Every once in a while, a sea change in the realm of marketing comes about. Think of how television advertising put companies right into people’s living rooms, no matter where they were located. More recently, social media has allowed companies with even the smallest budgets to reach audiences with the same precision as big businesses. It seems that another one of these massive revolutions is now coming about with the increased usage of augmented reality in marketing campaigns.
Augmented reality is the use of a device, such as a smartphone, to access features that intermingle with the real world as it happens. Only in the past few years has the technology advanced to the point where even modestly sized businesses could afford and begin to utilize it. Its ability to engage customers has been so impressive that marketers are falling over themselves trying to find ways to use it. And practically the only limits on its capability are the limits of each marketer’s imagination.
Keep an eye out for augmented reality, or AR for short, and the other hot marketing trends of 2018 that have been identified by MDG Advertising. You don’t need to understand how the technology works to understand the reasons why augmented reality has been such a boon to marketers everywhere.
IMAGE: UVIC
Practical Usage Of Augmented Reality
There are many technological advances that are impressive, but fail to make much of a difference in people’s lives. Augmented reality isn’t likely to be back-grounded because of how easily it fits into real-life situations. That’s why it’s such an effective marketing technique. People can use it to visualize the products they’re looking to buy in a way that simply wouldn’t be possible otherwise.
Marketing Ubiquity
Augmented reality also travels with the customer, meaning that they can be reached by it practically anywhere. Just about everyone has a smartphone that they carry around with them, and those devices act as the conduits for the AR experience, especially now that many phones have the AR technology built into them. It’s just a matter of marketers finding unique ways to engage customers, but the limitless possibilities provided by AR open up brand-new avenues for that to happen.
Customer Understanding
If there were a technological wall that was stopping customers from understanding and utilizing AR on a widespread level, it might not become the marketing weapon it has the potential to be. But the ease with which people have adapted to it (think photo filters on social media) demonstrates that they’re ready to accept AR on a widespread level. With that knowledge, marketers can feel free to be creative with store displays, apps, and whatever other methods they can use to incorporate augmented reality into their campaigns.
The onslaught of augmented reality in the marketing world seems to be only beginning. It will be exciting to see where this innovation takes us in the years ahead.
If you are interested in even more augmented reality-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels then we have a lot to choose from.
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