Hello, students. I hope you’re all enjoying your summer. Since this is summer school and I know you all want to get back to the beaches and your BBQs, we’re going to discuss a topic that is looming large on the tradeshow front – microsites.
Microsites are simply miniature websites created for a specific audience with a single purpose. It can be one web page or a cluster of pages. The beauty of a microsite is that it’s flexible. You can give your readers exactly what they are looking for. Or, if you’re the reader, you can easily find the information you need without having to dig through a huge company website.
How does that pertain to you,? As microsites are becoming more popular, they’re starting to make their mark in the tradeshow industry. Whether you’re the tradeshow manager or an exhibitor or at the show, microsites are a great way to ensure everybody makes the best use of their time.
Take, for example, the case of Rolls-Royce and the Paris Air Show. For Rolls Royce, this show was the most important marketing, sales and media-relations event of the year. The Rolls Royce team was concerned attendance might not be as high as years past, so they wanted to make sure they were able to still reach the press, prospects and customers who weren’t going to be there. The solution was creating a microsite capable of bringing the show to the desktops of everyone who couldn’t attend.
Because the main Rolls-Royce site has almost 8,000 pages, the marketing team created a microsite that put everything their specific trade show audience needed in one easy-to-navigate place. The site included all of their booth info, daily highlights from the show in text, photo and video formats, links to key press releases, a show map and all the details of the key products being promoted. Microsite visitors on average viewed more than 25 pages during their online visit, proving a well-done microsite can generate extraordinary interest. It also shows that a simple design with very specific information can lead to many more page views than forcing your readers to sift through a huge company website.
A good microsite could handle event registration, generate pre- and post-show buzz or even create an online game related to the topic.
You can use your Microsite for short-lived promotions. A well-known banking company used its microsite to run a contest to name a new company mascot – raising brand awareness and community support in the process. A retail client hosted a luxury spa getaway sweepstakes where they increased sales, built their email database and educated consumers about the health benefits of their product. A microsite is a great way to get very specific, detailed information directly to the people you’re trying to reach.
While it’s true that it takes a bit more work to create a microsite than to simply squeeze every product and service offering onto whatever template you’ve been using, this truly is a way to stand above the tradeshow crowd. A well-done microsite can get more visitor traffic from search engines and can potentially give your customer the sense that they have come to a specific site that you created just for them. Their satisfaction with your microsite will carry them over to your brand.
Homework:
Think of the different ways that a microsite can be beneficial when it comes to your next show.
Write a list of which information you would offer on a microsite.
Check to see if any of your competitors use a microsite and what information are they providing.
Linda Musgrove is president of the tradeshow training firm, Trade Show Teacher. Linda and her team focus on assisting companies to significantly improve tradeshow results through strategic, customized tradeshow training for individuals, departments or entire teams. Musgrove also presents customized training programs for tradeshow producers to offer exhibitors. Most recently she authored “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Trade Shows,” published by Alpha Books/Penguin Publishing. Learn more at http://www.tsteacher.com and sign up for the FREE monthly Trade Show Tactics newsletter. Follow on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/tsteacher. Send an invite to connect on LinkedIn (email is: linda@tsteacher.com )
