Metaverse has made its entry into our day-to-day parleys. An inevitable innovation of the internet, it is no longer considered a gimmick as tech behemoths are opting to rebrand themselves as Metaverse. Metaverse is set to reimagine the scene of online engagement. As a digital world, Metaverse has everything in real life, including shopping centers, workspaces, and more, reimaging online interactions.
Imagine a virtual world where people live, work, shop, learn, and interact with each other from the comfort of their couches in the real world. This is the remarkable potential that Metaverse holds: the ability to offer an unparalleled immersive atmosphere to users. To simplify, Metaverse is like the internet but in 3D. It’s a virtual reality space where people can use personalized avatars to interact with each other. B2C and D2C businesses have embraced Metaverse Marketing with great zeal. Owing to the transformation Metaverse has brought about in these marketing landscapes, B2B businesses are also catching up on this trend.
Metaverse is a simulated digital ecosystem encompassing augmented reality, virtual reality, and block chain technology integrated with the social verse. Replicating the physical world in a digital space, Metaverse creates a virtual environment where businesses can launch products and promote them in an innovative manner. More B2B marketers are flocking to Metaverse to make the most of its unique facet, as it is new and enables faster communication, which is vital for growing environments. As Metaverse allows businesses to showcase their products and uniquely target the tech-savvy audience, 70% of companies are inclined to use it to achieve marketing objectives. Let’s dive deep into comprehending Metaverse Marketing’s unmatched impact on B2B businesses.
An Overview of Metaverse
The use of the term Metaverse dates back to 1992. Author Neal Stephenson coined this term in his sci-fi book titled Snow Crash this year. In the later years, the concept of Metaverse was used in VR arcade machines to give users a peek into the immersive world. 2014 onwards came the era of VR headsets, AR glasses, and HoloLens headsets, giving the perception of mixed reality created by several popular brands, including Sony, Samsung, and Google. Further, the furniture behemoth IKEA allowed its users to select a piece of furniture and ascertain how it will look in their home or office using Metaverse technology. A year later, IKEA, the furniture giant, joined the Metaverse mix with their innovative Place app, allowing customers to select a piece of furniture and view what it looks like in their home or office.
The year 2021 was a crucial milestone in the history of Metaverse. It was when Facebook changed its name to Meta, indicating its focus on shaping the future of the Metaverse. The list continues to grow, and one can see enormous advances in immersive experiences. The list continues, as beyond 2021, considerable advances have occurred in immersive experiences.
The Global Metaverse Market is poised to grow at a CAGR of 48% to reach a value of USD 1,303.4 Billion by 2030. The factors driving imminent growth include the integration of digital and physical worlds using the internet and the growing adoption of AR (audio reality), VR (Virtual reality), and mixed reality.
Can Metaverse Marketing Transform the Entire Contour of B2B Business?
The concept of Metaverse is not new. The availability of high-quality virtual reality equipment and the advent of remote working are nudging businesses to explore the facets of Metaverse marketing. As the B2B buying process involves multiple stakeholders and decision-makers, it’s tedious and complex. Metaverse marketing will empower businesses to create immersive buyer experiences to expedite sales. By allowing enterprises to customize user journeys to a huge level, Metaverse will enable them to meet the prospect’s needs perfectly.
Metaverse marketing is set to change the contour of B2B in a never-before-imagined way! It is not just revolutionizing the user journey. It will allow B2B companies to set up stores in Metaverse, create ideal customer profiles for better user perception, and lure prospects or persuade them to buy their products in several new and innovative ways. The fact that Metaverse has 400 million monthly active users has given ample reasons for businesses to incorporate this in their marketing arsenal.
1. Creating New Approaches for Customer Research
Metaverse will be a valuable asset for businesses seeking to create hyper-personalized experiences for their prospects as it creates numerous avenues for B2B marketers to collate user data. With Metaverse B2B, marketers will be able to record their research participants’ body language and gestures while they interact with them. By helping marketers record biometric data, like tracking voices, eye moments, and more, Metaverse creates a vast scope for both qualitative and quantitative research. These nuances bridge the gap between prospects and businesses and empower them to formulate better products and services that are in sync with their user’s preferences.
