3 business strategies for smoothly entering the era of metaverse marketing

Think of a Ferrari test drive on the virtual streets of Paris, Los Angeles, Bangkok, or any other destination in the world. Or, would you like to travel to ancient Pompeii or a luxury resort you wouldn’t afford in a real life? 

In the metaverse, you shouldn’t have to be Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk to get involved in space travel. Many limitations will be removed: geo-location, finances, and time, for example. Everyone from anywhere will be able to enter the metaverse at any point. It will always be on.

The metaverse presents the opportunity to build a more accessible and inclusive social environment that can address the needs of different swaths of society — from average users to luxury customers seeking exclusivity and rarity. 

Nobody knows when the metaverse will gain mass adoption, but we’re definitely on a path to it (just like the Internet 25 years ago). It’s not just talk. Private capital is quickly pouring in. In 2021, metaverse-related companies raised upward of $10 billion. Major investments in metaverse infrastructure will lead to more brands entering a new virtual world and more tech companies working on its expansion.  

Predict the demand

Why are top brands moving toward the metaverse? They predict the demand. While meeting customer demand is rule No. 1 for a successful business, predicting the demand is what brings brands to industry leadership. The earlier you get in, the lower the competition. 

You get the advantage of the time to improve product while others just start entering a niche. This example applies to any industry. Take Kellogg as an example: As the first company to start producing cornflakes, this company is still at the frontier of its industry.  What could the metaverse and cereals have in common? Well, in 2022, Kellogg entered the metaverse.   

Predicting the demand also means predicting the needs of a major consumer buying power presented by tech-curious millennials and adulting Gen Zers. They are the future of consumer power.

Sell the experience

Most businesses understand a simple truth: Customers don’t buy products; they buy experiences. When I was a kid, I would have never wanted to buy a bottle of Coca-Cola if I didn’t see their holiday ad depicting Santa and reindeer. Not a big fan of sparkling drinks, I still wanted to buy Coca-Cola to become a part of that fairy tale. 

Although kids are more receptive, the same model works with adults. We all are buying experiences. After satisfying the essentials, we have the desire to acquire experiences giving us a feeling of exclusivity and belonging — whether it’s a social class or community of sports lovers, music addicts, or the affluent. 

The metaverse provides a multitude of tools to build immersive customer experiences: virtual concerts, sports events, and fashion shows welcoming millions of users to creative eCommerce product presentations. The virtual world will take online shopping to the next level. Merchants will be able to open store chains in different districts of the metaverse and even across various metaverses. 

The metaverse will be a primary environment for next-generation marketing, customer engagement, and reaching new audiences.

Learn to capitalize on emerging opportunities

Top companies are quickly adopting this innovation and looking for ways to monetize it. A great example is Vault, the Gucci town on Roblox. The fashion brand released an exclusive digital pair of sneakers, The Gucci Virtual 25, that can “be worn” in augmented reality or used in apps like Roblox and VRChat. 

They were selling them for only $12.99 — an incredibly low price for a luxury brand — but it was a very smart business move. And they didn’t stop there. Just a few months later, Gucci sold a digital version of its Dionysus bag for $4,115, exceeding the price of the physical item. Starting with tests and experiments by major brands, the metaverse is going to grow into a multi-billion dollar business industry. 

Very soon, we may see demand for clothes for our virtual avatars as they will become an important representation of our digital selves in the metaverse. Users will want to dress well and make a good impression, whether in virtual team catch-ups, business meetings, or shows hosted by celebrities.

The needs of the next generations will be mostly based on tech advancements, and we can’t ignore the metaverse as one of the biggest sensations right now. Marketing will follow consumer demand.

Dana Kachan is CMO at BullPerks, a decentralized VC and crypto launchpad; and GamesPad, a GameFi, NFT and metaverse ecosystem.