The world of technology has gone through significant changes in the last 10 years. Breakthroughs in the field of merging the virtual and real-world, thereby, providing an immersive experience to the user have been, observed. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are technologies that have revolutionised the way people used to interact with the virtual world. These technologies have been, extensively used in the gaming industry; however, the possibilities of their usage remain endless, as they keep evolving rapidly. With the advent of the internet and various other technologies, the concept of digital marketing came into being. Today, digital marketing is the only way to keep the customers engaged all the time, and improving sales. However, as the world around us is always changing, it is important to evolve the strategies needed for digital marketing. Through this blog, today we are going to learn about what VR and AR are, and which of these technologies is better for marketing. Let us get started with Virtual Reality vs. Augmented Reality.

What is Virtual Reality?

Virtual reality is, for the most part, a wearable technology. The purpose of this technology is to provide a completely immersive experience to the user; this means that the sights and sound of the real world are completely replaced by a virtual environment. Unlike, the traditional technique of using a keyboard or a mouse to interact with the virtual environment, with VR you can use your limbs to move around and interact, with the help of VR controllers, which are specialised for this purpose. Virtual Reality vs. Augmented Reality is a matter of concern here.

A VR headset is, needed for visualising the computerised environment, which goes over your eyes, and completely blocks off the view of the real world making the users immerse themselves completely in the virtual world, and use their senses in an elevated manner.

VR has immense possibilities, it has the ability to provide the user with an experience they would have never experienced before or may not even possibly experience without fulfilling unrealistic requirements. For example, you can be sitting on a chair in a completely empty room; however, with the help of a VR headset, you can transpose yourself to the top of Mount Everest and have a completely dramatic experience.

What is Augmented Reality?

By definition, augmentation means to alter something in such a way that it is, made greater by adding something to it. In our case, the “it” is the virtual world and “something” is the real world, the virtual world is, augmented in the real world, giving rise to the concept of Augmented Reality (AR). Unlike, virtual reality, AR focuses on bringing the virtual world to the real world instead of transporting the user to the virtual world. It does so by the process of overlaying the graphics, sound, or any other virtual content on real-world objects in such a way, that it gives the user the ability to experience the scale and feel of the objects without them being actually present.

For AR to work, no special hardware is, needed. A simple smartphone can be enough to experience AR, with applications that are especially, designed for the purpose. It does not block off the view of our real world, instead, it adds to the real world around us, providing an immersive experience. Many different websites and apps are available which help the user to experience the virtual world without cutting ties with the real world a popular example can be the Pokémon Go game.

Many big players in the tech industry such as Apple and Samsung are continuously investing in this technology. The world of AR has many possibilities too just like VR, AR is also a continuously evolving technology and only time will tell the influence of such technologies in the world.

The difference between VR and AR

Even though both these technologies help experience the virtual world in the most immersive and efficient manner they are still two very different technologies. The easiest way to choose between AR and VR is, with VR you can have the feeling of being, chased by lions in the African Savannah, and with AR, you can watch a lion come out of your closet while you sit comfortably on your sofa with your smartphone in your hand.

Comparatively, VR is more immersive than AR. However, AR gives the user more room and freedom to explore at their own leisure. In addition, on the Hardware and Software level, VR is much more demanding than AR. This is an advantage for marketers, as they can promote their products in the most immersive to a much larger audience, without having many technical constraints. Which one would you prefer? Virtual Reality vs Augmented Reality

Virtual Reality vs Augmented Reality in Marketing

Marketing is one of the most important aspects related to any product or service. Without proper marketing, no matter how unique or exotic the product or the service is, the right kind of customer base cannot be, targeted, and sales cannot be, increased. Traditional marketing techniques included Newspaper adverts, Pamphlets, TV and radio advertisements, Word-of-mouth based advertisements, etc. however, even if these techniques were effective once, with the advent of technology, the marketing strategies went under a much-needed change too.

Today, almost all of the marketing by every single brand, or any product or service-based company is, done using digital methods. This concept of digital marketing has gained a lot of popularity in recent times, and for good measure. Digital marketing by definition is marketing done using any kind of technology that is, used by the customer, to maintain customer engagement under any condition. Augmented and virtual reality are two such technologies that are, used for digital marketing by many companies in very creative manners.

