Virtual Reality (VR) has been around in pop culture since the glory days of science-fiction cinema, literature, and television. Since then, the concept has grown and developed into realization. It has become a fun technology used for various applications.
As technology evolves, the ways of conducting business and interacting with brands and customers will undoubtedly advance. In recent years, marketers have come to recognize the possibilities of VR in content Marketing.
For B2B companies, it’s important to optimize and offer exceptional experiences that give them an edge. VR marketing can potentially address this need.
With the global VR market size expected to grow and reach 12 billion by 2024, it’s evident that VR will become a bigger deal than it already is. And considering how VR is becoming more affordable by the day, it’s only natural that we expect it to become more popular with time.
What does this mean for content marketing? It means the time is right for B2B companies to get in on the VR game. There are many benefits for SaaS companies in using VR in B2B content marketing. We will look into them and provide an insightful introduction to the world of VR marketing.
What is VR? What are its Benefits?
VR, the term is a combination of the real and the virtual world using technology. In short, it’s a virtual rendering or a simulation that tries to provide a real-world experience created using software and hardware. Visual and auditory means are combined to simulate this virtual experience of reality.
Traditionally, VR has three main uses:
- To provide an interactive, lifelike environment that can enhance storytelling, especially in gaming.
- To provide simulations of environments for education and training.
- In marketing, VR is used to provide realistic simulations of the environment to facilitate experiencing a product or a service.
VR in B2B Content Marketing
VR has been popular in industries like healthcare, tourism, etc., for a long time. And since its recent entry into content marketing, VR has been used by many software service providers and B2B content marketers to connect with brands. How is the field of B2B SaaS content marketing utilizing VR?
Let’s delve into it!
How is VR Used in B2B Content Marketing?
There are many ways in which VR comes in handy for B2B marketers to improve their content marketing game. Here are some of the uses of VR in content marketing.
1. To deliver post-sales support: Post-sales support has already seen a lot of advancements with chatbots and remote troubleshooting. But VR is a potential game-changer here. VR can help companies and customers seeking service and the support of representatives of SaaS companies to reach solutions much faster.
2. To provide virtual product demos: B2B companies use VR to enable a try-before-you-buy experience of products for brands that approach them for their service/products. This is especially important when the products are software, and the user experience can make or break the purchase decisions.
3. To train employees: Both B2B and B2C companies use virtual reality to train employees. By simulating situations and immersive challenges, employees can be taught and trained in a more experiential way.
4. To create a smoother feedback loop: Companies have a massive advantage in using VR as they can monitor simulations, predict their needs, and tailor services that satisfy their clients. This provides a smoother and more organic feedback loop.
Benefits of using VR in B2B SaaS Content Marketing
The versatility and scope of VR help you with different strategies to meet your company goals. Here are some of its benefits.
Boost Sales
This benefit comes from various other benefits of VR combined, like better client insight, immersive and client engagement, etc. Employing VR is an effective way to stand out from competitors and present your products and services to clients in an immersive and appealing way. Incorporating VR can positively impact your content marketing strategies and boost sales figures.
Reduce Turnaround Time
By reducing doubts that clients or prospects might have, with the help of VR, you can directly communicate the value of your product/service. There is no going back and forth or any room for confusion when you employ VR. This means that the overall process of purchasing will be quicker, thus reducing turnaround time.
Build Confidence in Your Leads
Through VR, companies can offer clients an accurate depiction of their products. It helps eliminate doubts they might have about the product. VR technology brings transparency, which makes prospects confident about the product.
Increase Total Value of Deals
A prospective client who has virtually experienced the value of your product/service via VR would be inclined to buy more and explore what else you have to offer. This provides opportunities to improve the average order value by using VR to showcase your add-ons and auxiliary elements with your products.
How to Use VR in B2B SaaS Content Marketing:
To Demonstrate Products
Visual demonstration of products is one of the most effective ways to promote products by showcasing their value and use. Through VR, you can create, or more precisely, simulate, immersive visual product demonstrations that will have a much better impact than any brochure or catalogue will have on clients.
B2B brands like Cisco, with their Webex Holograms, are great examples of VR content marketing where using 3D interactive models has had a positive impact on performance.
VR in Trade Shows
With VR marketing, you can provide a visual, interactive, and immersive experience to generate a lasting impression as you showcase your product.
For Product Training
Using VR technology in education and training helps prospects and clients understand products easily. VR can simulate your products in every way so your clients can be trained and gain experience before they start using the real thing. This ensures that you offer not just the product but also all the information clients need about that product.
You can host online lessons or other events where VR product training can showcase your solutions while handing out valuable knowledge related to the product. A great example of VR in content marketing that attempts to educate is the B2B company Key Technology which has been using VR to educate businesses and manufacturers about their products.
For Product Testing
VR can create real-time simulations of products for evaluation. Testing the product before you make it available to clients can help you analyze its capabilities and address its shortcomings. This way, the product goes through a thorough and realistic trial, where any errors can be identified and rectified.
For Offering Post-Sales Support
VR can help improve the purchase experience and influence the purchase decision, but what about after-sales? Here too, VR’s immersive technology can help provide practical support for clients, even after the purchase.
In the B2B SaaS market, post-purchase support is a make-or-break factor. Whatever the issue a client might have after a product purchase, VR can enable companies to provide a solution much faster than before.
Provide Immersive Product Demos
B2B companies actively leverage visualization to promote products. But by using VR in B2B Content Marketing to offer a complete product experience, you are increasing the chances of its purchase while not hiding anything from your prospects.
This experience not only gives your clients a better understanding of your product but also influences their decisions. In short, VR demos can be the easiest way to gain client trust while flexing all that’s exceptional about your product.
The Future of VR in Content Marketing
VR technology has the potential to change the future of content marketing more than it already has. It can allow for better storytelling, exceptional client engagement, and more impactful strategies in marketing.
There are endless possibilities that VR opens up, and we have only begun to explore it.
VR technology has the potential to change the future of content marketing more than it already has. It can allow for better storytelling, exceptional client engagement, and more impactful strategies in marketing. There are endless possibilities that VR opens up for SaaS content marketing, and we have only begun to explore it.
Storytelling is an important area where VR excels, and an important area where content marketing also is expected to do well. And to tell better stories and impress your clients you need the best content marketing strategies. This is something that the Contensify team of content marketing experts excel at.
Reach out to Contensify for all your content marketing needs!
