Whatever your digital marketing goals, visuals can help.
Achieve a high level of visibility with search engines… promote yourself through different social media outlets… progressively add to your email list… have recipients interact with your emails… captivate readers of your content… acquire hyperlinks from other webpages… get people to watch your videos… register people to take part in your events… generate sales from your website visitors.
It is less likely for these things to happen if there is not effective usage of marketing visuals.
Images and videos, charts and diagrams, faces and thumbnails. They can drive all of these marketing outcomes. And the results are 100% measurable. We will begin with a short clip showcasing the main points of the topic and then progress into a comprehensive tutorial on how to use visuals in marketing.
How visuals drive email marketing
1. Open rates: Subject line words
The aim of the subject line is to get the person receiving the message to click on it.
There are two ways to accomplish the task: showing the material is worthwhile and/or demonstrating that it is user friendly. Essentially, when a person views your message in their email, they are assessing how much effort it will take compared to how much reward they will get, and it is your subject line that should communicate that the effort is minimal and the gain will be large.
Including numerical values in the subject line of a list post makes the cost appear more reasonable. “Wow, this email has 12 techniques to enhance opens!” Maybe I’ll open it and scan through the list.”
Image words in subject lines work the same way. “Oh, does this email have a diagram in it that explains how to raise the open rates?” Maybe I’ll open it and take a quick look.”
We frequently include imagery in the titles of emails we send. Here are some examples with the image words.
- Pictures of the desks: 26 top marketers take us inside
- This flowchart shows the entire content creation process
- How much do marketers make? 5 charts that show salary trends
- 55 marketing diagrams: Swipe files of visuals you can use in your content
- 7 charts that show how to make better marketing decisions
- The 3 types of search Intent in one big diagram
2. Clickthrough rates: HTML email images
The open rate is only the first step. You don’t gain a website visitor until they click on a link or button.
Some emails are text. They are effective since they are quick, straightforward, and appear like a standard message. Other emails are HTML. They’re good because they are visual. There is no conclusive research on which is better. It will depend on your audience and your topic.
How visuals drive social media marketing
3. Clickthrough rates: Social media videos
The user is flowing through a stream of posts. It is necessary to create something that will make people pause and pay attention to what you have to offer, prompting them to take the time to examine it more thoroughly. Videos can do the trick.
Making a typical social post takes 2-3 minutes. It may require between 20 to 30 minutes to create a video of one minute duration with subtitles. So it’s definitely a 10x effort.
However, these are exactly the sorts of posts that give 100 times the intended results. If you incorporate a tracking code into the link, the data regarding visits from the post can be viewed on Google Analytics. Be expecting to come across lots or even many clicks from one post.
4. Engagement: Tall images
No research statistics are available, but there are sufficient examples to justify suggesting this solution: incorporating tall pictures in LinkedIn. These social media posts often get huge engagement. Amanda swears by them.
It makes sense. The pixel size of the image is the main focus seen by the user, regardless of whether they are using a mobile device or a desktop. It’s just like the type of graffiti you would see in a hit movie, so it’s sure to attract notice.
If the visual display is substantial (i.e. research data, a diagram or an uncomplicated infographic) it will captivate their consideration. This is how you incite the algorithm to display it to a rapidly growing viewership.
How visuals drive search
5. Visibility: SEO with YouTube
Results pages on search engines contain a greater amount of videos compared to previous times. Images showing up in search engine outcomes is one of the most significant SEO tendencies. If you make videos about specific topics that people search for and optimize them for search engines, you can get more visibility in search engine results. It’s true that the visibility won’t lead to visitors clicking on your website, but it still has its merits. It’s still brand awareness.
6. Authority: Link attraction
All bloggers know that images make content more engaging. Not all bloggers are able to devote the necessary time to creating images of their own. When you make an image, you increase your possibilities of being featured by a blogger. If the visual backs up the point they are trying to make, they should include it and provide a link to you, who originally created it.
Some images attract links more than others. These are the best formats:
- Data visualizations (charts)
- Visual explanations (diagrams)
- Maps
- Infographics
When this is successful, the connection directs to a particular article. If the article has been designed to be optimized for search engines, the inclusion of the link could be the factor that determines its success in ranking. Images are so central to getting website links that you may find yourself believing articles lacking illustrations are at a disadvantage when it comes to search engine results.
An SEO tool (or Google Search Console) can display a large number of backlinks with “image source” as their anchor text. This is evidence that you’re creating useful visuals.
How visuals drive engagement on articles
7. Time on page / Engagement time: Multiple images
Consider where your visitor is coming from: a social platform, their email, or a search engine results page. These channels are swarming with numerous fascinating, clickable items. Your new guest is aware that they have multiple possibilities, and the option to return is always accessible.
Engage them fast or lose them forever.
They’re scanning and scrolling, looking for something valuable. Images are the key opportunity to attract individuals, decrease their speed, and encourage them to read more thoroughly. And one image isn’t enough to do this job.
We recommend adding visuals throughout the post. Add an image or video at every scroll depth. This is an example of using visuals for promotional purposes, as well as a recommended practice for utilizing images in blog posts. If you are unable to discover or fabricate a pertinent visual, balance it out with a format that is easily scanned. This calls for the use of subheadings, points written in a bullet-like format, making portions of the text bolded, creating connections to other parts of the document, and writing in relatively short paragraphs.
