produce more interest in your brand and result in new leads. According to the Content Marketing Institute and SproutWorth, over half of content marketers for B2B and B2C companies are seeing results from creating these sites, which typically have a URL separate from your company website. But in order for a microsite to be successful, it must consist of three things:
- One specific topic
- A distinctive voice
- Effective design and user experience
One Specific Topic
Once on your microsite, a visitor should be able to immediately know what the purpose of your site is as well as learn useful information from it. The list of possible topics to cover is unending: company achievements, seasonal events, new products, promotions, or campaigns, industry-relevant subjects and so forth. But whatever topic you choose, provide high-quality content on that matter exclusively and ensure it serves a purpose for your business. For example, security system SimpliSafe created a parallax scrolling microsite to illustrate how users can protect themselves at home.
A Distinctive Voice
Typically, companies communicate with visitors expressing one consistent tone and style across its main pages. Because microsites are launching a new development for a business or are expanding to a new market, the microsite must stand out from its mother brand with a distinctive voice and capture the attention of the intended audience. Office Max created ElfYourself, a microsite enabling visitors to upload images of people who are then depicted as dancing elves in a video that follows shorty after uploading the images. Once the video ends, coupons and promotions for Office Max appear. In 2011, half a billion people had “elfed” themselves, Forbes called it the “best digital holiday campaign” and the campaign is still going strong today.
Effective Design and User Experience
To make a great first impression on new visitors, ensure the microsite provides a positive experience that encourages users to stay. Loading time, overall layout, images used and placement of call to action buttons all contribute to the user’s experience. Also provide interactive features that encourage exploration of the site. BoltHouse Farms created FoodPornIndex.com, which shows how many people on social media are talking about healthy versus unhealthy foods. Users can click on different foods, such as donuts or grapes, to see how many conversations are happening about that particular item as well as watch the food “dance” to different music.
Microsites give companies the power to highlight an aspect of their business in a way that main websites can’t. Thus, for a business to grow to its full potential, relevant microsites should be created in addition to a brand’s home site.
Author: Phillip Thune has been Chief Executive Officer of Textbroker since 2010. Through his leadership and expertise in business and content marketing practices, Textbroker continues to grow dramatically and remain the leading provider of on-demand, unique written content. Textbroker can be found on twitter at @TextBroker.
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