TrueInsight Newsletter

The Little Microsite That Could
Four Reasons Why a Microsite Can Drive Major Marketing Results for Your Business

When it came time to unveil the BK Tendercrisp sandwich in 2004, Burger King decided to go with a relatively new online marketing tactic: they launched SubservientChicken.com, a small website dedicated solely to the new sandwich, which lived independent of Burger King’s primary website at its own unique URL. With that single effort, the viral marketing phenomenon known as the microsite was born.

Since then, virtually every brand giant has followed suit. OfficeMax runs a wildly popular holiday microsite every year at ElfYourself.com. Philips raised a few eyebrows with ShaveEverywhere.com, a risque microsite hawking their Body Groomer line of electric razors. And almost every car make and model has its own microsite these days. (Check out Volkswagen UK’s Passat microsite for starters.)

But if you think microsites are only for the biggest name brands, think again. Here are a few good reasons why your business should consider adding a microsite to your marketing mix.

A microsite gives you singular focus
Whereas your company’s main website has to encompass every aspect of your business, a microsite allows you to put a full-scale promotion behind a single product, service, event, or partnership:

• When Duplin Winery partnered with the Carolina Hurricanes to create a wine honoring the NHL team’s tenth season, they celebrated it on a dedicated microsite: DuplinTen.com
• Although their practice covers virtually every area of corporate law, law firm Perkins Coie employs a microsite, MoreSoftMoneyHardLaw.com, to promote their expertise in and create a conversation around campaign finance law.
• Each year, regional non-profit Make-a-Wish of Minnesota promotes and takes online reservations for their largest annual benefit, The Wish Ball, at an independent event microsite, WishBallMN.org.
• Canadian community finance organization DID marketed and accepted online entries for their youth essay contest at DoingMyPart.coop.

Microsites are search-engine friendly
Because microsites typically only focus on a single product or service, it’s much easier to optimize them for a specific keyword or phrase. Given a little bit of time and a few pages of keyword-rich content, you can come to own that keyword or phrase in natural search.

Search on the term “campaign finance law” in Google, for example. Perkins Coie’s aforementioned microsite, MoreSoftMoneyHardLaw.com, comes up on the first page of results. The law firm’s primary site, however, doesn’t even appear in the first twenty pages of results.

A microsite extends your brand in a fun, engaging way
Your business’s site is probably just that: all business. Microsites are one of the few areas of marketing where you’re allowed, even encouraged, to get wildly creative with your brand.

In a move to stimulate new account growth, Alabama Credit Union recently launched an entire marketing campaign around DumpYourBank.com, a hilarious microsite that immerses visitors in the fictional world of Dr. H. Gruber, a relationship therapist who specializes in helping consumers cope with breaking up with their bank. The microsite is a huge creative leap from ACU’s primary website, a buttoned-up, all-business site that’s rightfully focused on informing rather than entertaining.

Getting creative can garner you a lot of attention—DumpYourBank.com brought ACU significant media coverage, as well as Webby and Addy honors—but it’s important that you don’t lose sight of your business objectives amidst all the fun and games. DumpYourBank.com, for example, features a prominent call to action on every page (“Click here to dump your bank!”). Visitors who click through are taken to a Web page where they can open a new account online, download a Dump Your Bank Switch Kit, or lookup nearby locations to open an account in person.

Microsites are budget friendly
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need animation, games, and cutting edge graphics for your microsite to be effective. As long as the content is good, the microsite is focused, and your marketing objectives are clear, you can build a valuable microsite for the fraction of the cost of a typical company website.

If you’d like to learn more about building a microsite for your business, ask your TruePresence consultant about our TrueBlue Lite website and microsite solution or click here to request more information.