Digital marketing tools – VR, AR, AI and more…

Applying a range of digital marketing tools to help sell your products and services can have huge benefits to your business – particularly if you operate across the manufacturing, engineering, automotive, energy, technology and life science sectors.

Our blog highlights the wide range of digital tools that are available and provides tips on applying these tools as part of your wider business, sales and marketing strategies.

Why has there been a rapid move forward with digital tools?

The pandemic was a key accelerator for businesses who, often overnight, had to change their strategies and implement new digital marketing approaches in order to reach customers and showcase products and services.

The restrictions that were forced upon businesses – and the limits put on ‘traditional’ business development and sales approaches as a result – meant a lot of businesses needed to act fast… and think differently.

The pandemic set the stage for a new way of working

Technology took on a new role very quickly. With face-to-face meetings restricted and conferences and expos cancelled, businesses needed to take a different approach.

Digital marketing was critical for sales teams who needed to reach out to their audiences and sell products and services remotely. Marketing teams needed to think outside the box and be more creative in how they presented products and services across digital platforms. They needed to present features and benefits in the most effective ways, and enhance their sales and customer experiences.

Which digital marketing tools are available?

You can apply many tools and techniques which will help you bring your products and services to life, communicate your brand identity and tell your business story.

They include:

• Animation – From a short snippet showing a product or process in action, to a larger piece which takes the viewer on a journey with your business, animation is a very useful tool.

• Video – Corporate films, drone footage of a site, testimonials, interviews, product demos… video offers a world of possibilities.

• Interactive content – Bringing an article, diagram, schematic, process outline or map to life by applying interactivity creates a more exciting experience… and allows you to convey more messages or technical information.

• Gamification – Using elements from game environments – such as scoreboards, puzzles, platforms and rewards – injects fun into marketing experiences, builds brand loyalty and aids learning.

• Augmented Reality (AR) – By enhancing ‘real world’ objects and environments with computer-generated sensory information – via a mobile device – you can add fun, interactivity and more depth to marketing experiences.

• Artificial intelligence (AI) – AI can help you understand customer journeys, provide greater insights into behaviour and enhance customer experiences – for instance through the use of chatbots.

• Virtual Reality (VR) – Putting the user in an artificial environment created an immersive experience, which can be used to enhance their understanding of products and services, aid training… and help them absorb messages in a new way.

• Mixed Reality – Combining physical reality – including objects and environments – with digital content can create exciting new opportunities.

• 3D – 3D imagery gives your prospects a chance to see your products in a new light… and from new perspectives.

• Interactive apps – Apps offer a more impactful, bespoke way of helping your customers experience your products and services.

• Visualisation tools – Data can be brought to life via visualisation tools, from a simple graph, to a data dashboard or  multi-media experience.

• Marketing automation – From email campaigns and social media content scheduling, to reward programmes and customer analysis, automation can play a key role.

• And of course, your website, SEO, emarketing and social media!

How can some of these tools be used in practice?

How each of these tools can be used depends on your business, products and services. Not all of them will be relevant, but here are some great examples of these tools in practice.

Animated product demonstrations – Animating a product demo is a great way of creatively explaining how your product works. The biggest advantage is being able to get the technical and complex elements of your products across in a visual way. An animation is easy to share too, which means you can use it as a sales tool and disseminate it across your social media and email marketing platforms.

If you are selling your product internationally, it’s a great way to communicate the benefits of your product and break down any language barriers!

A great example is a product demonstration we created for our client Martel, based in Durham, UK. Martel launched its Vida product at the start of the pandemic and needed to reach out to laboratory personnel in the USA. By showcasing the application of its product in a lab environment, prospective customers were able to experience and realise the product’s potential. Watch the animation: Click here >

Virtual reality (VR) – Although this technology has been around for more than 50 years, the use of VR in manufacturing has been a more recent development. VR is an artificial environment that is created with software and presented to the user as if it’s in a real environment.

This disruptive technology can be used to improve worker safety, help companies take products to market more rapidly, reduce training costs and increase productivity – and these are just some of VR’s benefits.

Adopting VR can help businesses remain competitive in the manufacturing sector and this technology can also create new experiences for customers and prospects, which can help them absorb information… and open their minds to new possibilities.

Our client 3t Transform, which is part of 3t Energy Group, pioneers virtual reality training solutions which help businesses to test the skills and knowledge of their workers.

3t Transform can also replicate real-world sites and assets into the virtual world to create highly realistic and entirely tailored VR learning experiences. Here’s an example of 3t Transform’s work: Click here >

Mixed film/animation content – By incorporating both live product demonstration footage and explanatory animations into a film, a viewer can get the best of both worlds – a real feel for the product, and more in-depth information on how it works.

Our client The Expanded Metal Company commissioned this fantastic film to illustrate the security capabilities of its Securilath™ security mesh product. Created by Ithica Films, it includes a highly effective mix of demo footage and animation. View it here >

3D product visualisation – This is the creation of three-dimensional models of products that show more accurate detail of a product at all angles. It’s a better way of showcasing a product than flat images or text descriptions and often provides a 360 view so that details of the product and the intricacies of the product can be viewed from various angles. This can be a powerful technique if you are selling products online.

Middlesbrough-based Animmersion helped our client The Expanded Metal Company to accurately portray its expanded metal mesh patterns in 3D renders.

These highly detailed mesh pattern renders were designed to help specifiers and buyers to choose the best mesh products for their requirements and the collaboration enabled The Expanded Metal Company to overcome the limitations of traditional methods of accurately visualising hundreds of meshes.

Animmersion applied the technology it employs to create virtual and augmented reality to develop a configuration solution. Through this, any of The Expanded Metal Company’s meshes could be created virtually.

Get in touch with us to discuss how you can integrate different digital tools into your marketing mix.