Raising Capital for Your AR/VR Venture Through Public Relations Marketing

You know you need financing. Augmented and virtual reality ventures are expensive and require advanced technologies and experienced personnel to develop, both of which are capital intensive. The burgeoning market, and demand from consumers and enterprises, is providing tremendous opportunity for new developments in this digital field. To harness this opportunity, it’s critical to minimize the time from concept inception to market release.

With the aid of digital public relations marketing strategies, you can raise venture capital, identify needs, gauge demand, and push your product to market in the shortest possible period, increasing your odds of investor interest, and a successful release at the appropriate point in the product adoption lifecycle. Delays in capitalizing your venture will result in a weaker market position and incrementally smaller market share.

Here we’ll look at methods of raising capital that will support your technological innovation, and discuss essential strategies to catch the attention of venture capitalists and get your idea to market with the best reception.

Effective Capitalization Strategies for AR/VR Ventures

With the modernization of the finance industry, you have more options than ever to actively raise capital. Whether through private money, business angels, venture capitalist, IPOs, or ICOs, digital marketing has the potential to give you a direct connection with your ideal investment prospects.

One of the most common strategies for startup ventures is private money, in some instances referred to as ‘business angels.’ An accompanying source are venture capitalists, although venture capital is typically offered by groups that provide financing on a professionally organized basis. Private money is readily available to firms that offer concrete value, a well-supported strategic plan, and that outwardly seek funding using reliable PR strategies. Business angels can be anyone you know, including family, friends, and affluent local professionals. These individuals can provide the capital you need to conduct early research and development, create a legal entity, and proceed with essential marketing research.

Market research is crucial in accurately identifying the most appropriate market segments and tailoring offerings to the needs and desires of a highly specific set of individual and business consumers. Effective strategies include primary research in the form of focus groups, phone and in-person surveys, and user interviews. Within the primary research methodologies there are exploratory and specific approaches.

Exploratory research is a broader initial strategy that helps identify the ideal consumers and learn more about their buying behaviors and expectations. Specific research is useful after the product has been partially developed and feedback from consumers is needed to tailor the offering and ensure adoption. Secondary research is another effective tool that involves analyzing existing market data to identify consumers trends.

To complement private money sources, VR venture capitalists are an excellent financing supplement and offer industry experience and guidance to ensure a targeted and successful offering. These capital sources can bring the venture to the point where an Initial Public Offering (IPO), or cryptocurrency alternative: Initial Coin Offering (ICO), are appropriate and viable. Property executed and marketed IPOs and ICOs have the potential to provide the millions of dollars of capital required to launch augmented and virtual reality ventures.

Connecting with Potential AR VR Investors

Viable sources of capital and excellent research methods have no utility without a sound public relations strategy to bring your offering and message to investors. Finance and investment professionals are extremely particular about the credibility and diligence of the marketing and proposals they accept. Most investment firms, and individual capitalist, specialize in specific industries and markets. This requires that your message be tailored to provide the context, content, and motivational language needed to inspire action and financial contribution.

Brand position is an important consideration at this point. Positioning involves considering how you want potential investment partners and the public to perceive your product and firm. In the context of virtual and augmented reality technologies, it’s critical that your offering is interpreted as innovative and representing strong potential in the marketplace. Positioning strategies must be considered in the strategic planning phase of development. Early consideration will allow all your marketing materials to project an effective and consistent message that appeals to sophisticated prospects.

Effective marketing channels include social media, press releases, digital media outlets, professional forums, and professional networking sites. Content and thought leadership strategies are effective in building credibility and establishing your firm’s status as an expert in the virtual technology field. This approach to brand positioning is cost effective and allows much greater access directly to investors than traditional marketing methods. It also provides the opportunity to gather feedback directly from the market due to the instant nature of digital communications.

When you’re raising capital, consult an attorney that specializes in SEC issues to ensure that your marketing strategies are compliant; you may have to restrict your marketing efforts to those with which you have a preexisting business relationship, although this can be established rather broadly.

Fully Capitalized

Raising sufficient capital is a turning point for most technologically oriented ventures. It will allow the completion of prototyped designs and the opportunity to fully realize strategic plans and bring the product to market. The tremendous interest and demand for augmented and virtual reality technology is providing fertile ground on which to build a strong brand position and profitable tech firm. To ensure the best results in your public relations efforts, seek the counsel of experienced virtual technology marketing and public relations specialists.