Why describe an idea in 1000 words instead of using a suggestive image and send the message you want with half the effort? Even though texts are important, we live in a world which is ruled by visual content. People capture a message better when they see a picture or an infographic, instead of reading a text and getting to their own conclusions. Therefore, if you choose to focus on visual content marketing, then you don’t have any other option but to win.
Not convinced yet? Visuals and color increase people’s willingness to read a text or not. Gone are the days when marketing is purely text. Now, videos and visuals have the power and convince people to do one thing or another. If you are beginning to explore the effects of visual content marketing, then you can use the guidelines below to successfully implement this strategy.
How to Capture and Engage Your Audience with Visual Content Marketing
1. Infographics
Infographics are here to stay. Their popularity has increased a lot over the past years and it doesn’t seem to be fading anytime soon. An infographic can be a very good idea especially when you want to explain a very technical topic which needs a lot of explanations to be understood by non-technical persons. They are the best proof showing the strong power visuals have. You can quickly engage your customers and deliver “heavy” information in a “light” format which is shareable and easy to understand.
“Infographics’ sharing rate is bigger than that of many other visuals. They are able to make even the driest information easy to digest and understand. Especially when you have a lot of information to share, putting everything in an attentively-realized infographic will be of great help”, says marketing manager at PickWriters.
2. Video
Video is a type of content marketing with an immense potential. Studies show that videos will represent 82% of all online traffic by 2021. Adding video to your content strategy will first bring you more conversions. Once your target audience sees your videos they will be more open to buy your products. What is more, videos show your level of professionalism and convince your customers that you are exactly who you say you are.
On the other hand, when you want to show your customers how to use your products, videos are the perfect marketing tool you can use. You can write pages of instructions. Nothing else will have a better impact on your customers than a video. In addition, using video on your blog posts or content can also help you appear first on search results. Pages with video content have an increased chance to be ranked first on search engines.
3. GIFs and animated images
When you want to add movement to your static pages, then animated images are the option you can choose. They will help you intrigue your visitors with your visuals and also break a difficult-to-read text into smaller pieces. Therefore, it will become easier for your target audience to understand and catch your message. On the other hand, animations are also easier to share on social media. This is how you will increase your brand’s visibility and strengthen your position on the market.
The first step to create animated images is to decide which are the right photos you can use to transmit your message. As long as you don’t complicate things too much, nothing can go wrong. Use solid backgrounds and you will obtain the effects you wanted. Furthermore, GIFs are also an effective method to add a bit of motion to your visual content. They are perfect when you don’t have enough bandwidth for original video footage.
4. Slideshows
Just like infographics, slideshows are perfect when you want to engage your audience in a very simple way. People don’t have too much time to lose nowadays. They don’t even have enough patience to read a long and complicated story. Therefore, if they don’t discover the answer to their questions from the first moments, then you risk losing them. Slideshows are perfect when you want share complicated information with your audience and succeed in keeping them engaged from the beginning to the end.
In comparison to infographic, slideshows are perfect when you have too much information which might make an infographic too crowded. Thus, you can split your information on several slides and help your audience to better understand what you want to tell them. In addition, you can use different backgrounds for each slide and enhance even more your messages. Choosing the right colors for your topic will help you span readers’ attention.
5. Custom illustrations
Infographics are great, but they need time and money. Not every marketer is able to create an infographic. So, you will need to hire a professional to make sure that you obtain the expected result. On the other hand, if you are pressed by deadline and budget, then you have an alternative which will cost you less. You can use custom illustrations as an efficient way to increase your social media engagement.
If you want to boost engagement while using custom illustrations you should use eye-catching colors combined with graphics. Thus, you will increase the time spent by your audience on the information you display. Especially when you want to transmit the results of a detailed study, it is difficult to engage your clients and make them read the entire text until the end. Custom illustrations can help you create mini graphics which concentrate your readers attention on the main piece of information.
Color and visuals are the prime movers when it comes to convincing people to consume content in the digital world. Their power is still increasing, which shows that it is not too late to inject visual content into your marketing campaigns. We are living in an era when words are not enough to catch customers’ attention. You can keep prospects engaged these days with a mix of content and visuals, centering their attention on the main focus points.
Kristin Savage nourishes, sparks and empowers using the magic of a word. Along with pursuing her degree in Creative Writing, Kristin was gaining experience in the publishing industry, with expertise in marketing strategy for publishers and authors. Now she works as a freelance writer at SupremeDissertations. Kristin runs her own blog.