Virtual tours have long been associated with real estate but their potential has been largely slept on over the past few years.
But things are changing.
For businesses here in isolated Western Australia, from manufacturing and mining services to healthcare, education and hospitality, the opportunities are particularly compelling.
As marketing and communications teams plan for the year ahead, combining interactive 360° virtual tours with strategic communications is becoming an increasingly valuable approach to lead generation, sales, customer experiences, training - and more.
Here are 10 ways businesses are rediscovering the creative potential of virtual tours in 2027.
1. Make a powerful impression, anywhere
Your physical premises can say a lot about your business. Impressive equipment, sophisticated facilities and carefully designed interiors all demonstrate what makes you different.
Western Australia is home to extraordinary manufacturing and industrial facilities, from marine and defence manufacturing in Henderson to specialist engineering and mining services businesses in Welshpool and Kewdale.
Yet behind ordinary-looking buildings can be remarkable technology and expertise that prospective customers may never see.
Interactive virtual tours bring these spaces to life, allowing people anywhere in the world to explore your facilities and understand your capabilities.
Sometimes seeing is believing.
Virtual tours allow industrial businesses to showcase facilities to paint a clearer picture of their operations.
2. Help customers find you on Google
Our virtual tours seamlessly integrate with Google, allowing professional 360° photography to be published to Google Maps and your Google Business Profile, giving prospective customers a unique look at your premises.
Showcase entrances, reception areas, facilities, friendly faces and the general environment to help customers become familiar with your business before enquiring or visiting.
For Perth businesses competing for local customers, it's another opportunity to get ahead.
3. Add to your marketing mix
A professionally produced 360° virtual tour is much more than a single marketing asset.
The imagery can be repurposed into walkthrough videos, still photographs, social media content, digital advertising and presentations.
Embedded on your website, interactive tours can incorporate clickable information points, videos and links that explain your services and highlight particular features.
It's a way to create more engaging marketing content and encourage visitors to spend longer exploring your website.
4. Your sales team’s new secret weapon
Imagine demonstrating a large industrial facility or specialist equipment to someone thousands of kilometres away.
Sales teams can highlight equipment, explain capabilities and guide clients through facilities during presentations.
Tours can become interactive capability statements, supporting proposals, procurement discussions and new business opportunities.
Interactive virtual tours also allow prospective customers to explore your premises remotely, potentially saving time and travel costs. Mining companies, contractors and procurement teams may need to assess suppliers' facilities hundreds or thousands of kilometres away.
5. Help customers feel comfortable before they visit
Unfamiliar environments can be stressful, particularly for children, people experiencing anxiety and those with sensory or accessibility needs.
Evidence-based visual preparation strategies used to support children on the autism spectrum emphasise familiarity, structure and predictability.
Interactive virtual tours offer a practical extension of these principles, allowing people to explore unfamiliar environments before visiting.
A dental practice might show patients its waiting room and treatment areas. A medical centre could help patients understand where to go and what to expect.
While particularly useful for people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), familiarity and predictability can benefit almost anyone.
For healthcare providers and other customer-facing businesses, virtual tours can support more welcoming and accessible experiences.
See our Patient Preview offering on how we are helping health and dental practices do just that.
Medical and dental practices can use virtual tours to provide a sense of predictability and familiarity in patients.
6. Make everyday customer communications easier
How often does your team answer questions the same questions about parking, entrances, collection points or what to expect? Virtual tours can provide that information.
Include tour links in appointment reminders, booking confirmations, customer enquiries, collection notifications or welcome emails.
From medical practices to industrial suppliers and hospitality venues, it's a simple way to reduce confusion and potentially save staff time.
7. Recruitment and onboarding
Prospective employees also want to understand where they'll be working and what the environment is like.
Interactive virtual tours provide a behind-the-scenes look at workplaces, from modern offices and healthcare practices to manufacturing facilities and industrial workshops.
For Western Australian businesses recruiting interstate or internationally, this can be particularly valuable.
Tours can be shared through recruitment advertisements, careers pages and onboarding communications, helping businesses showcase their working environment and stand out to prospective employees.
8. Bring your business to trade shows and exhibitions
You can't take an entire factory or industrial facility to a trade exhibition. But imagine inviting visitors to put on a virtual reality headset and step inside.
Interactive 360° virtual tours can create immersive experiences that allow people to explore facilities that would otherwise be impossible to demonstrate at an exhibition stand.
For businesses attending mining conferences, manufacturing exhibitions and industry events, a VR headset can become a compelling drawcard.
Tours can also be displayed on laptops or large screens, with QR codes allowing visitors to continue exploring on their phones.
Take your 360° virtual tour to the exhibition stand.
9. Support education and training
Virtual environments have been used successfully in medical education, helping students and healthcare professionals explore clinical settings and understand spatial layouts.
Interactive 360° tours can apply similar principles across other industries.
Manufacturers can introduce staff to production facilities, mining services businesses can familiarise employees with workshops, and medical educators can introduce students to clinical environments.
Clickable information points can incorporate explanations, videos and learning resources, creating interactive educational experiences.
Virtual tours can support learning and familiarisation, particularly across regional and remote locations.
10. Support school orientation and student transitions
Starting school or moving into secondary education can be daunting, particularly for students who benefit from predictability and visual preparation.
Interactive school virtual tours allow students and families to explore classrooms, corridors, libraries and shared spaces before arriving.
Schools can incorporate tours into orientation programs, transition resources, enrolment communications, boarding facilities and individual student support plans.
For Perth primary and secondary schools, independent schools and education support settings, virtual tours can support more inclusive transitions while showcasing facilities to prospective families.
See how we are supporting schools with Practice Preview.
Interactive school virtual tours allow students and families to explore classrooms, corridors, libraries and shared spaces before arriving.
Discover what's possible with an interactive virtual tour
A virtual tour created for marketing can also support sales, staff training, customer communications and education, making it a versatile, reusable business resource.
At Pavlova Productions, we create bespoke interactive 360° virtual tours for businesses across Perth and Western Australia, including healthcare, education, manufacturing, mining services, hospitality and commercial environments.
Your physical premises are already a valuable business asset. A virtual tour helps you make more of them.
Explore our interactive virtual tour services or contact us to discuss what's possible for your business.