What is Visual Content Marketing (& How to benefit from it?)
Updated by Lewis Battle
Gone are the days when lengthy textual content was the only form of communication with prospects. Visuals are replacing long-form content for all the right reasons. You can capture in-depth information with just a few snaps strategically placed across a digital platform.
The human brain is wired so that it gives more attention to images. According to the findings of Creately, the human attention span has reduced to a mere 8 seconds. This is even lower than that of a goldfish! They also discovered that 81% of people only skim the content they read online.
Statistics like these make it clear that learning about visuals and investing in them is one of the successful ways to catch and retain customers. Before diving into more perks of visual content marketing, let’s clarify what it is!
What is Visual Content Marketing?
As the name pretty much tells us, visual content marketing is about using images, videos, and other types of graphics to convey valuable information in an engaging format. The aim of this content is to aesthetically please people and tempt them to convert.
But remember, visual content marketing isn’t just sharing attractive photos and funny videos. Instead, begin the process by understanding how the human brain works. Brands try to find out what their audience craves. This knowledge is then translated into a strategy for visuals in the content plan.
It is essential for every brand with an online presence to watch the visual trends. For example, the search volume for the keyword “infographics” has spiked by 800% since 2000. These represent a powerful way to communicate with your audience and dissect the complex information for them.
Likewise, it is also forecasted that the video marketing industry will expand in the upcoming years. In fact, 64% of marketers reported that they successfully landed a new customer by posting videos.
Therefore, follow the trends to curate your visual content marketing strategy to ensure you keep reaching your objectives.
Benefits of Visual Content Marketing
1. It Creates Brand Awareness
Visual content has a high potential to bring better opportunities your way. The benefits listed below will tell you how it does so:
Visual content directs the audience’s attention to the brand with just a few words and compelling aesthetics. This is something that massive text blocks often fail to do.
The selection of visuals can help you create a strong brand identity. But make sure the content reflects your brand’s core values, tone, and culture. A consistent pattern of videos and images is more likely to strike a chord with your target audience than plain text.
There are several options to choose from. For instance, you can inform your customers about the upcoming holiday season or an event and make it evident that your brand genuinely cares for them. The following ad by Popchips does it in a smart way:
2. It is Fast and Easy to Consume
A few images and videos can convey comprehensive details within a few seconds. This is because there are no letters, words, or paragraphs to process.
A study performed by BuzzSumo found that blogs with a single image per 75 -100 words receive twice as many social media shares as articles with fewer images. When a static image can double the engagement, imagine what might happen if you create personalized videos for your visitors.
So, instead of writing long paragraphs to describe your brand or products, you should try to convey your messages through short videos or illustrations. Don’t forget to add social sharing buttons along the visuals to make social sharing a snap for the visitors.
3. It Reinforces Your SEO Goals
Visual content is ideal for improving SEO results. You can optimize the images and videos according to the search engine requirements to grab target customers’ attention.
Consider integrating the keywords in image tags and alt texts instead of assigning general names to the visuals. The engine algorithms will crawl through the visuals and content of your website to determine if your site is fulfilling the criterion for top ranks.
All you need is to create a visual that will help your brand stand out. It can be a fantastic video, a unique image, or a humorous GIF. Once the visual goes viral, you will receive more visitors, and the time spent by users on your website will also increase.
4. It Accelerates Lead Generation
Visuals can become a powerful lead magnet for your brand. They hook the prospects from the first interaction and slide them smoothly through the buyers’ funnel.
Content like e-books, infographics, and white papers are a few examples of lead magnets. They provide you with valuable contact data of potential customers. This helps you determine what they are interested in and offer to send them in exchange for their emails.
You can hire a professional photographer to tailor the visuals according to your brand. Or, use stock photos available in online libraries at low prices. These royalty-free image websites won’t charge you a kidney and will help you to attract quality leads.
5. It Helps to Generate Quality Links
Marketers are always trying their best to obtain links from credible websites. An association with authentic sources will automatically improve your rank on search engines.
If you create valuable visual content in the form of images, videos, infographics, and graphs will prove its worthiness in the content-rich virtual world. Other websites will share your content on their platforms and link it to your website. This is a helpful step in creating a loyal following which eventually paves the way to more inbound links.
Wrapping Up
Brands out there are nailing their visual marketing strategies. The secret of their success formula is a carefully drafted strategy. They don’t create visuals for the sake of creating them. Instead, they evaluate the market, its potential, the competitors, and their brand objectives, to chalk out a visual strategy.
And while you are on it, experiment with various visuals on different channels to determine what works and what doesn’t. It may take a few days of trial and error, but you will soon crack the code for attracting prospects through visuals.
No one could then stop your brand from reaching for the skies!
