Marketing in the Metaverse: 3 Strategies to Consider [+Examples]

What is one of the biggest platforms that marketers are talking about this year? The metaverse.

Marketing in the metaverse does present some challenges. But it presents a lot more opportunities. The brands that are the early adopters of the metaverse are quickly realising the potential of metaverses and seeing great returns. 

There are many reasons why marketers are flocking to the metaverse: it's new, fast, and clearly here to stay. But when approaching a new platform such as the metaverse, you need to adjust your thinking. 

Marketing in the metaverse does not work the same way as on other platforms. You will need to get creative and take the time to understand how users are interacting in the metaverse to build successful strategies. To help you put together a successful metaverse marketing strategy, here are three ideas you can consider. 

Insert Your Brand Into The Platform

Advertising by its very nature is disruptive. While disruptive ads such as those that display before you watch a Youtube video can stop an audience in their tracks and have been found to have an average CTR of 0.65%, they can also be annoying to users. One report found that only 10% of YouTube users did not find the advertising annoying. 

One strategy to tackle this issue in the metaverse is to insert your brand naturally into the platform. This essentially means that your brand needs to have a presence in and engage with users on the platform in a way that is not disruptive to their experience. 

Native in-game ads are one solution. For example, several large brands such as Samsung and Coca-Cola have taken out virtual billboards within games to grab the attention of audiences with minimal disruption. 

Not only are billboards not disruptive, but many users actually enjoy them. According to Bidstack, 95% of players said that they increase in-game realism.  

Align Your Real-Life And Virtual Marketing 

While a transition to metaverse marketing does require you to adjust your strategies, it does not mean you have to do everything differently. 

One great metaverse marketing strategy that will work especially well when transitioning to this new platform is to align your real-world and virtual marketing. 

A good starting strategy is to replicate your offering from the real world into the metaverse. 

What might this look like? 

A great example of a brand that did this really well is Deliveroo. It created a marketing campaign for Animal Crossing in which it sent out virtual delivery riders across the game. Players got surprise deliveries on their virtual islands in the form of an item they could use in the game, but they also received a promo code that could be used to get money off in-app in the real world. 

These kinds of campaigns will be essential to thriving in the metaverse. Experiential marketing is highly effective in building connections with customers and reports show that brands who focus on building experiences increase brand loyalty by 25% more than those who don’t.

Virtual Events

Virtual events in the metaverse present an opportunity for you to engage in and interact with users. Virtual events have become increasingly popular due to COVID-19 and in the metaverse, there is great potential to host all kinds of creative events.

For example, Travis Scott performed a virtual concert in Fortnite using a 3D avatar and over 12 million players attended.

To Sum Up

For marketers, new platforms emerging are both exciting and scary. You get the opportunity to explore new ideas but there is the uncertainty of how well campaigns will perform on a platform you have no previous experience or data to look back on. That is why when transitioning into the metaverse it is great to look at what other brands are already doing. By using the above three strategies, you have a solid foundation on which to start your metaverse marketing plan. 

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