Does Your Brand Need An Investment In the Metaverse? Signs That Nod A Big ‘Yes’ !
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Hello readers! We’re glad you’re here again. You have just found the perfect place to get your monthly dose of tech stories and updates. Don’t you just love this time of the month when the weather is a combination of a cool breeze, sunny mornings, and a fresh palette of ideas and strategies for the business? Is it possible that we talk about business strategies and not mention Metaverse? Metaverse and brands are a pair made in heaven only when this strategy is used at the right place and time in the dynamics of a business-customer relationship. While some brands struggle to find the right Metaverse idea and execution, some have taken a leap of faith by mirroring other brand strategies, but the right way to go is by identifying the purpose and the need.
How do we know that our brand needs a Metaverse uplift? Is it important for us? If yes, why? Let Dave answer your questions!
Does Your Brand Need An Investment In the Metaverse? Signs That Nod A Big ‘Yes’!
The Metaverse keeps making headlines even today because of its features like shared, connected virtual spaces, 3D environments, interactive experiences, and not to forget brand collaborations. With a broader scope, this tech innovation has advanced rapidly into the way businesses offer their products and services to customers, and with people today choosing to express themselves through their digital identities at a larger scale, Metaverse seems to be the glue, binding consumers to not just brand offerings but also the company’s vision. While the automobile and fashion industries were quick to adopt this new realm, other sectors like banking, food, etc can be seen boarding a Metaverse flight as well.
Every business is different and so are its offerings, vision, target audience, and goals. But one common thing any business has is technology today. When the Internet arrived, it pushed the majority of business-consumer interactions and activities online and opened new revenue streams for businesses. Such is the Metaverse. Metaverse is also creating a rippling effect in the industrial ecosystem, running behind businesses to make the shift. In such a scenario, identifying whether your business needs a Metaverse strategy or not can be confusing and complex. But not anymore.
Signs your brand needs a Metaverse strategy:
1. You are launching a new product:
If your brand is launching a new product then it’s time to turn to the Metaverse to host the event.
Launching a product in the Metaverse is a segment many brands are exploring today. A product launch event in the real world is an expensive affair. Not to forget interacting with only a limited number of attendees. No wonder many products fail to create noise in the market. Engagement in the real world is complex, time-consuming, and costly. Metaverse comes as a fix that enables businesses to launch a product with reduced costs and global reach. Virtual product launches garner audience loyalty, drive curiosity, and quick initial sales.
Take Maruti Suzuki for instance. Last year, Maruti Suzuki’s Grand Vitara was launched virtually to the world when the car had not even reached the showroom for a sale. Maruti Suzuki wanted to make use of the festive time when the majority of automobile purchases take place and so the company decided to launch the model first in the Metaverse. Exploring the model and its features in the Metaverse led to 20% of digital bookings by customers even though the car was not available in the showroom for display.
You can launch a product in the Metaverse by:
a. Introducing the deck and the presentation in an immersive way.
b. Letting the audience use the product in the Metaverse along with a 3D demonstration of features.
c. Deploying a virtual sales assistant to ease navigation, provide constant support, and resolve queries on the go.
d. Increasing awareness around the company and the product by gamifying a particular activity that allows customers to earn rewards and bonuses.
e. Teaming up with a Metaverse development company that understands your brand’s vision and helps present it to the world in the best way possible.
2. Your customers are early adopters:
If your customers are used to technology and adapt to new digital channels for the comfort and convenience they bring, then you need a Metaverse strategy.
Today not just Gen Z but even the Millennials are used to services that they can turn to any time of the day and are available at their fingertips. May it be ordering food online, exchanging money, or even tracking bank account activities at home digitally.
The words ‘virtual’ and ‘digital’ have gained massive importance in the last decade and people can be seen doing everything in life with a ‘digital first’ mindset. Want to buy real estate, research online, want to go to a dermatologist, check online reviews, interested in a brand’s summer collection, but is this influencer saying good things about the collection on social media. People validate the existence and quality of the brand and its offerings based on the digital identity of the businesses. 49% of people today quickly adapt to emerging technologies and innovation and are not afraid of new experiences.
You can cater to this population by:
a. Bringing the brick-and-mortar store online, in the Metaverse.
b. Replicating the showroom visit in the Metaverse for customers to avail services from the comfort and convenience of their homes. If you are an automobile brand, you can showcase models and their features in the Metaverse and then also allow users to take a test drive inside the Metaverse to check performance on different types of roads.
c. Showcasing tech benefits through virtual avatar-led assistance for navigation, device flexibility for access, immersive spaces, fun events, socialization, and more.
3. You want to create instant global hype around your offerings:
If you want to increase your brand’s presence and take the global route in less amount of time and with minimum resources your brand needs a Metaverse strategy.
PRs, blogs, emails, social media posts, and every brand announcement today has a reference to brands increasing their list of clients with a Metaverse strategy. With an increase in customer engagement, the percentage of sales can be seen taking a flight. If you must have observed, one reference of ‘Metaverse’ on social media posts and emails and the rate of interactivity increases. The hashtag ‘ Metaverse’ has a greater reach, guides on ‘Metaverse’ have higher open rates, and projects on ‘Metaverse’ take center stage in digital transformation conversations of top executives. That’s because people have shown the kind of interest they have in Metaverse and businesses want to use this interest to divert their attention to their brand offerings. And rightly so. Since Metaverse has taken the world by storm it is important to make use of this time to reach a wider audience through the Metaverse.
