What is Visual Marketing?

Kelly Kranz

Think about the posts that catch your attention in your Facebook news feed. I bet they are the ones with images or videos right?

It makes sense you stop scrolling when your eye catches something visually appealing among a sea of text alone status updates.

A recent forbes article discusses how the idea of visual marketing works….

“…the world is awash in words and we found that a “word only” approach was not enough. In order to get into minds today, you also need a visual. But then the problem occurred, if the objective is owning a word in the mind, what is the role and function of a visual? Perhaps it is to work jointly with the “word” you have chosen.”

Human beings are nostalgic. We catch the scent of a certain flower and that can take us back to a particular memory in time. Our brains operate this way- always making connections between one thing and another.

Now it is time to make connections between the word and the visual when it comes to your brand’s content and your brand’s presence on social media.

Why is the business world making a shift towards visual marketing?

A HUGE reason for the visual marketing take off has to do with the technology we hold in our hands- phones and tablets.

A visual image is easier and quicker to comprehend. As our eyes are scanning for our queries, we take the time to stop and look at visual images whether we do it on purpose or not.  And those images that catch our attention get our clicks.

Then there are the social platforms like Pinterest and Instagram.  Did you know that Pinterest pins show up in Google searches. Go ahead and do a Google search for “tattoo ideas” more than half of those images in Google search are from Pinterest pins.

What are the benefits of visual marketing?

Are you still reading this?

Our attention span as humans keeps get shorter and shorter. The human brain actually prefers visuals and approximately 65% of us learn visually.

By putting visual content in front of your audience you may experience the following benefits-

• More website traffic
  
• Increased SEO (google loves videos)
  
• More social shares
  
• Brand awareness

What qualifies as visual marketing?

No, it’s not just Cat GIFs and Dos Equis MEMES- though these do qualify!

There are 4 types of visual marketing material that get shared often-

1. infographics
   
2. presentations
   
3. videos
   
4. pinterest pins

The web is polluted with wordy goobly gook content. Visuals stand out and because well, THEY STAND OUT.  I know- it’s a simplistic conclusion. But try it for yourself and see the difference.

Challenge

I challenge you to share a blog article with only descriptive copy and a link. Then share the same article with a beautiful picture. You can even pull a quote from your article and place it on an image with a link underneath to the full article. My guess is you will get more engagement when an image is involved.

But remember you want your visual marketing to evoke feeling and pull in your audience. My favorite tool to use to create pretty visuals is Canva. They have pre-made templates that can make anyone look like an amazing artist.

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