10 Min Read
Microsites have emerged as powerful tools for targeted marketing and specialized content delivery. Brands across multiple industries have launched microsites demonstrating the effectiveness of combining great content and design in an online experience highly focused on specific marketing goals.
What "Microsite" Means
So, what exactly is a microsite? Simply put, a microsite is a small, standalone website typically focused on a specific topic, campaign, or product.
Unlike traditional websites, microsites are limited in scope and designed to serve a narrow purpose. They often exist on a unique domain separate from the brand's primary website. They offer visitors a more focused and immersive digital experience, making them ideal for promoting important events, products, or initiatives.
How Microsites Differ from Websites and Landing Pages
Before looking at examples of great microsites, let's briefly differentiate between microsites, websites, and landing pages–they are very similar, but have important distinctions:
- Websites typically serve as large, comprehensive online platforms for brands or businesses, providing everything from information about products, services, and company details, to e-Commerce shops and online portals for customers, staff, or distribution partners.
- Microsites are a type of website, but they are typically much smaller in scope and often designed for specific campaigns, events, or promotions.
- And finally, landing pages are single web pages aimed at driving conversions, such as capturing leads or promoting a particular offer. Websites and microsites can (and typically do) include landing pages.
Why Brands Launch Microsites
Brands often use microsites to create a more immersive and tailored experience for certain audiences, and because a microsite offers unique advantages that support their marketing goals:
- Microsites don't require the resources needed to build a full website as they are typically built to support niche business offerings or specific marketing campaigns.
- Microsites don't encumber or dilute the main company website with additional content that only focuses on a niche topic or offering.
- Microsites don't have to be confined to just a single landing page, they can feature any number of landing pages needed to support the features or functions of the microsite.
6 Examples of Great Microsite Design
These microsite examples excel in their respective domains by offering targeted content, valuable resources, and user-friendly experiences tailored to their specific audiences, making them excellent examples of effective microsite design and implementation.
The microsite site reinforces Red Bull's brand identity around extreme sports.
Red Bull promoted Felix Baumgartner's freefall from the stratosphere on its Stratos microsite, which offered live streaming, interactive simulations, and in-depth content. The site effectively highlights and reinforces Red Bull's brand identity as a leader in extreme sports marketing.
Stunning Visuals and Compelling Storytelling
The microsite delivers an immersive user experience with captivating visuals.
The microsite uses engaging design elements and does a great job of immersing the user in an experience that captivates you with interactive visuals and aerial videography that makes you feel like you're in orbit with Felix Baumgartner as he makes his famous leap from miles above the Earth's surface.
Interactive simulations, live streaming, and rich content transport users virtually into the heart of the action, creating an unforgettable experience.
Note that Red Bull's Stratos microsite doesn't just showcase Felix's space jump; it leverages the death-defying nature of the event to create buzz, drive engagement, and boost Red Bull's brand visibility.
It shows Red Bull's clear brand identity as a leader in extreme sports experiences, which resonates strongly with its target audience of extreme sports enthusiasts, athletes, adrenaline junkies, and loyal fans.
CMS Platform: Not available
Dreamforce microsite highlights the Salesforce annual conference
Salesforce's Dreamforce microsite is dedicated to its annual conference. It showcases the event's speakers, sessions, and networking opportunities. The microsite provides a comprehensive agenda overview, allowing attendees and potential participants to explore and plan their Dreamforce experiences.
The microsite's effectiveness is tied to its organization of content, clear presentation of information, and helpful features for attendees, including interactive registration and agenda customization.
Event Promotion and Visitor Engagement
The Dreamforce microsite exemplifies several best practices for event promotion and visitor engagement.
The Dreamforce microsite incorporates best practices for event promotion and visitor engagement.
- For one, the URL is simple, easy to remember, and easily recognizable as related to the Dreamforce conference, making it more accessible and shareable among attendees and potential participants.
- The microsite provides comprehensive event information, including details about speakers, sessions, agendas, and networking opportunities, empowering attendees to plan their experiences effectively.
- Useful features, such as the microsite's user-friendly registration process, offer interactive tools that help attendees prepare for the event, customize their agendas, and seamlessly navigate the conference schedule.
- In addition, the site reinforces Salesforce's brand messaging and identity as a leader in CRM software solutions and industry events, enhancing brand visibility and recognition.
- The microsite builds buzz for the event by engaging visitors with rich content, such as speaker profiles, session topics, and event highlights, keeping them informed and excited about the conference.
CMS Platform: Salesforce Experience Cloud
The Snowman Builder engages visitors with an easy to use interface for building and modifying your own custom snowman
DBS Interactive’s Snowman Builder demonstrates how microsites can create memorable experiences tied to events or seasons. It offers the digital version of building a snowman, which traditionally has been a fun activity enjoyed by families and loved ones in snowy areas during the Christmas holiday.
Interactive and Festive Content
The Snowman Builder microsite features festive content that captures the holiday spirit, including examples of some best practices for holiday-themed microsites.