You can create a Metaverse strategy for instant global reach by:
a. Creating stunning visuals, sound effects, multi-user activities, and interactions in the Metaverse.
b. Collaborating with the creators, artists, and influencers and promoting your offerings with their help in the immersive space.
c. Keeping the navigation simple, accurate, and personalized with the help of a digital assistant.
d. Securing the experience with legal and regulatory compliance.
e. Entertaining with fun activities like dancing, story narrations, or even games for a breather between the regular business transactions.
4. It’s time for you to refresh your brand:
If you have been thinking of giving your brand identity a lift, then Metaverse is the perfect strategy for you.
In today’s era where the scope of technology is evolving constantly and new innovations are coming to the forefront, even a social media campaign requires trending topics, an emotional connection, the right type of messaging, and constant reminders to be a hit. Adopting a Metaverse strategy will speed up the consumer engagement process and reduce the cost of resources. Metaverse helps give the face of the brand a fresh facial and is the new vitamin c serum that your brand needs to glow.
Emotional impact = Loyal audience
Personalized messaging = Guaranteed returns
Immersive spaces = The wow factor
Change in dynamics = Brand adaptability that is rewarded by customers
New tech adoption = Interest in brand offerings
You can develop a Metaverse for a brand refresh by:
a. Owning a brand-specific platform and not just renting a virtual space for deployment. This allows businesses to have control over creative processes, customer data, and brand vision for a relevant image and customer perception.
b. Keeping the tone of messaging, colours, content, visuals, and music relevant to the vision of the brand. Target audience with a brand-specific experience even in the Metaverse.
5. You want to expand your digital footprint:
If your brand wants to expand its virtual ecosystem, then Metaverse is the only strategy that can put your brand ahead of the competition in the market today.
In the current reality of a virtual bubble, it has become far more important than before to have a strong persona in the digital world. Today digital channels are revenue-generating platforms. To increase your brand’s digital footprint in 2023, embracing the Metaverse would be important to leave a trail of good experiences that make people obsess over your brand. With so many options available today, consumers feeling anything less but obsession is not affordable. Contrary to popular belief that Metaverse is only for gamers or Gen Z, Metaverse is for everybody. Limiting the benefits to a few would not be the right way to target an audience.
You can build a Metaverse to have a bigger digital footprint this year by:
a. Analyzing data to create buyer personas and targetting them with personalized experiences in the Metaverse. To access your customer data you need your own brand-specific Metaverse platform.
b. Levelling up communication in the Metaverse with an AI-powered brand ambassador with a sales brain and natural language conversation capabilities.
c. Making the experience available through various channels for customers like smartphones, tablets, VR headsets, etc to live in the Metaverse.
A good example is that of Oculus Rift and Pokemon Go. Most people had their first XR experience with Pokemon Go and not Oculus Rift. This is because Oculus Rift was costlier whereas Pokemon Go could be experienced with devices that had already seen existence in every household by then and there were device options to switch the experience. Accessibility was not limited with Pokemon Go. Even your customers want flexibility while accessing Metaverse experiences. This gives your brand a chance to meet customers on their most used platforms, increase conversion rates, and expand the digital footprint — not just in terms of digital activities but also in the reviews people leave online.
6 Pillars Of A Good Metaverse Experience
1. Visuals:
The hallways of the Metaverse sometimes are a replica of brick-and-mortar stores and sometimes are completely new and fresh. Visuals play an important role and are a deciding factor for people when it comes to moving further into the experience. Avoid dull and dark environments to encourage user navigation from the entry space.
2. Sound:
Background music and sound in the Metaverse is as important as the BGM in a movie. Match the background sound with the activity the user is conducting and the space the user is in. Mute background noise when the user is looking for assistance or is in conversation with a digital assistant or another avatar as it is disturbing.
3. Interactions:
Conversations with an assistant and multi-user interactions are an integral part of the Metaverse. Deploy avatars powered by AI as they are empathetic and intelligent enough to converse with people in their natural language, understand user intent, and create a sense of familiarity as they have a life-like persona.
4. Monetization:
Monetization is a fundamental virtual of any business customer relationship. Even in the Metaverse. Monetize your brand identity by creating additional content, services, and artifacts for users to buy and subscribe to in the Metaverse.
5. Content:
The right content portrays the brand’s vision in the Metaverse accurately. Generating an ecosystem of creators to use the army of talent already available will help create aesthetic, engaging, and meaningful content for the Metaverse.
6. Ethical compliance:
Any new experience creates apprehension amongst users that can be resolved with trust. Create loyal audiences with Metaverse environments that provide a community-safe, data-secure, and unbiased experience to users.
Dave says, “ You do not have to stress about working around these 6 pillars required to lay the foundation of a good Metaverse strategy on your own. You can always team up with a company that can do this for you without you having to take the load of all the planning and execution. DaveAI specializes in building Metaverse experiences for customers of a brand by translating company imagination into interactive experiences that engage visitors.”
Editor’s Note:
I can’t believe we have entered February 2023 already. Where did January go by? In the chill maybe? Now that sweater season is almost over, we are slowly transitioning back to the summers where the days are longer and so is the list of brand investments in the Metaverse. The application domains of the Metaverse are immense today. To introduce brands to all the areas of Metaverse, DaveAI is working towards building a Dave New World that you would be able to enter soon enough. Excited?
Today, we also have companies wanting to know more about Metaverse contacting us for research purposes and we answer their questions through the content we send out. If you are interested we can send more personalized guides, blogs, and videos on the Metaverse and answer specific queries, if you write to us at: content@iamdave.ai.
Keep writing to us. Let’s get talking!
Also, don’t forget to find us here again next month!
- Jui Bagul, Head of Content — DaveAI
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