Visual Content Marketing Is The Star Of Your Business

Content is constantly evolving.

Whether trying to engage your audience or launching your new marketing campaign, content marketing is how we reach our prospects and customers today.

But when you think of content marketing, what comes to your mind?

More than likely, you think of a blog post with at least 1,000 words and a bunch of resource links (like our SEO Resource Guide).

But these days, there’s another powerhouse method in town. It’s called Visual Content Marketing.

What Is Visual Content Marketing?

Visual content marketing refers to using images to convey valuable information in an engaging visual format. The purpose? To attract people to your website, your business, your offers.

Visual content marketing examples include infographics, images with educational texts, memes, videos, photos, and my personal favorite… comics!

Content which is built upon emotion and messaging become stronger with creative, stimulating visuals that are the backbone of marketing success.

In fact, 80% of marketers use visual assets in their social media marketing. Video (63%), alone, has also surpassed blogging (60%) in usage as a social media marketing asset. (Source)

For more juicy facts as to why visual content is the superstar, here’s an infographic I made:

I’m glad you’re still here! Imagine if I had written down all those data points in text format instead— there’s a good chance that you would have already lost interest. You probably would have left this page.

That is where visual content shows its superpower.

Traditional content marketing provides value to its readers, and so can visual content marketing. The true value of visual content marketing lies in its ability to tell a story quickly, sharing information in a way that is easily remembered.

We often hear the phrase “a photo is worth a thousand words” and this idea can certainly ring true with content marketing. Sometimes one image or graphic is all we need to convey what we could have otherwise said in a very loooong and tedious article. (Not to mention— visuals are entertaining!)

So sit tight — we’re getting to the good stuff. Here are the 5 big benefits of producing visual content and why it is the star of your small business:

Benefit #1:  People are more likely to engage with visual content

With the fast-paced lives many people live, it’s harder now more than ever to capture and retain a consumer’s attention.

In a digital world that is always on the move, one of the best ways to communicate a message is through visual content. Visual content makes delivery fast, convenient, and hassle-free for the content consumer.

Whether it’s an infographic or stick figures that tell stories, visual elements in combination with text provide an experience for the viewer. It grabs the reader and entices them to focus on the image.

With the right visuals, they create connections.

The more people you captivate, the more people will view your brand page and interact with your brands. Social converts are sales leads waiting to happen.

Engaging visuals help generate audience interest in your brand, particularly because they stay longer on your pages when they read your comic strips, watch your youtube uploads, or get engaged with your content.

Through visual content marketing, we can ensure people are actually listening, watching, reading, and consuming the content we produce.

So start producing shareable and relevant visuals now and you’ll get what I mean!

Benefit #2:  Shoppers prefer visual content

People are visual creatures by nature.

Because of short attention spans, consumers have grown to prefer video, animation, and imagery over text.

Visual content formats are more convenient because of how much faster we can consume it. Visuals are way easier to digest, as well as easier to remember. We’re all guilty of skipping through articles to look at the graphics, images, headlines, and videos.

In fact, it has been shown on numerous occasions that shoppers are swayed by visuals rather than text alone. Imagine browsing an online shop without images or a website that has only plain text on it— It’s boring.

Visuals influence human emotions. They have an effect on human emotions because of the concept of the psychology of colors. Studies indicate that certain color combinations generate emotions in viewers. Colors not only affect emotions but can also influence how a particular viewer will take action, such as the purchasing decisions they will make. (Source)

The quality of product images is also deemed very important when selecting a product (I’m not referring to Stock Photos though). This makes sense considering most people will see page images before anything else, including a product title, and either be turned on or off, then decide to stay, go, or buy/convert.

Benefit #3: Visual content builds brand awareness

Some people, like myself, are visual learners and love creative designs. They give us a better understanding of not just the message, but what’s behind the message — explained easier, faster, and clearer than just a cluster of written words.

Visual content gives your brand a face. Personifying a mostly “serious” brand can give it a fun, relatable edge that people are more likely to engage with.

One great example is the power of Meme Marketing today. A clever and catchy meme can help a brand stand out amidst an ocean of other brands. Memes resonate especially well with younger audiences but also make an impact on middle-aged and older audiences. (Source)

Moreover, not only do visuals give brands the chance to enhance and clarify their messaging; it also helps solidify brands’ identities.

Visuals offer the opportunity for more consistent messaging, which leads to increased familiarity with your target audience that will eventually lead to the loyalty all brands long for. This goes together with establishing, and maintaining, a brand as an authority. Consistency makes this unequivocally easier.

Benefit #4: Visual content generates more views on social media

By using relevant visuals in order to strengthen your content, you’ll increase your chances of increasing your views, likes, shares and click-through rates.

In fact, visual content marketing statistics show that colored visuals increase the chance of someone reading a piece of content by 80%. Couple this with the fact that content with relevant images gets 94% more views than content without relevant images. (Source)

Share one visual content piece and you’re almost guaranteed engagement and virality. The more engagement there is, the more people will view your post and get acquainted with your brand.

These methods can also make our content more shareable. We don’t need to look far to see that visual content reigns supreme on social networks like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. It’s safe to say that visual renaissance is growing ever more prominent.

By taking the time to create content that is visual-centric such as infographics and video, as well as adding illustrations to text-based content (just like this article), your content will be more likely to be viewed, remembered and shared.

Benefit #5: Visual content drives more leads

Visual content leads to more engagement and more engagement means more leads.

In 2016, 37% of marketers stated visual marketing fueled their lead generating campaigns. A report from the Web Marketing Group claimed that 40% of online users react more favorably to visual content than to plain and text-based content. (Source)

Also in organic search, 60 percent of people are more likely to click on a business that has images showing up in search results than one that does not. One good example is the use of Infographics. Infographics have the ability to increase traffic to your site by 12 percent. 42 percent of marketers agree that infographics are the most engaging form of visual content. (Source)

All of these statistics outline the true value of visual content for lead generation. And with visual content being shared on social media three times more than other types of content, it’s clear to see visual content marketing should be at the core of any lead generation campaign.

Takeaways

In today’s digital climate, we’re more likely to be quickly captivated by an image or video than we are by words on a page.

It’s no surprise visual content marketing has become so vital to success. Especially with the growth of multi-device usage for people across the planet — and those devices having their own screens for even more widespread availability and consumption of storytelling aids like infographics, comics, videos, and other visuals.

An effective visual content marketing strategy relies on providing value to your users in bite-sized chunks. Information is much easier to process in a visual form, which makes it more attractive to users.

Visuals can very well be the difference between having your content seen or not.

Make sure you offer your audience, not just compelling content, but visually appealing content that is also compelling and can withstand the challenges of different platforms.

If you have more relevant ideas about visual content marketing and its superpower, we would love to hear them in the comments below.

Infographics sources:

https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Industry-Report-2018.pdf

https://www.brainrules.net/vision

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/power-of-visual-communication-infographic

http://news.mit.edu/2014/in-the-blink-of-an-eye-0116

https://www.quora.com/Why-do-you-need-to-consider-Visuals-on-Social-Media-to-Get-Users-Attention

https://buzzsumo.com/blog/how-to-massively-boost-your-blog-traffic-with-these-5-awesome-image-stats/