There’s no denying that visual content is now an integral part of marketing across all industries. A 2023 research suggests that 79% of consumers buy a product because of a video. But how does visual content truly influence a consumer’s decision-making process? In this blog, we’ll discuss the impact of visual content on marketing and how businesses can tap into today’s visual generation to drive more revenue.
What are the various kinds of visual content in marketing?
The impact of visual content varies depending on the kind of asset used. Determining how and when to use each content format is crucial in implementing effective visual marketing strategies. To understand this, let’s go through each kind of visual format commonly used in marketing today:
Images
Images have long been the standard medium of visual content marketing. Even before the rise of the internet, businesses have been using posters, leaflets, and billboards to promote their products. However, the internet has introduced numerous ways businesses can entice their customers into supporting their offers.
Photos
Photos are considered direct representations of your offer. Whether it’s a product, service, or solution, photos help customers visualize how your products can affect their lives–Would this shirt look good on me? Would this CRM improve my team’s productivity?
When using photos for marketing, make sure that the picture contains your brand identity. Don’t just post a photo of your product; make your audience feel what your product is all about.
These two ice creams are from the same company but have different branding and target audiences. One exudes exquisiteness and elegance, while the other shows fun and quirkiness.
Same product, same company, but different storytelling.
GIFs
Graphics Interchange Format, most commonly known as GIFs, are technically short animations rendered as images. GIFs are considered the sweet spot between images and videos–it doesn’t create eye fatigue like images but doesn’t require arduous editing like videos.
When using GIFs as visual marketing content, the simpler, the better. Remember that GIFs work in seconds, so avoid bombarding your audience with information and animation. Make sure that your audience’s focus is always directed toward your product.
This Starbucks GIF is an excellent example. It’s simple yet enticing. Most importantly, it does the main objective of showing that the company has numerous frappe flavors to choose from.
Sample GIF for Starbucks frappe flavors. | Source: Giphy
Infographics
Most photos and GIFs follow the traditional way of marketing, as they show people what they can buy from a business. However, businesses that offer technical services such as B2B and SaaS often bank on information-led marketing strategies. Instead of directly selling products, their visual content should say, “We know this, so we can do this for you!”
Infographics are the most effective visual content for these kinds of businesses. These assets are technically visual representations of data. It’s a way to share new information with your audience while leading them to your offer.
Here’s an effective infographic from a medical company.
Infographic from a medical company. | Source: Venngage
Videos
Videos are considered the top marketing assets for businesses. A 2021 research shows that online videos have an audience reach of 92% among internet users worldwide. That’s nearly all internet users spending millions of hours watching videos.
Aside from the fact they’re the most versatile and flexible visual content, videos also have greater shelf lives compared to images. Video content platforms such as Youtube and Tiktok run algorithms that automatically recommend videos that fit the watching behavior of their users, regardless if the videos were posted months ago.
To understand how businesses can use videos as marketing assets, let’s look at some of its major formats today:
Short-form
Short-form videos such as Instagram reels, Youtube shorts, Facebook reels, and Tiktok posts dominate today’s internet. These micro-entertainment media effectively capitalizes on the short attention span of most internet users. These formats are best used when introducing new products, offers, and promotions to potential customers.
Youtube content about Rare Beauty.
Long-form
Long-form videos are Youtube and Facebook content. These can be in the form of a full video advertisement, vlog, and product review. Long-form videos are best used to provide in-depth information, and they’re most commonly watched by customers who already know your brand. In short, they are mostly used to convert warm leads.
Youtube shorts about Rare Beauty.
Interactive Posts
Remember BuzzFeed? The entertainment website pretty much established its entire brand through interactive content. This includes quizzes, polls, and other forms of content that require user participation. Aside from boosting engagement among followers, interactive content like this is an excellent way to conduct market research among your audience.
Whether it’s a paid post or not, it creates an impression that a Chipotle burrito is more than just food; it’s a personality.
Chipotle personality quiz on Buzzfeed.
User-Generated Content
User-Generated Contents, or UGCs, are visual contents from your audience. They could be in the form of a product review on your website, the customer’s own social media post, or even a comment on your page’s social media post. Recent surveys suggest that 95% of customers read online reviews before buying a product, while 58% say they are willing to spend more if the products have good reviews.
