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June 17, 2009
Give The Microsite A Little Love.
Yes, websites themselves are rapidly becoming passe as we evolve new information architectures and content consumption experiences engineered through social media. But, in the transition period from what-was to what-is-yet-to-be, web properties remain a critical component of information distribution, especially with the continuing decline in printed media.
On websites. visitors want a fast way to get to the content that is of interest to them. However, doing so on vast corporate portals can be frustrating. The solution is often found in smaller, subject/solution-specific sites that help a prospect get directly to the content quickly and effectively. Thus was originally born the "microsite".
But through overengineering, overthinking and overspending, the microsite has begun to fall on disfavor over the past year. I contend it remains a valuable concept in a world that continues to think in smaller and smaller bites (bytes? Tweets?)
As an example, Prudential's long-running Retirement Red Zone sticks out in my mind(https://www.retirementredzone.com/retirementredzone/ ). It takes a single concept and projects it directly to its visitors.
A real key in making a microsite plan work, is ensuring that the content is meaningful, relevant and justifies the visit. Too thin or too fat both are bad, and off-target is the kiss of death. These projects do not require excessive eye candy (especially in B2B), although visual engagement remains a functional component of content when communicating with many younger audiences.
Websites are evolving as are all media, but more clients need to rethink how they use online media for content distribution, and microsites remain a useful component of strategy in a majority of these discussions.
Posted by jcioban at June 17, 2009 6:38 PM
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