Digital marketing has become a key component in most successful company’s marketing strategy. The internet’s power to reach consumers directly while collecting useful data on them has become invaluable. But the internet is not the only medium digital marketing can be utilized. With the new advances in technology being made seemingly daily, digital marketing will continuously evolve to give consumers a more immersive advertising experience.
Below, you will learn how new technology is changing digital marketing and ideas on how you can take advantage.
Virtual reality (VR)
Virtual reality has become a major interest in 2016, with more and more applications coming to light regularly. Even sports team have turned to using virtual reality – just ask the Golden State Warriors, who used virtual reality in their pitch to acquire superstar Kevin Durant. Immersing potential customers inside a world where they can experience a product or service first-hand is a tactical no-brainer for marketers. Consumers will be able to tour hotels, theme parks and resorts from their living room allowing them to experience a product or service first-hand.
Several companies have already begun utilizing virtual reality. VR marketing campaigns often utilize storytelling to lead consumers on a first person journey with their product or service. If you want to successfully utilize VR create a captivating and fun story about your product clearly displaying its uses and features. Create an experience for your audience that they will never forget.
Augmented reality (AR)
Augmented reality is technology that can display digital content onto the user’s view of the real world. Pokemon GO, the craze that swept the nation, was just a testament to the appeal of AR technology. Outside of gaming, AR can be utilized in a variety of ways like seeing how furniture will fit in someone’s home or how nail polish would look on their hand before purchasing it like Maybelline did in their unique print ad.
Similar to VR, AR is being utilized by brands and organizations to create an immersive experience for consumers. However, AR offers its own set of unique capabilities for marketers. To utilize AR properly, marketers must focus on the consumer’s interaction with the overlaid digital content and how that content interacts with the consumer’s real world. Make it playful as studies show consumers have fun trying out different uses with AR.
Self-driving cars
How much time is the average person inside their vehicle? In large cities, it is not uncommon to drive an hour to commute back and forth to work. That total adds up to about 10 hours a week (assuming you work five days) and 40 hours a month, just going to work. Now, imagine taking that time consumer spend driving and converting it into an immersive advertising experience. The cars of the future will not just be self-driving, but will have screens galore turning it into the largest mobile device on the planet. Marketers will utilize this new found free time to sell their products and service to consumers.
Approach this medium with a focus on personalization. Create an experience that will make the user feel as if they are being spoken to directly, and when possible make it interactive. The more involved a consumer gets with a product or service, the better chances are for a sale.