Is your business ready for virtual reality? Basically, anyone with a smartphone and a cardboard headset now has the ability to experience virtual reality. Businesses in practically every industry are finding success with VR – and your business can, too!
Right now, virtual reality for businesses is still in its early stages of development. This means today is a great time to develop a VR marketing plan for your business. Many businesses benefit from a five-year plan. Let’s take a look at how virtual reality will impact your business in the next five years:
Product Development will Improve for Less
Product development costs time and money, but many of these issues can be improved with virtual reality. Complicated products can be developed virtually, which helps reduce material costs. Plus, virtual models allow managers and other decision makers to assess product development early on.
Potential Customer Markets Will Grow
The customer base for VR is currently limited by cost and social stigma. In the next five years, both of those are likely to drop. You might not think your customers are interested in VR, but that could change in the next few years.
For instance, seniors living in retirement communities might not be obvious candidates for virtual reality experiences. But as VR becomes more accessible, the elderly and others with limited mobility are a large potential market. Understanding your customer base today will help you understand how to use VR marketing successfully in the future.
Advertising Opportunities will Expand
VR already operates in the worlds of gaming, movies and other entertainment. Those industries will likely always be near the forefront of how VR is used. But advertising shouldn’t be overlooked.
VR has plenty of opportunities for direct advertising and brand promotion. Think of this as similar to mobile search. Mobile marketing plays a big role in advertising for brick-and-mortar businesses. In the next five years, virtual reality will likely play just as big of a role in real-world purchasing.
Internal Business Operations will Change
The internet allows for a variety of far-flung teams to work together on a single project. Virtual reality helps to create additional team cohesion. Look for virtual meetings to become more and more common. Groups can tour virtual locations, view a virtual presentation and more.
On-the-job training can also benefit from VR. Trainees from around the world can all meet to learn in a virtual environment. This is especially useful for situations where training in the real world can potentially be dangerous. Any type of hazardous field work will likely benefit from VR training.
Improved Visualization of Large and Complex Projects
Large, complicated spaces are hard to visualize from blueprints and drawings. VR is an excellent design resource. With a virtual reality walkthrough, designers gain a unique perspective of a potential building or other structure.
A project doesn’t have to be big to benefit from virtual reality. VR allows for easy and close-up viewing of small, complicated objects.
Virtual design has a tremendous cost advantage. A project can be tweaked, changed and re-engineered virtually without concern for material costs and other physical expenses.
Virtual design also helps increase safety. Complicated installation procedures can be first learned virtually. Expect to see virtual training throughout construction and manufacturing industries.
VR Offers Versatility
Virtual and augmented reality are flexible enough for practically every type of business. VR can be used for product development, advertising, inter-office communication and more. A business can even hold virtual reality events to connect with customers.
Businesses of any size will likely benefit from virtual reality in some way. The question isn’t “if” VR will work for your brand. Instead, the question is “how” to incorporate VR. Will your VR efforts be customer facing or for employees?
Talent Management will Change
Virtual reality will improve the capabilities of remote workers. In situations where some of the team works onsite and other members work elsewhere, VR will allow for increased communication.
VR can help improve hiring procedures, too. A potential hire can use VR to spend time within an organization. This can be a great way to assess the individual’s fit within the company culture.
VR will Improve B2B and B2C
Many VR strategies are customer focused. After all, VR is still relatively new. People are interested in VR-based entertainment such as movies, games and other experiences where having fun is the primary goal.
But B2b organizations can benefit from VR, too. Virtual reality allows for easy communication with contractors and other businesses. Meetings can be held virtually. Products can be unveiled in a VR space.
VR will Impact Retail
Virtual reality will influence how people purchase physical products. For instance, VR will allow customers to virtually try a product before they buy. This will lead to an increase in the online sales of products which were traditionally more often purchased in a brick and mortar store.
Real estate is another industry which will likely benefit from extensive use of virtual reality. Potential homebuyers can tour a house virtually. This is also great for sellers because a virtual tour doesn’t interrupt their day-to-day living.
Virtual Reality for Business
Virtual Reality will have as big of an impact as both personal computing and the smartphone. No matter what type of product or service you sell, VR will likely be useful in some capacity. Businesses might use VR to create advertising and other content for customers. VR might also impact more behind-the-scenes areas such as product development and employee communications.
In the next five years, Toronto virtual reality will become a necessity for almost every type of business. Start planning today and your virtual strategies will translate to real-world success!
