Visual Marketing Tips for Your Business

visual marketing

marketing planHow graphics, photos, video and other visuals can help elevate your marketing efforts

Visual marketing grows out of one basic human principle – seeing is believing. Information delivered in visual form generally resonates with a target audience at a far higher level than plain text alone.

Here, according to content marketer James Scherer, are some statistics to support this claim:

  • A video on a business website landing page increases the average page conversion rate by 86 percent.
  • Posts accompanied by an image on Facebook, blogs, etc., garner 94 percent more page visits and customer engagement than posts without visuals.
  • 60 percent of consumers are more inclined to click on a business site whose images crop up in search results.

Why are visuals so compelling when integrated into your marketing efforts?

Images convey information

Internet users skim, rather than take in content word for word. If you can communicate a message about your product through visuals, you’re helping users meet the goal of gathering as much information as they can in the shortest time possible.

Images are easy to share

Because users engage more with images than with links or texts, they’re more likely to share visual content they find on your website with others in their networks.

A range of visual options is available for marketing purposes

When you consider visual marketing, think about all the different formats that can add punch to your blog posts or other web content:

  • Photographs
  • Videos
  • Infographics
  • Slides
  • Checklists

The more visual variety you offer, the greater the opportunities for user engagement.

So what strategies can you employ to make visual marketing work with your prospective customers?

Demonstrate your product or service

Sometimes the idea behind a B2B product or service can’t be easily communicated to the target audience. If you can demonstrate the product’s features and benefits through images, you make it much simpler for prospective customers to grasp the value of this product in their lives.

Consider making a short “how-to” video you can post on YouTube (adding a touch of humor and visual creativity to make the video more appealing). If there are ways people can use their product that they wouldn’t normally think of, include those in your how-to video or produce and promote another video offering additional information.

Complement your written content

B2B marketing still relies on written content to communicate with prospective customers. But a compelling image adds texture to content, helping to generate new interest in the product or make people think of it in a different way. Wherever possible, supplement written content with an arresting visual.

Avoid stock photography

Stock images are easy to locate and quick to add to your marketing campaigns, but savvy customers won’t relate to them. Your brand is unique. It follows, therefore, that the visuals you choose to communicate your brand should also be one of a kind.

Invite customers to contribute images

Your satisfied customers might be the best resource for generating original visuals for your marketing campaigns. Invite users to share their experiences in photos or short videos (showing the product in action or simply offering a testimonial about the product’s effectiveness). Such user-generated visuals carry a great deal of credibility with prospective customers and are more likely to be shared among social networks.

Many of the same online principles about visual marketing apply to your offline efforts as well. Whether it’s a printed flyer, business card or promotional materials that accompany a live marketing event, select photographs and other images that accurately convey the look and feel of your product. Make sure the images are consistent with your overall marketing message and your brand.

Always use imagery that humanizes your business. Even in B2B, people like doing business with other people.

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Editorial Staff

This article was written by SBMarketingTools.com editorial staff.