Mind the gap! Landing pages provide the link online for email marketing

"48% of marketers build a new landing page for each marketing campaign" (MarketingSherpa)

So what can they be used for?

Bespoke landing pages work for a variety of uses, the most common of which are listed below:

• To host lead capture forms
• To hold additional information from specific marketing campaigns or promotions
• For competitions/ prize draw entries

How are they connected to email marketing?

Put simply, landing pages can extend the functionality of an email campaign, whether that is to provide space for additional information that you do not want to include on the main email or to allow for more technical functionality that an email is unable to support (due to the nature of email, they can be restrictive in terms of what they can contain  - scripts, forms and, in the majority of cases, live video cannot be included).

Of course new pages could be added to the main company website, but having dedicated and separate landing pages can avoid your site becoming very busy and can also help to avoid distractions away from the page you are pointing your audience towards.

So what should we consider when creating the content for a bespoke landing page?

• Strong headlines - As the first thing a reader will see, your headline should sum up the pages content in a clear and concise manner in order to persuade them to read on.

• Lead with the most important information - The most vital details should be included 'above the fold', ensuring that your audience sees it at first glance and not after scrolling down.

• Keywords - As important as ever, you need to ensure that your page is optimised for search, especially if you are linking to it from a variety of marketing channels.

• Strong call to action - You've captured your audience's attention so what do you want them to do next? This is your chance to persuade them to convert.

• Visual media - The use of images and video often increase engagement, therefore it is always wise to consider what visual representation you could include.

The technical points to consider

• Brand consistency - Although a separate marketing tool, landing pages should seamlessly link between your other marketing channels and therefore should be brand recognisable and easily link through to your site.

• Don't forget social media - Including these on your page will allow your audience to explore another side of you marketing efforts. Remember, you can use the links for your landing pages on any of your social media channels, offering a useful method to link all your campaigns together.

• Let's get mobile! - With more and more of us using our mobiles to open our emails and search the web it's now more important than ever to cater for mobile devices. Having a mobile optimised website and email can be rendered useless if the page sitting between the two only caters for desktop users.

"By 2015, more internet users will access the internet via mobile devices than via PCs" (Source: IDC)

With a variety of uses, bespoke landing pages can provide a useful tool in any company's digital marketing efforts.