2. Amplifying the Impact of Event Marketing
With Metaverse marketing, companies can participate in numerous virtual events in effective avatars, connect with prospects, and pitch their offerings. By creating avatars that represent them or mirror them in real life, B2B marketers can interact with users in 3D options and give a real feel of their products to prospects.
3. Simulating Real-world Experiences With Immersive Learning
B2B businesses can offer immersive learning experiences to users through Metaverse marketing. Businesses can provide remote assistance to users and enhance their buying journey. They can simulate real-world spaces or depict the use of their products or services through Metaverse and help grasp various nuances of their offerings. By effectively interacting with users and educating them about their products, businesses can bridge the gaps in the buying journey and nudge users swiftly toward product purchases.
4. Achieving User Satisfaction Through VR Interactions
Post the pandemic, B2B marketers are connecting with users through remote meetings. With Metaverse Marketing, their interactions need not be confined to remote Google or Zoom meetings. They can utilize VR or virtual reality spaces for interactions with the users and show demos of their services or products to resolve their queries. Besides allowing businesses to familiarize users with their products, Metaverse marketing empowers them to personalize experiences and customize products as per the prospect’s liking. Via Metaverse, companies can access real-time feedback in virtual reality and modulate their products accordingly.
5. Paving the Way for Creative Promotions
Through Metaverse marketing, B2B businesses can explore various realms of creativity and promote their products. It makes it possible for companies to promote or advertise their products on digital billboards across the country, video games, stores, and more. With millions of daily users flocking to Metaverse, businesses can grab their target audience’s attention by strategically positioning billboards in key spots. By combining creative advertising with technology, companies can create NFTs, virtual goods, and avatars to promote their products or services.
6. Positively Impacts Business ROI
Metaverse marketing offers unique opportunities for B2B businesses to optimize their ROI. According to research insights from Sortlist, 26% of enterprises believe Metaverse will fetch them good returns. Companies can interact with prospects across the globe without having to leave the office from the convenience of Meta spaces. It helps them to save time and costs on travel and streamline their efforts towards endeavors required for product innovation or business growth. Metaverse marketing allows them to easily collaborate with prospects in different locations using VR to explore revenue streams across the globe and increase profitability.
7. Increase User Acquisition With Innovative Approaches
Metaverse has created avenues for businesses to interact with information in a way like never before. Enterprises can make a paradigm shift from traditional lead generation methods and take a new approach to prospecting. By initiating product announcements, product updates, roadshows, and networking events in the Metaverse, businesses cater to the whims and fancies of a tech-savvy audience and onboard new users. Additionally, companies can set up end-to-end engagement processes for users in Metaverse, influence them in every step of the buying journey, convince them to purchase, and increase their client base.
8. Creates a Scope for Immersive and Interactive Content
Today, B2B businesses are using the power of audio-visual content, video content, and animations. With Metaverse marketing, the medium becomes the message. Using AI-assisted tools in Metaverse, businesses can deliver content in an immersive and interactive way. They can pitch content to users by creating a virtual 3D library of blog posts in formats resembling physical books and grab the user’s attention. Businesses can also create interactive infographics, moving one-pagers in Metaverse that modify according to user characteristics. Thus, by offering content in a unique way, they can grab the prospect’s attention required to transform them into a user.
9. Enhance User Engagement and Loyalty
B2B businesses are utilizing loyalty programs for client retention. They can effectively tap into the competitive mindset of their users, increase engagement, and foster loyalty. With Metaverse, B2B firms can take it to the next level and make the most of the opportunities it offers as an immersive medium. Businesses can launch loyalty programs where they provide creative benefits to their users in the form of NFTs (non-fungible tokens). NFTs are digital assets on the blockchain, which is a digital ledger of transactions. For instance, a SaaS vendor can roll out an NFT-based loyalty program granting users access to software discounts and exclusive events. When the users are no longer interested in using the specific product, they can sell the NFT to someone else and even gain monetary benefits.
Top Players in the Metaverse Fray:
Metaverse offers an unparalleled potential for several tech companies that perceive the virtual world as the future of the internet.
