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Once a niche technology, VR is gradually on its way to the mainstream. Now that it’s relatively common and recognizable among modern audiences, brand marketers continue to consider its role in their media mix. This can include interactive experiences that let users take virtual tours or get immersed in a brand experience.
Ikea, Aston Martin, and Red Bull are a few examples of brands that have found success in VR marketing. Still, this is a relatively new field, so proceeding with it deserves careful thought. Here are five considerations to determine if and how you should use VR in your 2025 marketing efforts.
1. What Unique Value Does VR Provide?
The first question is whether you’ll gain advantages from VR that you can’t get elsewhere. This technology offers two primary benefits to marketing campaigns — interactivity and immersion. Determining how these qualities align with your specific products or services will help you judge how beneficial VR will be for your company.
Ikea’s Virtual Reality Showroom is an excellent example of VR in an appropriate marketing context. Showing consumers how furniture looks in their homes is integral to the company’s sales strategy. However, with only 74 stores in North America, not every customer can readily access Ikea’s in-person showrooms. VR immersion brings the same interactive and visualization benefits to markets without an Ikea store, so it’s a natural fit.
2. What Is Your Budget?
Once you decide how your marketing efforts can benefit from immersion or interactivity, review your budget. It’s a best practice to spend between 6% and 20% of revenue on marketing, so start by quantifying this range. Then, evaluate how necessary VR hardware and programming costs fall within it.
Remember, VR costs can vary widely. For example, encouraging people to buy new hardware may cost more than a campaign focused on maximizing devices customers already own. Consequently, you should consider various situations to decide how VR fits your budget.
3. Who Is Your Audience?
Next, review the audience you’re trying to reach. VR integration may yield a better return on investment if your target market is likely to use the tech on their own or find it exciting.
Younger audiences tend to be the most tech-friendly, so VR is best when your campaign’s target niche skews young. Remember that this applies to business-to-business transactions, not only consumer circles. Millennials will make up 75% of the workforce by 2030 while the number of Gen Zers in the workplace also continues to skyrocket, and VR can be helpful when marketing to companies with this generation in purchasing positions.
4. Does AR Make More Sense?
It’s also worth considering if augmented reality may work better for your goals than VR. AR is less immersive than VR but is generally more accessible for all involved.
Because AR includes a view of the real world, it’s best for campaigns that showcase products or services in customers’ specific lives or work. By contrast, VR is better when detail and in-depth interactivity are more integral to buying decisions.
5. What’s Your Level of Technical Expertise?
Finally, figure out how your in-house technical abilities and experience align with VR development. Roughly one-third of workers today lack essential digital skills, and inadequate tech expertise can make a VR marketing strategy unattainable.
Higher-level IT experience will make VR a more worthwhile investment. However, you should also consider potential development partners. A third-party programming service or VR vendor can handle much of the complexity, enabling you to work around these limitations.
VR Can Be a Useful Marketing Tool for Many Businesses
VR’s potential in marketing goes further than it may seem at first. While cost, complexity, and market barriers may seem imposing, there are ways around them.
You must understand VR’s capabilities and your advertising goals to maximize your campaign’s impact. Ask yourself these five questions to determine how to use VR to take your 2025 marketing strategy to new heights.
Eleanor Hecks is Editor-in-Chief of Designerly Magazine where she specializes in design, development, and UX topics. Follow Designerly on X @Designerlymag.
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