According to a report, the economic influence of VR and AR is, predicted to reach about $29.5 billion in the year 2020. This is possible because of the fact these technologies provide the most impressive, immersive, and flashy experience of the products or services to the customers, having a deep psychological and emotional impact on them. When used in the most efficient manner, they have the power to offer customers the most pleasant and customizable experience.

Contrary to the popular belief that VR technology is only restricted to the gaming industry and usually requires a significant amount of investment too to, even get started with, the reality says otherwise. Sure, that in the initial stages when this technology was introduced, it did cost more than the average consumer could afford. However, as time progressed, and more and more companies started investing in the technology the consumer level products started becoming cheaper to buy and powerful in usage. From Google Cardboard, a VR headset cheaper than most commercial products, to Oculus rift, the most advanced and considerably expensive VR headset, with their help customers can experience digital representations of their favourite products by their favourite brands at their own comfort.

Due to the way VR technology operates, it helps to bridge the gaps between experience and actions. For example, in the housing industry, VR technology can be, used for providing the customer with a complete virtual tour of their dream home, even if the physical construction is not, completed yet. This turns out to be super beneficial, as now the housing agencies can provide real-time experience to the user, instead of just showing some photos, in addition, the future homeowners can also have the proper look and feel of their houses and suggest any changes needed effectively too. VR can also be, used as a tool by brands, to display their new and upcoming products to the customers, or provide them with a complete virtual experience of an existing product rather than bombarding them with ads on their browsers. The use of such a technology in an innovative way also gives the brands or any company, for that matter, a competitive advantage in the market.

Augmented reality is another such technology being popularised in the world of marketing. The difference between AR and VR as stated earlier is the reason why sometimes, AR becomes a much more affordable, and scalable option for many marketers. AR can be accessible simply through a mobile phone too, hence, the number of customers that can be, reached with the use of this technology is quite significant. According to some reports, 61% of customers preferred products that used AR for providing an experience beforehand, whereas 72% of consumers bought a product they previously did not intend to buy, only because of AR. Augmented reality truly is the technology for next-generation marketing. There are many applications in which AR can be, used the simplest implementation can be Smart Business Cards that use AR as a way to communicate the business’s products and services. Another application can be in the clothing industry, where users can get to try-on the clothes they buy beforehand so that they do not face any inconveniences after receiving the product. Virtual Reality vs. Augmented Reality. This will always remain a major concern for working marketing professionals.

Conclusion

With the many benefits that AR and VR both offer, it is not too difficult to see that these are the technologies that will be used extensively in the future of digital marketing. However, whether Augmented Reality is better than Virtual Reality in marketing or vice versa, boils down to the application specifics. Depending on what kind of product or service you wish to market, and who your target audience will be, the choice of using AR or VR must be, made. No matter the choice, both of these technologies, have their own advantages and disadvantages and must be, used vigilantly. Effective use of such powerful technologies can help your sales skyrocket, or if used carelessly can also lead all your profits to squander. After reading this detailed blog, you must have got some idea about Virtual Reality vs. Augmented Reality.

Kolkata School of Digital Marketing is an advanced Digital Marketing Training Institute in Kolkata aimed at developing proficient Digital Marketers for this digitally-driven era. After providing efficient services to all our clients with all our passion and expertise for over 5 years, we now wish to spread the knowledge of Digital Marketing. We would like to share with you what we have learned while serving our clients, through this Digital Marketing Training Institute. Apart from customizing the courses, our trainees believe in teaching the students through relevant case studies and live examples, while letting them implement it practically.

We have a whole array of courses in many different areas of digital marketing such as a diploma in digital marketing, Pay per click Ads, Facebook Ads, Digital marketing and SEO course; along with these courses, we also provide Corporate Training for Sales and marketing teams, CRM teams, etc. Our aim is to make you love digital marketing as much as we do and in the process make you efficient and effective digital marketers. Contact us today, and start your journey towards becoming a future digital marketer where you will get to work with both AR and VR and you will have to decide accordingly between Virtual Reality vs Augmented Reality