A merger of virtual worlds, the Metaverse, has entered the lives of legal PR and marketing professionals. Like the evolution of the internet and mobile technologies, savvy marketers will educate themselves and adapt to new virtual worlds of opportunity. Like the internet, industry insiders know the Metaverse will become a necessity for all brands. Search the word “Metaverse” on LinkedIn, and you will find thousands of people using Chief Metaverse Officer and other metaverse titles in their profile title or experience.

Wikipedia defines the Metaverse as “a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space, including the sum of all virtual worlds, augmented reality and the internet.” While this might seem straight out of science fiction, the Metaverse is a reality today, and understanding how businesses can promote themselves and their products within this virtual world will be key moving forward.

Virtual real estate is already selling for millions of dollars, Nike just purchased a virtual sneaker and collectibles company, and Facebook is betting on the Metaverse as its future. The Metaverse is ripe with opportunities for companies to showcase their products and sell virtual goods and promote their brands to millions. The possibilities are truly limitless but understanding the pros and cons of marketing within this virtual space is critical.

Coming up with groundbreaking PR ideas can be tricky. However, many legal marketing pros have to come up with awesome PR ideas for situations, and while it can be challenging, the Metaverse opens up a universe of opportunities.

One incredible benefit to the Metaverse is the ability to launch a “virtual brand,” either an extension of an existing brand or something that only exists within this virtual space. This could be a huge opportunity to gain significant attention and create new revenue streams. Take the example of Nike purchasing the virtual sneaker company. This virtual brand opens up an entirely new world for an established company, creating new revenue streams and increasing exposure to new customers.

But how do you market shoes that only exist virtually?

You might rely on “virtual influencers.” Virtual influencers have been around for a while but will become increasingly important as the Metaverse becomes more mainstream and more people engage in these virtual worlds. Replacing a human influencer with a virtual one can allow brands to have a bit more control of how that influencer interacts with potential customers and removes some of the risk associated with a real person and actions they take that could reflect poorly on a brand.

There is also the opportunity for “virtual product placement.” Sticking with the virtual sneakers, getting those placed in the right video game can expose millions of potential customers. As the Metaverse expands even further, there is a potential for product placement in virtual programming.

Those virtual shoes might also launch simultaneously with a live version of the shoe, allowing a company to have both live and virtual events to celebrate the launch. Customers can see what the shoe looks like on a virtual version of themselves and “try them out” before purchasing in real life.

Virtual partnerships and collaborations also provide an opportunity for cross-promotion. The virtual sneaker brand might collaborate with a virtual celebrity or fashion line on an exclusive, limited-edition sneaker that both brands can widely promote. This could also be a real-world and virtual collaboration to maximize exposure and sales.

Virtual product placement can also be a robust tool in your arsenal. Product placement can include gifting a publication or influencer a product assuming that they will write about it in an article or social media post. Brands could create digital versions of products and services and gift these virtual items to increase consumer exposure.

Balenciaga during Fashion Week provides an excellent example of a novel way to showcase a brand to a vast audience. The fashion brand debuted a 10-minute episode of “The Simpsons” with Marge wearing a piece from their summer 2020 collection. This highlights the innovative new ways brands can collaborate and utilize product placement.

The Metaverse is a mirror of human behavior virtually. To boost client engagement, brands can collaborate both physically and virtually. As consumers look to create their virtual avatars, PR pros can encourage partnerships with other brands for a broader digital experience. Essential for PR pros would be to research brands and consumers that align with a client’s mission and values to reach new potential through cross-promotions while discovering new opportunities for brand exposure.

PR and marketing professionals should realize that marketing in the Metaverse will likely mimic much of what we are already doing in the real world. We are already heavily entrenched in the digital marketing world with so much of what we do online. This will shift into marketing goods and services online in a virtual world. That means it is critical to understand who that customer is and what motivates someone to buy something or engage with a brand when they can’t touch the products.

Communication will be critical. Framing your messaging, choosing the right product placement, partnerships, platforms, and influencers to reach those people and speak directly to them is necessary to ensure success. Finding and implementing communication opportunities in the Metaverse will require creativity and foresight.

The Importance of storytelling remains strong. Communications professionals have been increasingly using press releases and pitches to articulate a brand’s products’ image and communication value. In the virtual world, where the description of a product increases the likelihood a consumer will purchase, superior writing skills will remain vital. PR pros will be tasked with articulating virtual stories for NFTs and the other digital features and pushing them out to virtual communities.

PR pros can start looking for creators and influencers already in the space to partner with and get their brand a boost forward. Think of ways to create PR content using AR, read everything related to begin educating yourself. Set Google Alerts for keyword “Metaverse,” interact and follow the journalists covering all Metaverse-related topics.

Again, the Metaverse is not far off. It is time to adapt to a more virtual world and understand how to market your clients within this space that will soon become more of a reality. PR professionals should consider how to make the transition into the Metaverse and use tactics, include gamification features and ideas to make communication more exciting and engaging.

Elizabeth Lampert is a media and crisis professional and can be reached at Lampert@elizabethLampertPR.com.

Lara Cupit, a trend spotter and PR strategist, can be reached at LaraCupit@gmail.com.