UGCs are an excellent way to build trust among your audience, as it provides a glimpse into an actual customer experience. However, the reach of this kind of content is most dependent on the reach of your customer. To maximize the benefits of these visual assets, it’s best to amplify the content by sharing them on your own channels.
Sunnies Face, a Filipino makeup brand, often re-shares their follower’s posts about their products. It gives the impression that their products suit everyone.
Instagram feed of Sunnies Face.
Why is visual content important in business?
Now that we know how each kind of visual content impacts businesses, let’s explore how companies benefit from visual content marketing strategies.
Grabs the attention
Let’s admit it, regardless of how witty your copy is, creative visual content is more likely to grab a person’s attention. Visual marketing assets are so important that companies can lose 39% of their revenue if their website images don’t load properly.
Leading brands are now using visual content to jumpstart their entire marketing campaigns. Here’s how Apple teased its audience for the new iPhone 14. Regardless of the numerous features of the new iPhone, the company opted to start its campaign with a galaxy-like visual representation of the brand. It effectively led people to ask, “What’s with the new iPhone?”
iPhone 14 teaser. Source: Twitter
Increases engagement
Visual content is a great way to start a conversation on social media. Recent surveys suggest that 55% of Americans regularly leave comments on various social media posts. And as we all know, each comment or post engagement increases the reach of content, making it an efficient way to reach potential customers.
Aside from comments, visual assets are more likely to be re-shared than pure text campaigns. Posts that include images produce 650% higher engagement than text-only posts. In short, people react to things they see more than they read. So, if you want to engage with your customers, create visual content.
Builds trust
Building customer trust is far more challenging than grabbing their attention. For the latter, you just technically need to create a “wow” factor or fear of missing out (FOMO), while the former needs a sense of rapport with the audience.
Consumers are more likely to trust a brand that features real customers instead of those that only market their products through advertisements. Images and videos that feature real customer experience create a sense of confidence among potential clients. This is why it’s imperative for businesses to streamline an effective process of maximizing UGCs.
Boosts brand recall
Have you ever experienced recalling a person’s face, but you somehow can’t remember their name? Well, that’s a fairly common phenomenon for everyone, and it applies to marketing psychology, too. Coherent and consistent use of visual assets boosts brand recall among the audience, which then leads to customer loyalty.
To learn more about coherence and consistency in establishing brand identity, read our article How Professional Graphic Design Enhances Brand Identity for Companies.
Generates revenue
Most importantly, visual content has long been verified to drive conversions. A 2023 survey suggests that companies can boost their organic traffic to a whopping 157% with a well-crafted marketing video. Aside from this, 66% of potential clients generated from videos end up being qualified leads.
Hire Professional Graphic Designers for Your Content Marketing Campaigns
Creating compelling visual content may be difficult, but it’s not impossible. Your company can enjoy high clickthrough and engagement rates by hiring a team of professional graphic designers, such as Seter Graphic Labs.
The Seter Graphic Labs team of professional designers possess the expertise and creativity to create visually compelling and engaging content that captures the target audience’s attention. We understand the principles of design, color theory, and composition and can effectively apply them to create visually impactful graphics, infographics, and images that communicate the brand’s message effectively.
Aside from this, our professional graphic designers have a deep understanding of various design software and tools, enabling them to produce high-quality visual content optimized for different platforms and mediums. They can create visually consistent content across different marketing channels, enhancing brand recognition and recall.
Most importantly, Seter Graphic Labs can effectively integrate branding elements into visual content, maintaining brand consistency and reinforcing brand identity. We can create custom graphics that resonate with the brand’s values and personality, establishing a strong and cohesive visual presence.
Interested in boosting the conversion rates of your content marketing campaigns? Check out Seter Graphic Labs’ services through this link.
In Summary
Excellent visual content is more than just a marketing asset; it’s a way to tell the story of a product. While copies can still make or break your marketing campaign, the power of images, videos, and other visual content is undeniable. Thus, if you’re really thinking of scaling your business, it’s essential that you invest in visual content marketing.
