The Omnichannel AR Marketing Equation
How do we boil omnichannel marketing down to a simple equation? It’s about letting consumers find or consume unified messages on the platform of their choice … including print and direct mail. Over recent years we’ve all seen what print and direct mail bring to marketing, particularly as a sensory experience that builds a high level of trust. Print and direct mail cut through digital clutter like no other medium. So why are they still so often managed in a silo, far away from the other channels they add so much value to?
Savvy marketers will tell you that’s changing, and quickly. Augmented Reality (AR) has entered the print and direct mail equation, and innovative leaders in marketing can now easily add digital interactivity to traditional media and connect it to wider omnichannel programs. Those who are mastering Interactive Print, or AR-enabled print, are finding that this often overlooked medium is a very powerful enabler of extended omnichannel experiences, and that it fills gaps some digital channels struggle to meet. Digital and traditional, working as one!
In the rest of this article we’ll look at the basics of Augmented Reality as an interactive print enabler, along with some examples of enhanced AR technologies now being used to boost print and direct mail performance. Interactive print enhanced with augmented reality is clearly cementing its place in everyday omnichannel marketing strategies because of the value it brings to both print and direct mail, and the profit that follows.
Direct mail synchronized with augmented reality:
- Delivers highly engaging, personalized experiences across all touchpoints and connects smoothly to multiple digital channels. Brochures, booklets, catalogs and even personalized birthday cards become gateways to digital assets.
- Works hand in hand with email communications and digital platforms for media retargeting, to win back and re-engage customers who have visited a website or downloaded an app.
- Delivers highly relevant local area content and creates personalized experiences that send customers to local businesses. AR adds another dimension to print marketing for tourism, events, and arts and culture.
- Starts geo-fenced digital advertising to devices that have opened augmented reality content (e.g. a consumer scans the QR code on a postcard for an automotive service offer, and the next time they drive within “5 miles” of a service center their device gets a message or ad reminding them of the offer).
Best of all, when interactive print enabled through augmented reality becomes part of an omnichannel marketing strategy, it improves the impact of every marketing channel in a customer’s journey
Print Marketing Campaigns Come to Life with Augmented Reality
Just when everyone thought print marketing was heading the way of newspapers, something remarkable happened. Flat direct mail campaigns sprang to life as the link between print, direct mail and augmented reality “created more engagement with AR ads outperforming traditional display ads, generating 94% higher conversion rates, compared to ads without AR/3D components,” according to Shopify. Augmented reality is the ideal link between print and online marketing. It adds visual accessibility and interactivity that drive customer engagement and positive buyer response, which any successful marketing strategy needs in order to deliver results and maximize return on investment (ROI).
With AR elements in print ads, shoppers can learn more about your brand instantly and be sent to virtual stores, where they can:
- Browse products, such as clothing, furniture and accessories
- Try on products, such as clothing and accessories
- See how products look in their own environment, as with IKEA Place 3D modeling
More brand experiences online and on social platforms keep your visitors engaged with your products, and they’re more likely to decide to buy because of the immersive connection AR creates between your customers and your brand. Immersive experiences like these tighten up the buyer’s journey when omnichannel marketing strategies are in play. Letting people move easily between the channels they trust helps build deeper relationships.
Omnichannel Marketing Strategies
A strong, consistent omnichannel marketing plan uses customer data and the latest technology to create personalized experiences built around customers’ needs, preferences and expectations. Interactive print enhanced with augmented reality has given traditional print marketing collateral new energy, and it gives marketers new ways to engage customers with entertaining, memorable content that leaps off the page when scanned with a smartphone.
AR Turns Omnichannel Retail Journeys into Convenient Experiences
AR links traditional and digital channels so customers can connect with brands on the platform of their choice. The novelty has worn off, and familiarity is becoming expectation. As more brands bring AR into their omnichannel marketing, AR-enabled print and direct mail will be an expected extension of your brand, as relevant to consumers as selling on social media platforms or through a branded app.
Orpington Omni Media’s augmented reality solutions can help you give customers print and direct mail campaigns that are more engaging and more memorable for your brand, and that blur the line between digital and traditional. Omnichannel marketing at its best.