Marketing as a discipline has evolved extensively over the last 30 years. Before the Internet became universally accessible, most advertising opportunities involved traditional media like print publications, radio, and television. These options were relatively expensive, as advertisers had to buy finite ad space in media-controlled properties.
Now, in the age of the Internet, it’s easier than ever to spread your brand message. At the same time, there are so many options that it can become difficult to form a winning strategy. In particular, the world of visual marketing has become more diverse than ever, especially with social media. However, the best choice of visual marketing strategies for your brand depends on your goals and standards.
Let’s look at some strategies you can try.
Understanding Visual Marketing
Choosing among several options can be a challenge, especially if you don’t fully understand them. This is especially true of virtual marketing because of the skillsets of your staff, the preferences of your target audience, and more.
Definition of Visual Marketing
Visual marketing is the process of using photos, graphics, videos, and other visual content to market a product or service. This is in contrast to something like a classified advertisement, which is just words. At the same time, you can employ visual marketing almost anywhere – even a book can have a page with pictures.
In other words, this is a marketing approach that entails using visual components to advertise a brand or convey the impression you want to convey about it. Visual marketing is also highly effective because people love to see the product in action. Especially since Visual content is easy to consume on a commute or during a moment of spare time, busy professionals enjoy the break from having to read everything.
Importance of Visual Marketing in 2024
There are many reasons why using visual media is a great idea and has lots of potential for marketers. Specifically, visual marketing can boost brand awareness and showcase brand values, ideology, and mission, which are crucial in attracting and retaining customers. People prefer to purchase items from brands that share their values or at least do not trample on them. Plus, visual marketing is excellent at showing people why your brand is unique and worthwhile.
Besides these benefits, visual marketing lets you reach a broader audience, grab their attention, and boost your engagement rate. Along with that larger audience, you will have more opportunities to sell your goods and services. Just as importantly, people who love your products will be more likely to share their positive experiences.
15 Killer Visual Marketing Strategies for 2024
Any company that wishes to do Visual marketing (and if not, why not?) needs to have a strategy. Simply spraying and praying with random content will not work, especially for industries where competition is cutthroat. This extensive list of possibilities will help you both brainstorm and decide which approaches are best for your company.
Infographics
An infographic contains data and visuals to create informative and engaging graphics that simplify complex information and make it easy for your audience to understand and share. Typically, you’ll include an infographic with something larger, such as a blog post. In addition, you can use infographics as part of a social media post, especially if you link to the article or webpage it’s associated with. Think of an infographic as a Reader’s Digest version of your explanation.
Further Reading: The 17 Best Infographic Maker and Graphics Tools for Your Marketing and Business Needs
Presentations
Create visually appealing slide decks to communicate your ideas, data, or insights effectively. Share these presentations on platforms like SlideShare to reach a broader audience. You can add other types of Visual marketing inside your presentation, such as images or screenshots, which help explain your message more thoroughly. Presentations also work well in combination with recorded seminars and other events. Usually, you’ll post this on your website.
GIFs/Memes
Use humor and pop culture references to create shareable, relatable content that resonates with your audience and promotes engagement. Often, not taking yourself too seriously as a brand can be very helpful in making sure that people see your company as more than a nameless, faceless entity. In addition, a GIF or meme is easy to share. When people do this, it helps expand their reach significantly.
Further Reading: Meme Marketing: It’s Time to Take Memes Seriously. Here’s the Why and How.
Social Media Posts
On many social media networks, you can write a post without including any visual content. However, in many cases, this approach passes up important opportunities to drive engagement. Including some visual marketing with your posts boosts your ROI. Craft eye-catching images, videos, or graphics to accompany your social media updates, increasing their visibility and shareability. Then, as your audience shares that content, your brand message will get more attention.
Further Reading: The Ultimate 7-Step Guide to Social Media Content Creation
Videos
Once upon a time, video content required expensive equipment and special skills. This was true both for shooting footage and turning it into something special. However, nowadays, videos are easy to make with just a smartphone camera. Now, this is one of the more effective visual marketing methods.
Develop engaging video content, such as tutorials, product demos, or testimonials, to communicate your message effectively and cater to your audience’s preference for visual content. Video is especially effective not only because people like it but because it’s easy to enjoy whenever your potential customers get a few minutes of downtime.
