Why Should You Choose Virtual Reality for Marketing?
 
Technological innovations continue to dominate digital marketing landscape and the newest entrant in this sphere is Virtual Reality (VR). Marketers are in constant race for creating distinguished customer experiences and VR is providing them a new platform to engage with their customers better.
VR is an artificial, computer-generated environment that uses graphics, audio and aural sensations to make users feel as if they are in a real world where they can interact with their surroundings. Most VR experiences are created through the use of specialized headsets that fully submerge a person in the virtual world.
VR in marketing holds tremendous potential to create personalised and immersive customer experiences, here’s how-

1. Experimental Marketing- Experimental marketing encourages customers to experience the brand by making them participate actively in the campaign. VR makes it easy to craft a campaign that immerses a customer into the virtual world created by the brand. This allows the customer not just to be a part of the campaign but also to get a hands-on experience of the product that is being promoted.

2. Increased Brand Awareness- Virtual reality comes into play where traditional marketing ceases to function. Since VR marketing campaign directly appeals to the audience and creates an engaging and unforgettable experience, customers are more likely to remember the brand, spread the word and bring tremendous publicity.

3. Become an industry leader- Even though VR presents a plethora of opportunities, businesses are often reluctant to invest in it due to apprehensions about the cost involved and its effectiveness. Businesses can become a thought leader and innovator in their respective industries by using VR in their marketing campaigns.

4. Media coverage- Using display advertising to gain traction is a costly affair. Virtual marketing campaigns, on the other hand, turn out to be press worthy in themselves. Volvo, a US car company, resorted to the extensive use of VR during the launch of its new SUV, the XC90. To let consumers experience test drive in a virtual set-up, they created “Volvo Reality”, wherein anyone could test drive the new car using Google cardboard. This helped them garner 238 million PR impressions, 19 million social media impressions, 24 earned news stories, half-million web page views, up to 4 million views on video and a lot more.

While virtual reality is yet to become mainstream like augmented reality, it is rapidly gaining momentum and has immense potential for creating exceptional customer experiences. It is for the businesses to get their creative juices flowing.