The past few years have been a deeply challenging time, placing a tremendous amount of pressure on CEOs, CMOs, CXOs and service leaders and causing them to transform how they think about experience in their organizations to help drive incremental revenue and margin expansion. These challenges have also served as a catalyst for innovation across sectors. From curbside pickup, contactless shopping and retail to the adoption of telehealth and healthcare, the case for leveraging the intersection of experience and technology has never been stronger. As companies continue to grapple with the potential of Web 3.0, what strategies need to align to unlock the trillion-dollar opportunities in the metaverse?
Should You Invest in the Metaverse?
First things first, should you even consider investing in the metaverse? It may depend on your industry, who your customers are and their willingness to try new things. For now, roughly half of U.S. consumers know little to nothing about the metaverse, but if you’re interested in connecting with the ever-elusive Gen Z or Gen Alpha (born 2012 or later), the metaverse is worth looking into. According to recent research by Vice Media Group and Publicis Groupe’s Razorfish agency, Gen Z consumers spend twice as much time socially interacting in the metaverse than they do in real life.
While the Millennials represent the largest group of consumers and the Baby Boomers have the most significant buying power, Gen Z’s spending power is on the rise and as their buying power grows, businesses must adapt their marketing and find new ways to get them to buy—that way just might be in the metaverse.
Be Where Your Competitors Aren’t
Right now, the metaverse is a marketer’s dream—consumers are there, but brands are still catching up. Since we’re still in the early days of the metaverse, it’s an exciting time to get involved. Your competitors probably aren’t in the metaverse yet and most organizations are skeptical or intimidated by it, so you have a chance to step in, take charge and forge a path forward. By diving right in, testing, learning and exploring with the consumers and the creators in the metaverse, brands can see first-hand how rewarding the metaverse can be—without having to fight for the consumer’s attention.
Build a Community Like Never Before
In the metaverse, there are endless opportunities for people to come together, create and collaborate, but brands aren’t just building community and engaging with their audiences—they’re also helping create memories. The metaverse is different from any other platform a brand might use to engage their audience because rather than them reading or clicking on something, they’re experiencing it with their friends.
The metaverse provides a unique opportunity to develop a partnership with your customers and make them an extension of your innovation team. What is the outcome your customers want you to drive for them? By starting with the customer’s goal, you can work backward to look at your organization’s processes and implement KPIs that drive those goals forward. It’s a human-centered strategy that harnesses the power of technology and puts that experience at the center of everything you do. You can leverage the metaverse to collect real-time opinions and feedback that will help you stay relevant with your current customers and with new audiences as well.
Listen, Learn, Pivot, Repeat
As consumers continue to evolve and change, your company needs to be flexible and work with leaders and partners that can pivot and move. You won’t have all the answers when entering the metaverse (because no one does), so the only way forward is to constantly learn from everyone you meet and connect with on the platform. The ability to listen, learn and pivot is critical to finding success on your Web 3.0 journey.
In many ways, COVID drove a decade worth of digital transformation in a single year. For companies to survive and be able to serve their customers, they had to rethink their technology and customer relationship strategies. Brands shouldn’t solely rely on building relationships with their customers through advertising. Customer relationships and loyalty are the results of profoundly human and personal experiences, and the ability to deliver on those experiences is what really differentiates brands, whether B2C or B2B.
As business leaders learn more about the metaverse and what it means for them, they’re turning to UPRAISE to advise on what their business stands to gain. Contact us if you’re interested in marketing in the metaverse but don’t know where to start!