Landing Pages - Importance in your marketing plan

Let’s talk about landing pages! Lots of brands use them, because they look good, but their unique value is often underappreciated. In fact, we would go as far to say that they are a crucial part of the whole marketing plan. So, in this post, we’re going to share a little love for the landing pages out there doing more work for your company than you may first think! 

What is a landing page?

A landing page is the space where many potential customers find themselves after showing interest in other marketing content you have shared online. You’ve grabbed their attention, their ears are perked, their eyes are wide open and BOOM in comes the landing page! Now you wouldn’t be a fool to think that a landing page is just an extra bit of pop-up digital design to make things look exciting, but when you look a bit closer, you realise their full potential!

A landing page helps to refine your interaction with a visitor acting as a crucial stepping stone in converting them into a customer. This is the puzzle piece that finishes the bigger picture for potential customers. Not only does it make things look exciting (we agree!) but it’s where trade, of purchase or information, is initiated. 

Here’s our top three suggestions of how to utilise your landing page to initiate that conversion:

• Advertise an offer or free trial – this will really entice them!
• Exchange of information – ask for contact details for a return of free valuable content (like an e-book)
• Include a click through to lead the individual to another page you want them to see – increasing brand awareness and trust!

What’s the difference between a homepage and a landing page?

The two generally have similar objectives but they’re designed to achieve them in different ways. The main difference between them is that a homepage is like the front cover for a whole magazine of other pages in your website. Whereas, a landing page is usually a stand alone page that pops up at an appropriate time. Homepages are most often busy places trying to showcase a taster of everything your business has to offer. This leaves it to the visitor to navigate through the site, searching or browsing, to find what they are looking for or something they may be interested in. Landing pages should be designed to focus on one thing that a potential customer is likely to be interested in. This takes out the work for the visitor which can improve the visitor experience. 

Different ways to use a landing page…

There are a few ways to use a landing page. Each with slightly different objectives, so we recommend deciding on your objective first and then choose the landing page that fits best in achieving it. Here’s a few of the most common ways to use a landing page:

• Lead generation – aiming to generate future potential leads. You may ask for contact details to be added to a mailing list and personal preferences to target advertisement to this potential customer.
• Squeeze page – a condensed version of a lead generation landing page. Asking for less information to capture specific data and generate shorter leads. This might not be a stand alone page and could be embedded in your homepage. 
• Click through – directing a potential customer to view something else. This gives them a taster to entice them into what you are offering and builds excitement before it is revealed.
• Sales page – encouraging a sale. This is best done with a time limited offer or discount!
• Infomercials – sharing a detailed story. This could be done with a blurb about the ‘why’ of your business or with a testimony. Aiming to build a connection with the potential customer, increasing trust and engagement.

Why are they important to include in your marketing plan?

So we all agree that they’re important but let’s now review our top ten ways in which they benefit your marketing strategy…

1. They are free of distractions and focused on one particular service or product
2. It’s a way of collecting data and personal information without coming across intimidating or forceful
3. They can speak to a specific audience – you can have more than one landing page active at once targeting different sub-groups within your audience!
4. You can design them to collect specific information to better understand your customer avatar and provide insights to help design your wider marketing strategy
5. They leave a good first impression – especially if they look good and offer something exciting!
6. It’s a fast-track way to generating leads and convert passive consumerism to active consumerism
7. They build brand trust, credibility and engagement
8. It’s a quick way to increase your SEO and search traffic
9. They improve brand awareness and interactivity
10. It’s a great way to draw attention to something new happening in your business!

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. If you haven’t used a landing page before we hope you’ve been convinced to develop your first one – and we’re always here to help! If you’d like to know more about designing the right landing page for your objectives, get in touch and we’d be happy to have a chat or help you create it!