The secret power of visual marketing

I see brands that fail to communicate their messages online every single day.

I see outdated websites that lack vital information, inspiration and any sort of structure... I see badly taken pictures being used for business… profile pictures, product pictures... or no pictures at all... I see businesses posting random visuals that say nothing about their brand, their social media marketing is a mess, does not convey their unique message to their audience even though they seem to honestly be trying their best...

Lack of consistency, bad branding, confusing and unclear messaging, un-targeted marketing and outdated websites are costing people a lot of money. It's time to change that! 

More Images, Less Text

I believe that visuals, if used correctly, can do a much better job at telling stories, selling products and conveying emotions. Businesses which harness the power of visual marketing on their websites and social media are always more memorable, more engaging, and of course they sell more.

Let me explain how this works

Visuals turn concepts and intangible things into something real. They help people envision your brand and your message in their mind's eye and this will help them remember you when the time comes to make a purchase.

Images will also help people visualise how would it be like to use your service or product as we naturally place ourselves into the photo and imagine how would it be like to obtain the outcome. So by showing positive outcomes and communicating your brand messages in a visual way you will make your audience long your products or services. This is a huge advantage when marketing online.

People don't buy products,

they buy outcomes and transformations.

When we see pictures of food and fit people online, we imagine how would it be like to eat the food and are also motivated to start working out. Just look at the example below. Don't you just want to grab that healthy snack, eat it and then run to the gym? I do! 

This is why food and nutrition related brands are doing so well online. When brands use visual marketing in a consistent, structured and strategic way the magic begin to happen. They rise above the competition, stand out and make their message stick. 

This is the top secret power of visual marketing

Visualizing the outcomes, showing the before and after pictures or showcasing your product or service in action using unique images created with intention makes people crave the result and moves them to action (they book or buy). It also makes your audience form an emotional attachment with your brand, as your brand feels familiar to them and sticks in their mind.

This is exactly why popular stock images that everyone else is using will not get you great results. 

I have just finished designing a fitness and nutrition brand and website BeFit4Life. We've created a strategically designed and visually immersive experience for their clients and created a unique set of visuals that they can now use to market their business online across blogs, newsletters and social media.

And the result? 

Oh man. I see their pictures in my timeline all the time. Their Instagram account has 24K followers and when they post, their images just pop off of the screen, helping them stand out from the rest, be remembered and recognized. The images also help them build trust as by showing the same style of images over and over they make themselves look and feel familiar. A coherent set of images made their brand look more professional, more consistent and more recognizable.

Let me give you another example:

I've worked with The Playground Coffee House who are experts at brewing speciality coffees in their unique coffee shop in the city centre of Bristol to tell their audience about their meticulous approach to brewing a perfect cup of coffee every time. EVERY FREAKING TIME! 

Fabian, the owner, is passionate about his coffee and very meticulous when it comes to the coffee making process. He will always make sure that each and every cup comes with the very same amount of coffee beans, no less no more but exactly right amount of freshly grinded, speciality coffee beans! Yes, he actually uses a scale to make sure each coffee portion is exactly right if you were to measure in milligrams! Milk is always steamed to perfection, you never ever get an over-burned milk (which is the case in so many places I no longer go for coffee!). 

Let me now tell you the same story using visuals... 

You get the idea? 

Visuals have the ability to convey messages very quickly. Much faster than spoken or written words and they make your brand message stick in your audience's mind… 

When you are competing with everyone else online, your visuals can help you grab people's attention and communicate your message easier, faster and more accurate. Our attention span is currently shorter than that of a goldfish so think strategically about the message you are sending out with your visuals, don't just post random pretty pictures as they will fail to convey your message and won't be able to stick in your audience's mind.

Let's come back to Fabian and his meticulous coffee brewing process...

This is something very special that he does, unique touchpoint that Playground has engineered into their brand experience and that's why we've decided to tell people about it in a visual way.

By inviting people behind the scenes and allowing them to experience the process by themselves, we were able to create a positive brand experience in their mind and make the brand message stick. This is super powerful because it will empower their loyal customers to become ambassadors of their brand and communicate Playground's message (AMAZING CUP OF COFFEE EVERY SINGLE TIME) to their friends in the right way. This way they will be able to attract more coffee lovers to their shop and grow and audience of loyal clients. This will help to grow the sales too and reduce the marketing spend! 

Your brand is an experience

And the more unique and more visually appealing the experience, the more people you will be able to attract. If you can create unique touch points, positive experiences and tell stories and effectively communicate them through your visuals you will make people long the outcome and this will make your marketing much more effective and powerful. 

This is exactly why Instagram and Pinterest are the fastest growing networks right now! They allow us to get lost in their feeds, to visualise the outcome, to dream and to experience how would it be like to live there/go there/eat it/use it/have it.

This brings me to my last point.... 

Coherent visual content is an indicator of quality

People base their perception on your visuals. They will link the quality of your visual content with the quality of your work. If your website or marketing visuals look amateur, inconsistent and not in line with the rest of your brand, the prospectus customer will see your business as being of low and amateur quality.

The good news is that you have a great control over the visual side of our business!

And this is exactly where we come in.

We help my clients build distinct digital brands and effectively market their business online using visuals so that they can stand out from the competition, communicate their message quickly, easily build trust, be memorable and have their unique brand messages stick in their client's minds. 

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This Blog's article was first written and published on Visuable.co