Incorporate visual marketing into your marketing strategy

When it comes to attracting audience attention, it’s a dog-eat-dog world. The competition to engage, enthuse and excite the consumer is fierce, so what can you do to aid you in your race to the top? Visual content marketing is a good place to start.

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Humans are, by nature, drawn to visually stimulating information so are far more likely to absorb and remember an image or video (for example) over text alone. Plus, eye-catching imagery stirs the users’ emotions leaving more of an impact and motivates them to act on what they’ve seen and consume more. It really is a no brainer – marketing visual content should be towards the top of your strategy to-do list.

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However, jumping straight into posting social media stories and vlogs left, right and centre is not recommended. As with any kind of business planning, a visual marketing strategy needs to be carefully and cleverly crafted. Establish and ensure you fully understand the business goals as that will help to determine the appropriate visual elements to apply to your campaign. With the goals clear in your mind, you can start to build your visual content strategy. Here are our top tips on what to consider and include:

‍1. Provide an effortless, engaging and effective user journey

Considering over 50% of all internet traffic comes from mobile devices, optimising your content for mobile browsing is paramount. In terms of layout, bear in mind that more than half of users will focus on the top half of their screen and visual content is best placed centrally with text above and below it.

When developing your website and mobile app, invest in creating a user-friendly interface. Provide a step-by-step guide for first time users (including engaging and helpful visuals of course) and enable a feedback function that you can utilise to better their experience each time they come back.

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2. Use your users

User-generated content (UGC) is produced solely by your consumers in the form of social media posts, images, videos, comments, reviews, etc. UGC can be incredibly valuable when it comes to building brand credibility as it is completely unbiased content created voluntarily by the user. This not only aids in cementing the trustworthiness of your products/services, it also helps to attract new customers. Used wisely, you can interact with your audience to gently coax them into generating more striking and impressive UGC to amplify your brand awareness to a whole new level.

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3. Harmonise content imagery with brand identity

Sometimes it’s the little details that can leave a big impression. Follow your brand style guidelines closely so there is consistency with layout, font, shapes and colours etc (if you don’t have brand image criteria in place, make it so!). Your audience will come to know and trust your brand identity; even the slightest deviation could be picked up on and have a negative effect. It’s surprising how much so! Apply stringent rules when creating content so that it fully supports and works in harmony with your brand image. This will significantly help to build your presence amongst consumers and increase revenue.

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4. It’s crucial to be social

When planning your visual marketing strategy, tapping into social media platforms should absolutely be at its core. With literally billions of consumers within your reach on a daily basis, it’s essential to manage and maintain perpetual levels of engagement and interaction in order to reap the rewards of utilising this channel of visual content marketing.

Once again, brand identity is key here, so ensure your style and message is consistent across all social networks. Feature thought provoking images/memes and eye-catching data visualisations or infographics. Live feeds and videos particularly pack a punch in that they can really hook the viewers in. Just ensure they are social-media specific: keep the length under 60 seconds and bear in mind the importance of making an impact with the visuals alone. 85% of all Facebook videos are viewed on mute, so you need to leave an impression, even if viewed without sound.

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5. Keep your target audience on target

You may think it goes without saying, but you need to know what makes your target audience tick. Research this thoroughly and use what you discover to develop your content. We’ve established that humans are visually stimulated and colours, shapes, videos, infographics, etc, are all great ways to catch the eye, but another thing to consider is the emotional draw. Human beings like pretty pictures, but they also love a story and to feel that they are understood and part of a community of people with similar issues, needs and wants. If you take the time to connect personally and build rapport with your users, you can influence the direction they take when in the market and make your brand their automatic go-to.

A few tips on how to do this:

• Enlighten them: Often people won’t even realise they had a problem until they see a solution presented to them. Use your visual content to highlight the issue your product/service exists to resolve
• Spark their interest: Once they realise they have the problem, rather than just showing them what you do to solve it, focus more on why they need it in their lives. Show recognition of the pain points to encourage a deeper engagement
• Encourage action: Problem identified, the what and why of the solution explained, the next step is to artfully insert some visually motivating, strategic calls-to-action. Think carefully not only about the visual elements but also the wording used and the feelings you want to evoke

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6. Visual Content Marketing Trends

To be in the forefront of your marketplace you need to be on trend. We’ve touched on video and live streaming being two of the most digestible forms of visuals you can use to get your content out there and consumed successfully, but there are a few new and exciting ways to compete for user attention and gain cut-through. Here’s a selection of what’s hot right now:

• Be authentic: These days consumers really have their wits about them and their trust in adverts and the media is waning. People demand the real deal and rightly so! Not only in the quality of product/service but also in how it’s presented. Most audiences prefer to see reality over polished, over-produced photos and imagery. By staying authentic you will gain the trust of your users which means they are more likely to hit the share button which will grow your brand exposure –bonus! So keep it real folks
• Here one minute, ephemeral the next: Particularly popular with the millennial generation, ephemeral content refers to video and photo content that only lasts for 24 hours. It is becoming increasingly popular across various social media platforms and showing no signs of fading in its positive marketing effects any time soon. So if being uber current is high on your agenda, introduce ephemeral content into your visual content repertoire post-haste
• Get in the game: If you want your audience to engage more with your content, give them a gamified visual experience. Users are encouraged to take some form of action, be it a quiz or interactive slideshow (as examples), that keep visitors interested for longer. If it’s particularly fun or enjoyable they will also be more likely to share the experience with family and friends thus increasing awareness of your brand. Used pragmatically, you can also analyse the data to streamline users into higher potential leads. The benefits of embracing interactive content knows no bounds
• AR and VR: If you have the budget and capacity to go super high-tech – DO IT! Augmented and virtual reality will undoubtedly give you an edge and increase interest in your brand. Imagine the ability to view a decorated room prior to DIY being carried out or seeing how a new hair colour will suit your complexion – who wouldn’t want to access technology that can see into the future, or enhance the user experience in other awe-inspiring ways. Mixed interactive experiences have certainly become more popular since the pandemic; people found ways to exist without the upheaval of leaving their home. This keenness for convenient living is an ongoing trend, so content like AR and VR is most definitely a great feature to have in your arsenal
• Boost brand presence: Remember when getting to #1 in the SERP was the aim of the game? It’s still important to claim that spot, but these days Google show images alongside links when someone generates a search. If you can get your logo, or other images synonymous with your brand, to feature on the SERP it further increases your chances of achieving click-through. The reason why, once again, is the human condition: when a person sees your image in the results, they are instinctively more inclined to trust you, plus it adds to the feel of professionalism which is another incentive to get your images stamped with the Google seal of approval

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To summarise, if you’re serious about building brand awareness and increasing business sales, marketing visual content is a must. Start with your business goals and work out which marketing channels and strategies will fit the bill. Stay true to your brand identity and style. Drill down into your audiences’ psyches, incite their emotions and dazzle their peepers. Put yourself on the social media scene and give the users an effortless, exciting, immersive and impressive experience. Finally throw in a few of the latest trends and you have yourself a sure-fire recipe for success.