The days of text-only marketing and advertising are pretty much over. Sure you’ll see text-only ads on Google sometimes, but for the most part? Marketing has taken on a decidedly visual approach to messaging.
To make sure your messaging hits your target audience, you need to include photos, illustrations, videos, etc. Here are some tips to help you get your visuals right so that your message goes as far as possible.
Use Video
Whatever your personal preferences, the statistics don’t lie. Video dramatically increases traffic and (more importantly) conversions. You can use video on your website, in your advertising and marketing, and even in your email marketing!
Here are some tips for using video in your marketing campaign:
Hire professionals. Yes, really. DIY photo is great in concept but not in execution. Professional video production experts will help your story look and sound as good as possible (and can even make the video feel DIY if that’s something that is important to you).
Have a script. Do not just get in front of the camera and wing it. Ever. Even if you’re just putting together something quick and informal for YouTube, script it out ahead of time. Even if you don’t stick to the script completely, your words will flow better than they would if you were improvising.
Put yourself in your videos. Even if you hate the idea of being on camera, make sure you at least have a cameo in the video you make. People want to get a feel for who you are and they won’t be able to do that if you hire actors to say everything for you (though hiring them to say most things is fine if you are camera-shy).
Use Photos
Photos are particularly important for your content marketing campaigns and on your website. Content that uses photos is opened way more than 100% text-based content. Here are a couple of tips for upping your photo game.
Skip the stock photography. Yes, there are plenty of freebie stock photos available, but that doesn’t mean you should use them. Visitors and readers know the difference between stock photography and real photos.
Take your own photos. Remember when we said hiring professionals is important for video marketing? The inverse is true for still photography. Snapshots of your employees in their actual workspaces create a much stronger connection with visitors than something overly posed and stiff.
Use Art
Graphic art is something that many entrepreneurs and business owners take for granted when they are putting together their marketing plans. This is why so much of the graphic art you see (especially among startups online) feels so blah and generic. Here is how to make sure your graphic elements pop.
Hire an artist. Graphic artists are worth every single penny you pay them. A good graphic artist will know how to create logos and other types of art that scales well and that captures the feeling of your brand. Even if you just need something quick for your business cards or letterhead, hire a pro to do the design.
Get creative. So many business owners think their graphic art needs to be abstract in nature. This isn’t necessarily true. If you want to stand out, try a different approach. Comics-styled art (and lettering) for example, will set your brand apart from the others who are stuck in the abstract rut.
These are just a few ways that using visuals will help you get better results from your marketing efforts. Have you found fun or creative way to employ visuals in your campaigns? Let us know!