- It offers a delightful array of interactive elements, including the ability to add illustrations from a gallery that can be used for the snowman’s head or torso, or fun accessories or background illustrations to further customize the snowman image. These interactive features not only encourage repeated visits but also foster user engagement, making the experience enjoyable for users of all ages.
- Additionally, the microsite provides easy sharing features, including the ability to save and send the snowman you build as a digital holiday eCard, which increases the virality and reach of the content.
- The microsite’s mobile-friendly design ensures a seamless user experience across all devices, so more audiences can experience the Snowman Builder’s festive and immersive user experience that showcases DBS Interactive’s creativity and web design expertise.
CMS Platform: Custom
HubSpot's Inbound
The Hubspot Inbound microsite is the go-to spot for the company's annual conference.
HubSpot's Inbound microsite serves as a digital hub for its annual Inbound conference, featuring speakers, sessions, and resources for marketers and sales professionals who are attending or interested in the event.
The site's user-friendly design allows visitors to navigate content effortlessly, explore details about Hubspot and the Inbound event, and access event resources with ease, all of which enhance the site's value and utility for attendees.
A Useful Platform for Event Networking
The Inbound microsite stands out as a promotional tool for HubSpot's annual conference. Thanks to its helpful features and content, it is crucial to the event's success.
The Inbound microsite for HubSpot's conference features interactive agendas, comprehensive information about speakers, and more.
- One of its standout features is the interactive agenda customization, empowering attendees to plan their schedules, bookmark sessions, and create a more personalized event itinerary.
- The microsite also excels in providing detailed speaker profiles, comprehensive session descriptions, and valuable topic insights, enabling attendees to make informed decisions about which sessions to attend and engage with.
- Furthermore, the microsite incorporates networking tools such as attendee directories, virtual meetups, and social sharing options, fostering networking opportunities and connections among conference participants.
Beyond its design, the Inbound microsite effectively communicates the value of the conference. It encourages engagement from attendees, making it a prime example of strategic event promotion that reinforces HubSpot's brand messaging and positioning as a leading marketing authority.
CMS Platform: HubSpot COS
The Adobe Summit microsite blends visual appeal, content accessibility, and interactivity to deliver effective brand messaging.
Adobe's Summit microsite showcases its digital experience conference, featuring sessions, speakers, and product demonstrations. It offers interactive features like personalized agendas, session recommendations, and networking tools for attendees.
Effective Brand Messaging
The Adobe Summit microsite is a prime example of effective brand messaging. The site's design emphasizes visual appeal, content accessibility, and user interactivity, aligning with Adobe's brand identity and conference objectives.
The engagement strategy provides attendees comprehensive event information, including agendas, speakers, sessions, and networking opportunities. One of its standout features supporting the 2024 conference is its engaging content, such as keynote speeches, session highlights, product demos, and industry insights. This keeps attendees informed and excited about the future of digital marketing in the era of generative AI.
Through clear brand messaging and positioning as a leader in digital marketing, technology, and innovation, the Adobe Summit microsite reinforces Adobe's expertise and thought leadership in the industry, showcasing its products, services, and vision for the future.
CMS Platform: Adobe Experience Manager
The Ink Tank is a digital hub for news and insights related to the industrial printing industry, including an index of inkjet inks.
The Ink Tank is a popular online hub for the industrial printing industry created by global ink manufacturer Kao Collins, featuring an ink index and in-depth articles exploring the latest solutions that are moving the industry forward and making inkjet technologies more sustainable, eco-friendly, and profitable.
Providing a Useful Industry Resource
What the Ink Tank does so well as a microsite is deliver Kao Collins' deep industry expertise through articles and even interactive features that help audiences engage with the vast amounts of information. Visitors can easily explore topics or identify potential solutions, then actually learn and apply what they learn in their inkjet production.
One example is the Ink Tank's Ink Answers index, which allows visitors to search and explore all the possible inkjet inks that can print on various materials and surfaces to achieve common performance objectives such as fast drying, heat resistance, adhesion, and other characteristics that industrial printers and package designers often care about.
By presenting all of this content in a clean and responsive user experience, the Ink Tank also achieves two important marketing objectives for the Kao Collins brand: it positions them as thought leaders and innovators plugged in to the industry, and it generates leads when visiting prospects contact Kao Collins to request an ink they read about on the microsite.
CMS Platform: Wordpress
What Can We Learn from These Examples?
The microsite examples demonstrate the power of targeted content, user engagement, and practical design in creating memorable online experiences tailored to specific events, causes, or audiences.
These microsites showcase best practices in microsite development and highlight how this format can effectively promote brands, events, and initiatives. They do so without the significant time and resources needed to build an entirely new website and without the risk of adding bloat to the main brand website.
Partner with A Microsite Development Agency
Microsites offer a focused and impactful platform to help you achieve your digital goals. With the flexibility to experiment with design, content, and messaging without impacting your main website, microsites empower you to create engaging and immersive experiences that resonate with your audience.
Here at DBS, we can help you unlock the full potential of your organization's online presence with the strategic development of microsites. See our portfolio of work and schedule a free audit and consultation to explore how microsites can support your brand and marketing strategy.
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