- Roblox, a fully functioning digital world in the game creation system
- Meta, the future of social network and social advertising
- Microsoft, offers MR capabilities for virtual meetings, sharing messages, and task collaborations
- Nvidia, creating graphics and AI processors for better virtual environments
- Autodesk, developing AutoCAD for Metaverse
Bottlenecks Affecting Metaverse Marketing
Metaverse marketing empowers businesses to provide equal access to like-like experiences that were otherwise unattainable to the users. With shared virtual experiences, they can showcase their products as virtual representations of physical objects and appease the users. However, Metaverse comes with certain limitations that businesses need to address to maximize the benefits they derive while using it for marketing.
- Some users may have limited knowledge of Metaverse and fail to make the most of the immersive environment.
- Owing to the high costs, several businesses may have to cut corners and stay deprived of the Metaverse marketing benefits.
- With Metaverse marketing, businesses must stay cautious of privacy violations, security concerns, and points of compromise.
- From the user’s perspective, as the Metaverse addictiveness looms large, they may tend to shy away from using it.
Use Cases of Metaverse Marketing for B2B Businesses
B2C marketing is using Metaverse to provide immersive shopping experiences to users. But how can B2B businesses tap into the potential of Metaverse marketing?
Metaverse: The Future of Industry Events
The predominant use case of Metaverse for B2B businesses includes gathering business leaders and providing shared experiences. Companies can experiment with an existing event and create an extension of the same using Metaverse. This approach will help businesses determine production demands and implications for the potential users. With valuable takeaways from the immersive experiences they gained, companies will be better equipped to innovate and work towards products that will sell.
Metaverse for Fostering Stronger Relationships
Besides boosting sales, every endeavor businesses rollout is centered on developing more robust bonds with users that pave the way for long–term associations. Metaverse marketing allows businesses to accomplish this in numerous ways. Via Metaverse, companies can get their existing clients to host their own good experiences with their products and instill a sense of trust among the new users. With several platforms available, businesses can explore virtual 3D spaces provided by Metaverse platforms or design their own and bring users to share their experience, running the entire show from their virtual offices.
Metaverse to Accelerate Product Design
Vehicles and motorcycle manufacturers like BMW are making use of Metaverse to accelerate) to accelerate the designing and prototyping of new products. Companies in the automobile manufacturing industry are employing extended reality to stream and work on 3D graphics. Besides reducing product development costs, Metaverse allows businesses to visualize their CAD models in an AR space. They can collaborate with others, interact with the model, review their designs, check assembly, and monitor prototypes to fast-track product design.
Metaverse to Reimagine User Interaction
With the advent of Metaverse, virtual interactions have taken center stage in the banking and finance sector. Metaverse marketing allows businesses in the finance streams and banks to give high-touch service to their users. Using Metaverse marketing, they can have virtual financial planning sessions with users and make strategic product recommendations based on their prospect’s expenses and revenue. Financial institutions can launch innovative products using Metaverse, NFTs, and crypto currencies to establish a sense of connectivity between virtual and physical banks. Several well-established banking organizations, like JP Morgan, have latched on to the trend and are using Metaverse to facilitate cross-border payments, trading, financial asset creation, and safekeeping.
Metaverse to Showcase Properties in a New and Exciting Way
Commercial real estate firms can tap into the potential of Metaverse marketing and showcase properties to prospects in new and exciting ways. They can market their offerings by giving potential buyers a 3D tour of the property, showing virtual land plots, quickly appeasing the prospects, seizing the deals, and reaping profits.
Metaverse for Better Decisions
Metaverse has forayed into the healthcare sector through virtual training rooms to help medical professionals experience simulated learning. Additionally, Metaverse has been a boon for businesses in the healthcare as it allows them to pitch their services or products to users through AR, VR, and MR. via Metaverse marketing, medical device manufacturers and healthcare businesses can utilize 3D modeling to offer therapeutics to users, get them acclimatized with the product, and help them make informed buying decisions.
Wrapping Up
Metaverse can be best characterized as a steady evolution of today’s internet. Metaverse marketing has the potential to realize the promise of vast digital worlds that parallel our physical ones. While we’re at the cusp of a fundamental shift in using the internet for B2B businesses, the Metaverse represents a unique opportunity to engage users in an entirely new way.