Marketing with a Microsite

Microsites can be a great opportunity to market events, promote new products or services, or support an advertising campaign. A microsite is a marketing-driven website designed to deliver a particular message to a targeted audience. Microsites are generally fewer pages than a company’s main website. Still, microsites can be just as complicated to create as a traditional website. There is often more user interaction through forms and surveys designed to capture user feedback specific to the campaign.

Creating a microsite makes tracking conversions easier because user data can be gathered directly or tracked through links to your main website and associated with the marketing campaign. For example, we recently designed a marketing microsite with TricorBraun for a new ad campaign called “Call TricorBraun.” The advertisements in this campaign directed visitors to a unique URL, www.calltricorbraun.com, where the microsite was set up. A memorable URL is another marketing advantage of a microsite because traffic is directed to a specific URL for your entire campaign or event. This URL should be simple to remember so individuals who see your ads or hear about your event can easily find your site.

The Call TricorBraun microsite was designed in the image and likeness of the print ad so that visitors associate the area with the advertisement. A microsite allows you to try a layout and design that may differ from your primary site but can be more conducive or specific to what you are promoting on your microsite. The Call TricorBraun microsite design also included survey and contact fields to collect customer data. Upon completing the required fields, the user was directed to a specific landing page on the primary website based on their survey responses.

Marketing microsites can range in size from one landing page to a couple of landing pages. The pages can also include a contact form, survey, or order entry form, depending on how much information your campaign needs to collect. Generally, a microsite should be concise since the goal is highly-targeted compared to your main website. This site only requires information pertinent to the marketing campaign throughout your event. Microsites have shorter life spans than regular websites since it is no longer needed once the campaign ends. You don’t want to forget about maintaining your main website since your customers will be directed back to your usual web pages after the microsite is taken down. 

To learn more about microsites or marketing-driven web design, contact our team!