Landing Pages Versus Microsites

What’s the difference between a landing page and a microsite? About $3,000... I’ll be here all weekend folks, and don’t forget to tip your waiters.

A landing page is a singular page that helps a client complete a call to action.  It provides a limited amount of information on a very specific product or service, and usually has some way for the client to acquire the product or service.  It shouldn’t focus on more than one aspect of your business.  

A landing page is the final step in the process. As such, the branding of the site should be congruent with the branding found on your traditional site.  Think of your landing page as the cash register in a brick and mortar store, as many times, it can function like one.  The customer has already seen the entire store, and is there to finish the transaction.  They don’t need to be introduced to the brand, or start to formulate new questions.  They need to buy, schedule an appointment, etc.

A microsite is completely different.  It isn’t limited to a single page.  It often times has its own landing page attached.  It is a tool used to introduce your product in a different light than normal.  Therefore, the branding can be different from your traditional website, and skewed towards a specific audience.  It can have a different look and feel than anything else the business has produced in the past.

The advantages of this are excellent.  You can introduce new product or services without effecting your current branding.  You can launch campaign specific ads, that speak to your target demographic in ways that differ from your main page.  You can restructure your business to meet the needs of an exact customer, and highlight your company in a completely different way.

For an example, look at:
http://www.coca-cola.com/en/index.html
http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/

The first site changes its skin often.  It has a different look and feel, depending on the current campaign that is running in their marketing efforts at the time.  The second site, the corporate site, changes a lot less.  It has a full menu, to get to all aspects of the Coca-Cola universe.

One-off ads should have landing pages, to help create ROI statistics.  Cross medium campaigns should have microsites that tie together all aspects of the current marketing campaign.  Figuring out which tool works best for your marketing needs is just one more reason to work with a seasoned account executive when creating advertisements.