Creating Compelling Microsites

www.waterandstone.com  

This presentation shows the use of promotional microsites in two diverse circumstances. One example supports the direct promotion of a product, the other is an indirect promotion focused on building community & brand goodwill.  

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aterandstone.com  

Direct Marketing: The Mambo Book Site !   author site to promote the release of a book:

The Mambo Visual Blueprint, (Wiley & Sons) !   Purpose is to raise awareness and drive traffic

into sales channels

Brand Building: DESIGN TWENTYTEN !   crowd-sourced design contest

!   purpose is to build community and foster brand goodwill

example #1: The Mambo Book Microsite Project

–  Includes basic information on the title (Cost, page count, ISBN)

–  Includes Table of Contents for book. –  Includes excerpts. In this case, complete chapters in

PDF format. –  Includes links to purchase on Amazon & Barnes &

Noble (affiliate links that benefit author). –  Includes reviews of book. –  Includes form for direct contact with Author.

Designed to spark interest; drive

purchases

Content Strategy

Preview chapters to download.

–  Press releases announcing title linked back to microsite.

–  Links to microsite were placed on publisher's site & author's blog.

–  PDF Excerpts were released through file sharing channels, and linked back to microsite.

–  Promoted aggressively through social bookmarking. –  Site was heavily optimized for search engine

competitiveness and manually registered on numerous search services.

a complementary resource

Marketing Strategy

Links to purchase online.

–  No additional hosting cost; no software cost. •  Site was built using an open source CMS and an open source

template for the design. •  Deployed as a sub-domain on the author's blog site.

–  The cost issues here were: •  Design implementation •  Content creation •  Deployment •  Ongoing maintenance •  Search engine marketing

A low cost solution

Cost

Contact the author.

–  Site was conceived, prototyped and deployed within 5 business days.

Rapid time to market

Time to Market

–  Site ranked well for relevant keyphrases and achieved a Page Rank of 4.

–  Drove a number of contacts with author as well as traffic to author's primary site

–  Sold a meaningful number of books through the affiliate links.

–  Lifespan of almost 2 years.

Raise awareness, drive sales.

Success Metrics

–  Blog integration would have been useful to give the site more "life."

–  Given today's market, if we did this site right now, social media integration would be a necessity.

–  Posting of errata would have been a useful feature for users and would have justified repeat visits (as it happened, errata was only available on the publisher's site, where it was rarely accessed by purchasers).

What we would do differently.

Lessons Learned

example #2: The DESIGN

TWENTYTEN Contest Site.

–  Site includes only basic information: i.e., the contest rules and a single page about the sponsor.

–  The heart of the site is the Gallery. –  Designers can register and upload designs. –  Site visitors can vote on their favorite designs and add

comments. –  A contact form allows visitors to reach the sponsors.

It's all about the contest.

Content Strategy

The public can view, vote & comment on

designs.

–  Press releases announcing contest linked back to microsite.

–  Promoted with an aggressive social bookmarking campaign.

–  Postings in design forums raised awareness. –  The nature of the promotion tapped into the passion of

the online design community. –  Blog postings from members of the design community

helped drive traffic.

a place to interact with the brand

Marketing Strategy

Simple access control regulates

votes & submissions.

A mid-priced solution

Cost –  No additional hosting cost; no software cost.

•  The microsite was built on an open source CMS with an open source Gallery plugin.

•  Deployed as a sub-domain on the client's site.

–  The cost issues here were: •  Design of bespoke template •  Customization of Gallery •  Access controls •  Deployment •  Ongoing maintenance •  Search engine marketing

Includes brand message &

contact form.

–  Site was conceived, prototyped and deployed within 14 business days.

Rapid time to market

Time to Market

–  Nice traffic spike surrounding contest opening. –  Got people talking about the brand. Created a positive

buzz in the design and art communities – it was an unexpected, non-traditional move from the brand.

–  Jury still out on effectiveness of contest: (Promotion still on-going at the time of this presentation).

Build goodwill, stimulate interest,

create engagement.

Success Metrics

–  Achieving critical mass is the challenge with these types of promotions.

–  Seeding the gallery with entries at launch would have been good to generate interest and stimulate competition.

–  In these types of promotions, the client really needs to fine tune the requirements and avoid imposing too many limitations on the designers. Too many rules & regulations discourage submissions. The desirability of the prize is also a key to success.

What we would do differently.

Lessons Learned

water&stone is a full service digital agency based in Bali, Indonesia. We created the content in this presentation, including the sites that are the subject of this presentation. Many more examples of our work can

be found on our website:

http://www.waterandstone.com http://facebook.com/waterandstone

http://www.twitter.com/waterandstone

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