Virtual Reality Viewers
While these toys certainly aren’t required to enjoy TrueTour®, providing a virtual reality experience to your audience is probably the coolest and newest – not to mention MIND-BLOWING-EST – way to show off your space, venue, or location.
TrueTour® Virtual Reality Tips:
VR Viewer vs. VR Headset:
One important thing to understand when using virtual reality technology is the difference between a viewer and a headset.
A virtual reality headset, often used for video gaming, is a viewing device that comes complete with a built-in screen, speakers and all hardware, and almost always needs to plug into a computer directly. Virtual reality headsets, while exceptionally high quality, do not play as much of the role when applying virtual reality as a sales tool.
Virtual reality viewers on the other hand work with smart phones and are simple viewing boxes with lenses built-in. The virtual reality experience loads up on the smart phone (essentially it’s a split screen version of the content) and then the smart phone loads into the viewer. This is just a new way to view 360° content. You can view it by moving the photo around your finger I tablet or by sticking your head inside of a virtual reality viewer and moving your head around which operates the Gyro in your phone and moves the image around as if you were standing at that location.
Because virtual reality viewers generally work seamlessly with all modern smart phones and allow almost all forms of 360° content viewers are highly relevant to applying VR as a sales tool in the marketplace.
VR viewers we recommend:
Buy a viewer with adjustable lenses
There are a lot of viewers on the marketplace but we highly recommend selecting a viewer with adjustable lenses. This gives you the ability to control the focus and dramatically improves the quality of the experience.
Buy a viewer with high reviews
Do some research; look at the reviews and make sure you are investing in a viewer that other people have tried and seemed to like. You can find very high quality viewers for a very reasonable price. Rely more on the reviews than the price tag!
How to launch TrueTour®‘s built in 360° Photo VR Feature
You’ll want to check out our pricing to see which membership plan suits your 360° HRD photography needs. These images can be viewed on the VR Dome, your own screen or inside a VR viewer using the built-in VR mode.
Here’s how it works:
- Open up the desired TrueTour® and select the 360° photos from the left-hand menu.
- Open the 360° photo menu which appears on the right and select the 360° photo you would like to explore in VR mode.
- Click the VR button located in the lower right corner of the 360° photograph.
- Depending on your phone type you might be prompted to click the button again once or twice.
- Once the screen splits into two parts, rotate your phone horizontal and insert it into your preferred VR viewer.
NOTE: Take special care to center your phone exactly in the viewer and be sure to focus the viewer before use.
Using 3D Matterport in VR mode
MatterPort 3D is a completely immersive and amazing experience, but currently works only on Samsung gear VR using the oculus app. We highly recommend MatterPort for trade shows and on-site sales. MatterPort VR is a great format for TrueTour® members to use because you have control over the experience and can prepare for each VR interaction.
Please click this link to explore the Matterport support page, where you will find step-by-step instructions on how to:
1. Open the Matterport VR app
2. Insert smartphone into the headset
3. Navigate and select an option
4. General Samsung Gear VR Tips
Using VR as a sales tool
Like any technology, virtual reality can dramatically enhance or harm your customers experience. It is important to mindfully deploy this tool as one of many sales tools at the right time and to the right audience.
Virtual reality is a tremendous asset when you use it to tell a story. For example, if you have a product and want to tell the story of where it comes from, you can show its origins with virtual reality. Or, if you want to show an environment or space, you can use virtual reality to make the viewer feel as though he or she is physically transported there.
Using VR at your trade show
Trade shows are an amazing opportunity to put virtual reality to work. VR works especially well for wineries, private event facilities, hotels and communities wishing to promote travel.
We suggest keeping your trade show VR experiences fairly short so more people can view them. Because trade shows are all about reaching the maximum number of people, virtual reality is essentially a hook that drives more people into your booth and keeps them engaged with your product.
As a TrueTour® member you will have the Visiting Media team as a valuable trade show resource. We can provide you with the training, equipment and content you need to be the bell of the trade show ball. We can even develop a custom VR solution with or without audio just for your next trade show.
We highly recommend advertising the fact that you will be offering a VR experience in your trade show booth to your audiences (including on social media) both ahead of the show, during the show and after. Include the VR feature on any signage you create for the trade show, as virtual reality is such a hot topic and this alone will drive people into your booth.
WHY NOT GIVE-AWAY A VR VIEWER?
One powerful way to leverage VR at a trade show is to hand out VR cardboard viewers to attendees as a give-away. This also works great during site tours, off-site sales meetings and as a fun addition to your media kit when sending out information promoting your business.
Share, share, share
Please remember your TrueTour® is designed to be shared directly to the consumer’s smart phone or device. As you share the VR experience in your booth be sure to always offer to send the same experience to the consumer’s phone. Using your TrueTour® share icon, you can text and email your TrueTour® constantly to your booth visitors’ phones, which empowers them not only to explore all of your content later but also to share it with others.
Not a member yet? Become one here.
Using VR for great PR
As you know, virtual reality is a trending topic right now. As a TrueTour® member, odds are you are probably one of very few businesses in your industry offering virtual reality content to the world.
This is a very big deal and the media loves to talk about it.
We recommend coming up with a story related to how your business is using virtual reality to promote your products and packaging the story in a press release sending it out to your local media. We can help you with this and the results tend to be pretty amazing.
This strategy works even better if you are using virtual reality to tell the story of your product or showcasing places in your community when trying to promote tourism. In fact our community membership plan literally helps communities turn on a virtual reality content channel showcasing the most popular attractions, businesses and places to explore in your community.
Click the button below to check out a very cool story of how one restaurant uses TrueTour® VR viewers to promote farm to table.
Using VR for tours and off-site presentations
Private event facilities can benefit greatly by using VR during site tours. When touring a potential customer through your facility, generally the space is not set up for an event similar to the one your customer is dreaming about. By presenting a 360° VR experience or immersive MatterPort VR experience, you are able to show this same space in its perfection – set up for a beautiful event – and invite the viewer to meander and tour to his or her delight.
Studies have shown, this virtual reality experience can actually help create a sense of familiarity, making a person feel much more comfortable with the buying decision. Using VR during facility tours often leads to much quicker bookings, fewer questions and a very excited client.
Remember to be sure to share your TrueTour® with your customer to take home and share with others!
For off-site sales presentations, using TrueTour® VR, you can easily place potential customers into your business from anywhere on earth. Virtual reality is one of the most powerful off-site sales and presentation tools available today, especially if you are trying to promote a business with something visually beautiful to share. VR works wonderfully for off site sales of private event facilities, wineries, source farms, attractions and a whole host of other business categories.