Augmented Reality Gives Small Businesses a Boost in 2023

As a small business, finding a way to stand out against the competition can be difficult in a fast-paced, oversaturated marketplace. Marketing a business takes effort, knowledge, and monetary resources that many small business owners do not have, as they focus on running their business day to day. 

Small businesses are the backbone of any economy, providing jobs and often driving innovation. 

It doesn’t take a large budget to be innovative, but society rewards those that embrace new ideas, especially those that align with existing trends or deeply resonate with the problems that clients are facing.

As technology continues to make advancements at lightning speed, small business owners should be honing in on their uniqueness, and proclaiming that in their marketing communications. Strengthening the brand with what sets them apart from competitors, and finding new ways of getting the word out that are effective, and leave a lasting impression.

Augmented Reality (AR) technology adds another level of connection and communication to marketing campaigns that literally makes brands COME ALIVE! 

AR allows businesses to create immersive, memorable experiences that engage customers through interactive, exciting experiences. For example, a clothing store could use AR to allow customers to try on clothes virtually, or a real estate company could use AR to give potential buyers a virtual tour of a property.

Benefits of AR Marketing include:

• Increasing customer engagement loyalty:
  By providing a unique and interactive experience, customers are more likely to remember your business and come back for more. Additionally, AR can also help to increase sales by making it easier for customers to envision themselves using your product or service.
• Inexpensive to implement:
  There are various off-the-shelf AR tools and platforms that businesses can use to create their own AR experiences, without the need for a large investment in expensive technology.
• Competitive advantage:
  By incorporating AR into their marketing strategy, small businesses can differentiate themselves from their competitors and stand out in a crowded marketplace.
• Increased brand awareness:
  AR marketing can help to increase brand awareness by providing a unique and memorable experience for customers.
• Access to new customer base:
  AR can allow small businesses to reach a new customer base that is interested in innovative technologies.
• Greater customer insights:
  AR technologies can provide small businesses with valuable data on customer behavior, preferences, and engagement, which can be used to improve marketing strategies and customer service.
• Enhanced customer retention:
  AR can help small businesses to improve customer retention by providing an interactive, personalized experience that keeps customers coming back.

How Can a Small Business Start Using AR Marketing?

So now you know the benefits of AR Marketing and how they can help you boost your small business. Surely you’re interested in finding out how you can start applying it to your business. 

The first fundamental principles in order to start using AR Marketing include: 

1. Identifying a target audience: The first step in using AR marketing is to identify a target audience and determine what type of AR experience would be most engaging for them.
2. Researching AR tools and platforms: There are a variety of off-the-shelf AR tools and platforms available, such as ARKit, ARCore, Vuforia, Zappar, and REVEALiO. Research these options to find the best solution that fits within the budget.
3. Developing a concept: Develop a concept for an AR marketing campaign and consider how it will add value to a customer’s experience.
4. Creating the AR experience: Utilize the chosen AR tool or platform to create an AR experience, it could be an app, a game, a video, or a brochure.
5. Testing and refining: Test the AR experience with a small group of customers and gather feedback to refine it.
6. Promoting the AR experience: Once the AR experience is ready, promote it through social media, email marketing, or other channels to attract potential customers.
7. Measuring and analyzing the results: Use analytics tools to measure the success of the AR marketing campaign and analyze the results. This data will help refine the strategy and improve future campaigns.
8. Keep updating: Keep updating the AR experience with new features, promotions, and offers to keep customers engaged and coming back.

Now, of course, on paper, this seems simple enough but small business owners may find that they do not have the bandwidth to sit down and actually do all this themselves. It’s okay! There is help.

REVEALiO’s AR Marketing Solution 

At REVEALiO, we specialize in providing cutting-edge software and media solutions to help businesses establish themselves as industry leaders. As a company owned by a minority and service-disabled veteran, we offer professional website design, content marketing, and advertising, including AR marketing.

Our goal is to elevate brands and make them stand out by creating a “WOW” factor that creates a memorable impression, and influences buying decisions.

We strive to provide not only the most advanced AR technology to help your business grow, but also to continue using these resources to connect with more business owners in need of a boost.

This new year, we at REVEALiO have reinvented ourselves by updating our augmented reality marketing app with a new engine and an improved way of viewing interactive marketing materials.

While the core concept of transforming ordinary print materials into dynamic, interactive storytelling experiences remains the same, our AR app now does not require users to download an app from the App Store or Google Play Store to view the activated materials.

This is because REVEALiO is now using WebAR, a browser-based augmented reality technology that does not require any app downloads to experience the magic.