For a while now, we’ve been talking a lot about different kinds of microsites, the different utilities they could have, the benefits they could bring, considerations to make before jumping into their creation, and how great a microsite marketing strategy could be. And the thing is microsites can really bring along a bunch of perks that make them a strategy like no other if you are up for the challenge of creating them.
However, for whatever the reason is, during all these months we never wrote about probably one of the more popular reasons why to create a microsite: to announce the new launching of a product or service. This is not a very original strategy these days, but that doesn’t make it at all less successful. Companies realized that having one special site dedicated to this brand new thing they are launching goes a long way. And that’s why today we’ll be deep diving into this particular subject.
So let’s imagine you are wandering through Instagram and you see that a famous bakery you love just announced they are bringing a new set of cakes to their menu. So obviously you go to the announcement to see what it’s all about and click on their link in bio to deep dive in to their brand new menu. And that’s when it happens: the link in bio doesn’t get you to their menu as it always did, but actually to a brand new site announcing these new cakes they are launching, and asking users to interact with them by sharing their family recipes of these cakes. And that’s when you know it: you’ve never loved them more.
So let’s jump right in and find out if it is worth it for you to create a microsite to announce the launching of a new product, shall we?
SEO gold mine
Just as any other type of microsite, the ones meant to announce a new launching are a SEO goldmine. Just think of your new microsite as a white linen ready to be filled up with keywords, links, content and everything. If you want, you can even launch ads for these microsites and then Google will definitely like you better than they did before. So everything you do for your microsite’s SEO will also be great for your main site’s SEO just because of their linking to it. And since microsites are awesome for your SEO, a microsite meant to tell all about your new product and how it improves your brand will definitely be an awesome opportunity to take advantage of this.
Functionality
We’ve already talked about how much functionality should your microsite have, and when facing the question of creating or not a microsite for your new launching this turns into a very important aspect to consider. Does this new launch include a bunch of cool assets (such as asking your visitors for their recipes, having them interact with each other, maybe even adding a blog or something) or is it more like a “hey, we’ve got this cool new thing that you should totally check out!” kind of announcement? Well, depending on that you can always choose to save some time and create a landing page instead.
How fancy is it?
Just as you would’ve loved for your bakery to create a whole new cool website to announce their new cakes, imagine how fancy it’ll look when your users go to your website and find out you care so much about this new launching (and you are so fancy) that you actually made the effort to create a brand new site all about it. So another great reason to go ahead and build your microsite is the fact that it will be great for your brand image and your visitors will probably really appreciate it.
The temporality factor
Related to how much functionality you’d like your microsite to have, there’s the question of how long it will live. If it will be a one-week-only experience, or if it’s planned to be out there for months are very important considerations to make. Basically, depending on this you’ll figure how much effort you’ll want to put into this microsite if it is that you actually want to build it. Both functionality and the temporality factor are aspects that set microsites and landing pages apart, so again, you should also figure out if you are willing to make the effort for something that may last just for a couple of days, or if you rather create just a landing page instead.
Investment
A microsite, just as any other site, is an investment: it requires time, money, and energy. So before you jump right into the creation of this awesomely cool website, you should definitely figure out whether or not you can make that investment. Do you have the time? How tight is your budget? Do you even feel like jumping into the planning and designing of a new site? Figuring this out is super important to do anticipatedly, because otherwise, you may end up finding yourself stepping into something you are actually not ready for.
So the conclusion here is quite simple: microsites to announce launches are awesome, and that’s a fact. But it’s also a fact that not every strategy is prepared to build one, and there’s always the possibility of creating a nice landing page that works as an announcement page and that it will probably be much cheaper and quicker. So the question here is: are you ready to create an awesome site, or would you rather stick to the basics until you become fully prepared?
Mora is a PPC Analyst at Hellbent Digital at work, and a theater nerd when not at work. And it turns out understanding theater—that is, how to put on compelling live shows that engage the audience—is a very useful skill for understanding digital marketing.