Immersive VR experiences are more than a marketing trend. Experts say VR is the wave of the future. VR puts customers in a computer-generated environment, usually with VR goggles, where they can interact with objects and people in real-time. These digital simulations can propel storytelling and engage customers in a memorable way, which is highly effective for content marketers.
VR can take customers on an adventure, teach lessons, showcase a product, or simulate an experience, like test-driving a car.
While brands are deploying VR efforts, it’s often hard to think of practical ways your brand can use it. And, even if you’re inspired to add VR marketing to your mix, it’s not necessarily for every brand. To help you make informed decisions, here’s a look at how brands are using VR, challenges to consider, and questions to ask to figure out if it’s a good fit for your company.
How brands use VR in content marketing
Wondering how you can use VR in your next content marketing campaign? Consider these ideas. Each has real-world examples to further explain its use.
Product demos or brand experiences via VR
Use VR to showcase your product or service. Offer an interactive demonstration that shows customers how your product or service works, for example, or transport customers to a unique virtual world that markets your brand. This kind of immersive experience is not only attention-grabbing, it’s memorable.
Marriott, for example, set up “VRoom Service,” allowing hotel guests to request a VR headset that can showcase a variety of exotic locations — all of which have a Marriott close by.
Trade shows
Trade shows draw a crowd, which is why they’re ideal places to deploy VR. Consider giving potential customers a headset to explore the development of your product or give it a test drive.
Volvo used VR to introduce a new model. When customers put on the headset, they could test drive the new car in a surreal setting.
Highlight a cause
Does your company give back in a specific way? If so, show customers how through VR.
When customers buy a pair of TOMS Shoes, the company gives a pair to someone in need. Using VR seats within stores, customers were transported to Columbia, where a young child benefited from a free pair of shoes.
Educate customers
When you want to educate customers, you can do so through VR.
Patron Spirits, for example, educates customers on its distilling process. Through VR, the company showcased how its signature tequila is made, starting with the plants needed to make the iconic beverage and ending with the bottle in the customer’s hands.
Lowe’s uses VR to help DIYers learn how to complete projects, while McDonald’s has used cardboard VR classes that match Happy Meal boxes to teach kids simple, interactive lessons.
Challenges to consider
While VR can amp up your content marketing campaigns, it has challenges. Barriers to using this VR include:
Cost
To create VR content, you need someone skilled in 3D models to generate virtual reality, which is a specialized field and often a costly one. Content creation adds up, but if you plan to deploy the experience at a trade show or in a store, you’ll need to invest in hardware too, like headsets.
Accessibility
VR headsets are becoming more common, but they’re not mainstream. Generating VR content may not reach a large audience on its own, which is why so many brands deploy VR in group settings like an event. Given its limited reach, it may not be a practical option for some brands.
Smooth experiences
VR requires strong internet connections to display large graphics and enable movement. Brands need the infrastructure to support VR, otherwise you could introduce a jittery, pixelated experience to customers.
Is VR right for your brand?
Knowing the challenges that brands face when implementing VR in content marketing, it’s worth asking whether this type of technology is right for your brand. While it’s a cool marketing method, it might not be a good fit.
As you consider VR, ask yourself these questions:
- How would your brand use VR in content marketing?
- Does your product or brand lend itself to a VR experience?
- What results do you believe VR could offer your company?
- How are competitors using it? How will your efforts differ?
- Where will you use VR? At events? In stores?
- Is your company willing to invest in a new, constantly evolving technology?
- What’s the cost to implement VR in your brand’s marketing strategy?
Implementing VR requires conversations within your marketing department and with your management team. If VR is being used in other business applications, adding it to marketing may be a seamless transition. If you need to convince management of its use, create the equivalent of a business plan to outline its benefits, uses, and costs.
