How to get started with AR as a digital agency

Eva Triantafillopoulou

The importance of augmented reality in modern-day digital agencies, how to build (or hire) a development team, and pitching tips for new and repeated business.

Digital agencies know all too well that they need to go the extra mile if they wish to stand out and attract more leads. There are many ways of doing so, but, staying in touch with innovative technologies to create well-contextualized cases is key in maintaining market relevance.

In this article, we explore why and what it takes to get started with augmented reality technology as a digital agency.

Technology and Digital Agencies

Be the agency traditional, creative, or digital in its core nature – or a mix of the three – there is one commonality amongst these businesses: necessity to adapt to the evolution and demands of the market to maintain relevance.

In the present digital-age day, not surprisingly, marketing and advertising are mainly digital. However, simply working with digital technologies doesn’t cut it. It is necessary to captivate and truly connect with the target audience through inspiring and eye-catching campaigns that bring results.

Most – if not all – digital agencies have probably already encountered augmented reality features to some degree in social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat. And as fun as face filter may be, augmented reality has so much more to offer than that.

If your agency strives to be successful in the consumer-brand-experience field, consider including personalized, goal-driven AR content in your digital solutions and offerings.

AR is a must-have brand experience in various marketing segments:

Brand storytelling:

Inform, entertain, and engage your target audience while telling your customers’ awesome story.

Customer engagement:

Boost visitor interaction and satisfaction, and increase visibility, sales, and social sharing.

Interactive print:

Turn print materials into portable sales channels or add flair to company flyers, posters, business cards, and other branded marketing and sales materials.

For additional inspiration, check our vast collection of clients’ success stories and 7 ways to use AR in marketing today.

We covered a few of the advantages and diverse possibilities of working with AR. But, what does it take to create a successful augmented reality experience? Let’s talk about in-house and outsourced development.

Manpower: in-house or outsourced AR development

Depending on the size of your digital agency, you might already have the manpower in-house to get the AR ball rolling. If that is not the case, hiring an AR development partner might be the best way to go. Below we explore the details of both situations:

1. Outsourced development – working with an AR partner

When hiring an augmented reality developer, there are many things to take into consideration. Reliability, being one of the most important factors.

When searching beyond recommended AR app developers – such as the verified Wikitude Solution Providers, make sure to investigate if your candidate is reliable by checking ratings, reviews, and investigating their portfolio and client network.

Choosing the right developer or development firm is a critical aspect of your AR project. For in-depth guidance, access this complete guide with tips on how to choose the ideal augmented reality app developer for your project.

If you would like to skip the search altogether, contact the Wikitude team, tell us about your project and requirements and we will be happy to pair you with potential augmented reality app developers and agencies within our Solution Provider program.

2. In-house development: creating the ideal team structure

As a reference, an AR app development team usually requires a mix of specialists that varies between Business Analysts, UI/UX Designers, Project Managers, and, last but not least, Software Developers and QA Engineers.

You might already have some of these specialists within your team. To learn more about which role each of these positions play, final costs, and other aspects of the AR app development process, access this guest post by Wikitude premium partner HQSoftware, exploring the Client, Specialist, Functionality, and Content tetrad in AR app development.

How to pitch AR

Okay, so, you are already convinced that working with AR is a great opportunity to expand and improve your digital agency offerings. Time to transform your bright AR ideas into reality.

Below you will find some tips to successfully pitch AR to clients and potential customers:

• Explain the added value
  Exceptional user engagement; unique brand experience; enhance brand value, drive sales, stimulate conversions; behavioral information.
  
• Demonstrate return of investment (ROI)
  Show a clear example of how AR can be linked directly to revenue: e-commerce; in-game purchases in an AR environment; location-based deals; time-sensitive offers; augmented shopping; premium apps; etc.
  
• Show the future of AR with facts
  Digi-Capital’s long-term virtual and augmented reality forecast is for the AR/VR market to reach around $65 billion revenue by 2024. And Worldwide spending on AR/VR products and services throughout the 2019-2023 forecast period, should achieve a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 77.0%
  
• Highlight the simplicity of the tech
  The Wikitude AR SDK allows developers to easily create cross-platform AR experiences on multiple platforms and devices, according to their needs and preferences.
  
• …and most importantly, show a demo
  We can help. See proof of concept section below.

We covered these topics in detail earlier this year. Access 5 tips to help pitch AR for your next project for an in-depth review of the topics above.

Proof of concept (augmented reality demo)

Can’t wait to dip your toes in AR waters? Prepare something you are proud of using a free Wikitude AR SDK trial license – no trial watermarks.

Enhance images, objects, and spaces with extraordinary 2D and 3D content, with support for Android, iOS, Windows & smart glasses. Choose to develop AR apps in JavaScript, Unity, Cordova, Xamarin, Flutter, & Native API.

Our vast documentation section will help you from your very first steps with the Wikitude SDK all the way through to advanced concepts and examples for developing your augmented reality project. Each section of our documentation accompanies a sample app. Use it to get a quick overview of the capabilities offered by your platform of choice.

Additionally, you can access the Wikitude developer portal for specific development-related questions. The portal hosts a very active developer community forum where Wikitude staff members are constantly assisting other developers with helpful tips and advice. You can find How-To’s and a constantly evolving FAQ section there as well.

Questions? Ideas? Curious to know more? Talk to one of our augmented reality experts for inquires and to learn about our special packages for digital agencies.