360 Virtual tours are not really new, but they’ve never been more popular as a marketing strategy. They may now be tactical, significant, and soon vital for any business. Gone are the instances when they were just cool and fancy.
With borders blocked and people confined to their homes due to the pandemic, people are turning to virtual tours to preview areas before visiting or purchasing. Conversion rates jumped by 16 percent to 67 percent for businesses that used virtual tours! Virtual tours are used by hotels, resorts, educational organizations, and event spaces for a variety of purposes and to appeal to different audiences.
If you’re keen or interested in having one made for your company, first consider what makes a successful virtual tour. We’ve put together a list of seven things you should include in your marketing to make it more tech-savvy.
Functional to reach your goals
Remember the days when virtual tours were solely for the sake of appearing opulent. They may now be functional, engaging, and supportive of your company objectives.
These virtual tours can contain materials such as films, music, images, and files to offer crucial information in addition to a walkthrough of the space. Customers are interested in more than simply the appearance of the room; they want to know why they are seeing what they are seeing. Take a virtual tour of a restaurant, which would have been even more immersive if it included a food photo gallery and a backstage video of the kitchen.
It’s the small elements that matter with virtual tours (and with anything else in life). You can incorporate lead-generating forms to collect information, or you can employ 3D representations to boost a space’s sales potential before it’s even built. To perceive how it works, take a look at this 3D rendered virtual tour of Cookhouse, a cloud kitchen.
It strengthens your online presence
An excellent virtual tour may help your internet branding tremendously! You may keep people interested and thrilled by using high-quality photographs, compelling descriptions, immersive media, and even guided tour components.
Virtual tour companies that are Google Street View certified may also assist you in uploading your 360° imagery to Google to improve your local search and rating.
Your brand story is in the spotlight
Virtual tours have progressed beyond mere eye entertainment. By incorporating your company’s vision, beliefs, and unique selling factors into your virtual tour, storytelling ties everything together.
What sets your business apart from the competition is your narrative. It can also elicit an emotional response and bring forth your unique individuality. A virtual tour of the Mah Meri Cultural Village, for example, can highlight the aboriginal peoples.
High-quality, interactive visuals
We mentioned virtual tours are not only about being pretty – but having beautiful imagery certainly helps! When it comes to marketing, high-quality still photography can work wonders — even more so when viewed in 360°.
A virtual tour’s appeal lies, first and foremost, in its fascinating and lifelike images. It allows users to immerse themselves in the environment and view the location from various perspectives. Your online visitor’s first impression should ideally be, “wow – is that actually how this place looks?”
It appeals to your audience
The focus of your virtual tour should be on your target audience. This is quickly becoming a crucial technique for property developers to show buyers what the spaces look like. International schools have begun to use this technology to promote their campuses, curriculum, and culture. As a result, inquiries generated by virtual tours are already more likely to convert.
Hotel and event rental organizations are increasingly using virtual walkthroughs to introduce their distinctive rooms and features. Take a virtual tour of Greenhouse’s at Seputeh, which includes a 360° timelapse of their cool light effects and their wedding venue!
Build a Virtual Tour Communication Plan
The final recommended practice for virtual tours in higher education has nothing to do with the tour itself. It’s more about what occurs once the project is finished. If you ardently follow all of the above suggestions, you’ll be able to build an experience that’s tailored to your target demographic. Now you must ensure that the audience sees the tour and participates in it.
It’s not an easy task, but there are several obvious integration opportunities for tour marketing within your materials:
A prominent location on your website, ideally near the physical campus visit registration form.
Emails and SMS messages are sent on a regular basis to encourage your audience to visit you electronically.
Integration with your university’s mobile app, allowing for a seamless transfer to VR.
Links in printed materials, especially admittance materials such as your viewbook or postcards inviting you to visit.
That last possibility is really intriguing. Some institutions are already sending out virtual reality lectures as part of their recruitment approach, directing students straight to the virtual tour and embracing it as a key component of the strategy. The opportunities for integration are nearly limitless.
It has a clear call to action.
Without a “what’s next” plan, no marketing campaign will be successful. Encourage viewers to take the next step after viewing your virtual tour, whether it’s scheduling a physical visit, phoning, booking, or ordering. There are a variety of buttons you can use, depending on your conversion goals. Links to your website, sign-up forms, reservation buttons, and call buttons are examples of these.
A good online experience goes a long way toward making a consumer experience that is dynamic and immersive. If you want to use a virtual tour to boost your marketing efforts, make sure it includes these seven crucial features.
Create a Virtual Tour to Enhance Your Marketing Strategy with Klapty
We design dynamic and visually compelling virtual tours for companies in a variety of industries, each with its own personality and branding. Every element comes together just to create your own virtual walkthrough, from customized 360° virtual tours with high-quality 4K panoramas to 3D rendered virtual tours, virtual exhibition halls, digital showrooms, and spectacular drone panoramas with virtual tours by Klapty.