Further Reading: Six Powerful Ways to Create Engaging Video Content for Social Media
Images
Enhance your written content with high-quality, relevant images that help convey your message and improve overall user experience.
There are several ways to do this. For instance, a professional services company can include photos of their employees. Clothing companies can include several pictures of the garment on a model. And car companies are famous for making you think somebody’s driving the car off your page.
Images for visual marketing don’t have to be boring. Especially with the rise of Instagram, special effects like stickers, filters, and special effects can make your photos something special. The extra effort helps you build better connections with your brand’s fans.
Screenshots
Some things are difficult to explain in words. Especially if you are in the sales, marketing, or tech sectors, screenshots are often worth a thousand words. Plus, these visual marketing examples are a great addition to blogs and social media posts.
Screenshots work well because they make it easier to explain a concept or provide proof of your claims. For instance, a tutorial on how to use your software could include some screenshots so people can visualize a particular function. Otherwise, the reader might spend several minutes trying to find the same screen – or decide to pick a competing program they understand more easily.
Interactive Timelines
Showcase the progression of your brand, product, or industry by creating interactive timelines. Old brands and startups alike can benefit from this strategy because potential customers have lots of chances to find something about your company that they can relate to. For example, if your founder gave your company certain values to follow while solving people’s pain points, then it gives your target audience a reason to choose your company over a different one.
Further Reading: 7 Reasons Interactive Content is the Future of Content Marketing
Visual Quotes
Transform quotes or key takeaways from your content into visually appealing images that can be easily shared on social media platforms. An easy way to do this is by creating a graphic with the quote. You can also add it to your webpage in a fancy font with boxes or flourishes, setting it apart from the rest of your page. Use the quote to communicate company values or provide inspiration to your target audience.
Calls to Action
Most of us think about calls to action as simply words on a page. And according to that philosophy, most of us set the CTA apart with its action-inducing phraseology alone. However, you can also frame that CTA in a manner that is visually appealing. This combines the text itself with visual cues, thereby making the statement stronger.
Before and After Interactive Images
One of the best ways to demonstrate the effectiveness of your product is with before and after pictures. While this is an old-school technique, you can bring it forward by making the presentation interactive. For instance, you might present several different photos and offer a slider that lets a user selects the timeframe. This option is especially effective if your product makes more of a difference the longer it’s used.
Design Mock-ups
Display your products or services in action by creating realistic design mock-ups, helping users visualize how they would work in real life. This is a very effective tool because it helps potential customers determine if your product is appropriate for them. And if you have more than one product available, or several variations of the same product, this visual marketing technique can help people choose among multiple alternatives.
Fonts
Select typography that complements your brand’s visual identity and enhances the readability of your content. This visual marketing technique creates a better user experience and reinforces your brand’s message. By contrast, poorly typeset text in a hard-to-read font can turn people away. Who wants to try and read something optional if doing so is a challenge?
Live Streaming
Until recently, this was a niche technique. Now, however, a lot of people and brands will live stream shows on YouTube or other platforms. Connect with your audience in real time by live streaming events, behind-the-scenes content, or Q&A sessions.
This technique creates a sense of authenticity and encourages engagement from your audience, as they can ask questions and interact with you or your brand. You can further boost the effectiveness of this visual marketing option by collaborating with an influencer. Either invite them onto your show or make a special appearance on theirs. Either way, it’s highly effective.
User-Generated Content
Finally, encourage your audience to create and share their own visuals related to your brand, products, or services. End users can have a level of creativity that extends beyond what your marketing team is likely to devise, if only because they have a different perspective.
User-generated content not only increases engagement but also builds trust through social proof, as potential customers see real people enjoying your offerings. Depending on your product type, people may also get inspired by other people’s projects, outfit creations, and more. You never know what people will come up with.
Further Reading: 17 UGC Marketing Strategies to Generate More Sales in 2024
Conclusion
There’s no question that visual marketing has evolved over the years. We’ve gone a long way from the early days of print, where only a few images were produced by wood block, and the process was incredibly expensive. Nowadays, anyone can produce images or videos and publish them on social media. Fortunately, these changes largely work in a brand’s favor. Between the inexpensive content marketing opportunities and User-generated content, visual marketing has become a more powerful force than ever.
Hero photo by Aaron Birch on Unsplash
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