Microsites, the new Big?

By Dave Forde on October 23rd, 2006

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Taking a page from Seth Godin’s “Small is the new Big“, Kagan has some new data to help tweak your next advertising spend. The media landscape is becoming increasingly competitive and cluttered with brands vying for eyeballs. Microsites , which are small and targeted sites with editorial or commercial content, usually with their own unique url and link back to a main site are becoming the destination to help marketers target their specific audience.

Brands such as American Express and Carnival Cruises are leveraging microsites such as the ones they developed for the U.S. Open tennis tournament using player Andy Roddick (andysmojo.com) and one where customers get to exchange vacation experiences (cruise-addicts.com). Adding a dash of “user generated content” brand managers now have the opportunity to have the ability to leverage Word of Mouth Marketing (upcoming conference). Here in Canada, Molson Dry has recently launched a new site which allows visitors to enter contests, share photos or video content. (site developed by Fjord Interactive Marketing + Technology).

How can advertisers leverage microsites?

Kagan

Staying on top of what it is that brings consumers to the web and what are the ultimate destinations. In the chart above research of products and services continues to be the “hook”, while purchasing of products and services is the second largest usage with 60% of the survey respondents. Contents and sweepstakes hold a strong third place at 50% of what people are doing online. Now winning a new iPod is great, but I think we’re past the days of when that’s the big draw for a prize.

Winning with integrated marketing!

You can’t miss the many headlines of major US brands who are launching campaigns on MySpace, but let’s face it, not every company across Canada can afford to spend $50,000 on just one piece of a campaign. So what’s the answer, combining a strong integrated marketing campaign along with your microsite. Depending on your target audience there will be other marketing mediums, possibly print or TV that can be leveraged to dangle as a carrot to get your desired audience to visit your microsite.

Do you currently use microsites in your marketing campaigns?