8. Play rates: Video thumbnails
In order to get more views on YouTube, it is important to focus on three components of the video: the title, the description, and the video thumbnail. Only one way exists to put the video onto a page – via the video thumbnail. That’s it.
So the thumbnail has to work hard. In order to draw viewers in, it must initially captivate their interest and then provide them with a motivation to view. To do this, a lot of YouTubers have discovered that including these four elements in a custom video thumbnail can make the difference:
- It’s simple: Remember that in some contexts, it’s going to be very small. In Google search results, it may just be 160 x 90 pixels. So keep it simple. Shrink it down to that tiny size and see how it looks.
- It has a face: They are an all-powerful type of image, with a unique ability to catch attention. From the time we are infants, we are predisposed to looking at faces.
Combine those elements and you’ll have a miniature picture resembling this…or similar to the thumbnail in the initial part of this article.
Best Visual Marketing Strategies For You
Let Your Customers Tell Your Brand Story
If you want someone to be content, make them the focus. So, that is what you do with your customers. You make them the center of your brand journey.
Let their voice formulate your story. Include pictures and videos of your real clients’ experiences with your brand on the homepage and product page of your eCommerce business website, along with any other special pages.
Provide A User-Friendly Experience
Other than focusing on customers, there are also other elements that are necessary for the development of a profitable Visual Marketing Platform. Having an interface that is easy to use is an important element of your website.
Adding visuals to the content of your website raises the probability that website visitors will become involved with your business.
Allow your clients to have a tailored experience through visuals and films at your internet shop that will convince them to come back to your website for their next shopping excursion.
Being Mobile-Responsive Is Priority
It is now essential to have a Visual marketing strategy that works on mobile devices in order to remain competitive.
Nearly half of all visitors to your Visual Commerce platform are accessing via mobile devices, and one third of all purchases are completed on mobile phones. If you want your platform to succeed, you must make sure that it is mobile-responsive.
Your visuals must be adapted enough to suit different mobile screens. Make shopping a few clicks affairs for your users. So, make sure you optimize your visual content to make it suitable & seamless for mobile users.
Alignment With Brand Image & Identity
Using visuals in your marketing plans is appealing and can be very effective, but if they are not used cautiously and planned out accordingly, it can be detrimental to the results of your visual marketing campaign.
It is essential to remember that what you present, such as colors, themes, visuals and videos, will be associated with your brand just as quickly as the color red is connected to Coca-Cola.
It is necessary for you to design your visuals thoughtfully so that they are in line with your branding and image. By concentrating on this, you can have a robust presence among customers and be able to make your brand recognizable with images.
The Benefits Of Visual Content Marketing Startegies
No matter what stage of its development your business is in, having visual content as part of a marketing strategy is key if you plan on having a presence on the web. It doesn’t matter if you’re just getting started setting up a Social Commerce platform or have already achieved success with a Visual Commerce store; visual content marketing is essential.
Create Exclusive Brand Identity
Entering the realm of visual marketing, brands are taking advantage of this idea to create a distinct persona. Visual content personifies the brand.
Brands can use it to draw attention to their merchandise.
Making visual elements of the branded content more engaging and eye-catching has switched how customers look at the brand’s goods. This visual content gives your brand a credible image.
The iconic “Swoosh” symbol is widely associated with Nike, and the red-colored beverage which is linked to Coca-Cola. So, visuals become a brand identity.
Enable The Perfect Storytelling
As the years go by, customers have become less interested in reading through written text and have instead become dependent on visual content.
Using visuals to market a product allows the story to be told through images rather than relying on words to explain it. The use of visuals to evoke emotions and increased engagement is undisputed, and when this is coupled with an effective brand story or campaign, the effects it can have on customers can be tremendous.
These stories provide a glimpse into the history of how a particular item was brought into being, highlighting its practicality in everyday life, amplifying the feeling it evokes in individuals, and demonstrating how it has the potential to foster connections between people.
According to statistics,
- People remember 20% of what they READ and 650% of what they SEE.
- Customer testimonials with vibrant images result in a 102% increase in emotions.
Express More & Connect Better
By creating visuals such as images or videos, marketers can make it more likely that their content will be shared. Pictures evoke the feelings of customers and stir up compassion towards the goods being purchased.
Composing lengthy passages is usually tedious and unenjoyable, making it difficult for readers to build a strong connection with what is being communicated, as opposed to media that is visually-based. In today’s visual-oriented age, individuals can take advantage of the simplicity and handiness of images and videos for communication, resulting in an effortless process.
Activates More Clicks & Higher Conversions
The advantages listed above all relate to the process a customer goes through which leads to conversions. The effectiveness of persuading consumers to buy something is greatly determined by the content.
By utilizing a captivating visual advertising tactic, the potential for conversions is boosted further due to an uptick in consumer involvement, greater reach for the audience, delivery of more data, and greater trustworthiness and realness achieved through visual media.
Using visual content in your marketing effectively can lead to increased conversions and more money being made.
Images have the potential to stimulate more conversions by crafting an appealing call to action. Hence, it is a preferable way to boost sales.
Conclusion
These are some of the best tactics for utilizing visuals to help build your business. Include visuals in your visual content marketing plan and witness the remarkable consequences for yourself.
