What is a landing page?: the evolving definition of marketing landing pages

Note: This is a follow-up post to How to make interactive marketing take off: a 7-point preflight checklist.

Is today’s landing page something different than in the past? If so, what are the implications for digital marketers?

Let’s start with the basics…

What is a landing page?

Here’s my definition:

marketing landing page (mär´kit´ing land’ing pāj) n. location(s) on the Internet designed to be self-selected by prospects via promotional content to initiate action that increases sales, interaction or affinity for a business

While some of this gets wrapped up in semantics, my definition differs from others in four ways:

Some marketers define all pages as landing pages

While general navigation and content are core aspects of website design, well-designed marketing landing pages are more tightly focused and always end with a call to action. So, I add the word “marketing” to separate the definition from website landing pages, where every page essentially becomes a “landing” page.

Some marketers define landing pages as existing only on your website

In the early 1990s, marketing guru Seth Godin was one of the first to write about landing pages. Godin has definitely influenced my work, as I have spent more than a decade analyzing the factors that come together to create successful runways in my own interactive marketing efforts.

In a post Godin wrote nearly five years ago, he defined a landing page as “the first page a visitor to your site sees.” But with the explosion of Internet technologies, a marketing landing page may reside on your website, someone else’s or even within social-media sites. To account for these shifts, I simply define landing pages as locations on the Internet.

(Note: In a social media environment, landing pages are sometimes referred to as landing tabs).

Some marketers define landing pages in the singular

While one must “land” someplace after clicking through an interactive marketing offer, it has become more common to have a series of landing pages or multiple destinations for different prospects—like an airport hub with connecting flights. To account for this trend, I include a plural option in the definition.

Some marketers define the purposes of landing pages from a tactical point of view

In Godin’s landing-page post I referenced earlier, he cites five “actions” that a page can cause:

“Get a visitor to click (to go to another page, on your site or someone else’s)” (Note: I refer to this option as another landing page in my definition. Also note that here Godin references locations other than your site.)

“Get a visitor to buy”

“Get a visitor to give permission for you to follow up (by email, phone, etc.). This includes registration of course.”

“Get a visitor to tell a friend”

“(and the more subtle) Get a visitor to learn something, which could even include posting a comment or giving you some sort of feedback”

He concludes, “I think that’s the entire list of options.”

Have other tactics emerged in the last five years?…

I believe getting a prospect to follow your organization via social media should be labeled a new tactic of marketing landing pages. (It’s somewhat a cross between #3 and #4 above.) With this exception, Godin’s list still appears to be complete.

But it is defined from a tactical point of view. In my definition, I encompass all of these tactics under three strategic headings. To increase:

Sales (the ultimate goal),

Interaction (with one prospect or through referrals and recommendations) or

Affinity (as in building loyalty and your brand)

What’s changed and so what?

Whether you agree with my definition or not, landing pages are now even more critical to the success of your interactive marketing efforts. Here’s why:

The sales process has changed and most of use the Internet to learn about products.
Channels of connection—and even landing page formats—are expanding every day through social ecosystems, and
Organic and paid searches are driving more traffic from prospects unfamiliar with your business.

These shifts add up to one conclusion: More and more, digital marketers are being asked to design landing pages that do the heavy lifting of engaging prospects in meaningful and relevant ways while finding common ground with your organization—all in the space of a few seconds between clicking on a link and taking a desired action.

In my next post: “10 fatal landing page mistakes: how to avoid interactive marketing crashes,” I’ll analyze some “black box” data.

How is your definition and use of landing pages evolving?

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