The Power and Importance of Visual Branding in Content Marketing
In today’s digital-driven world, developing content for your marketing campaign is no easy task. Consumers are constantly bombarded with content every time they visit a website, check their social media accounts, or open their emails.
Visual content marketing has the power to overcome these impediments for marketing teams, and is extremely important for a successful marketing campaign.
In order to leverage visual content marketing to obtain the best results, marketers must use high-quality graphics that appeal to the consumer and help build their brand recognition. This powerful communication tool can influence the human visual system to deliver information in a compelling and incredibly effective way.
This article discusses the importance of visual branding and provides fundamental keys to successful visual content marketing.
Tell a Story
As with any content marketing effort, creating content around a message and executing well is crucial. All of the content that is created should focus around the central aim of your business and tell the story of your brand.
Effective brand storytelling communicates who you are, what you do, and how you can help your customers. Visual content will help you effectively communicate this message in a quick, simple and effective manner. In fact, according to the CMO Council, 65% of senior marketing executives believe that visual assets are core to how their brand story is communicated.
By telling the story of your business, you are able to distinguish your brand from competitors and build trust and credibility with your audience.
Appeal to Emotion
The trust that is built by telling your story through visual content allows you to appeal to the emotions of your consumers. Good graphics content evoke specific feelings, and communicate emotion in a way that words simply cannot do on their own. The graphics significantly augment the message of written content, such as blogs, emails, etc.
Science has shown us time and again that most people make decisions on emotions, not logic. The best way to drive people to buy your brand is to appeal to them emotionally first to get them onboard with your product or service. Then, when you offer the features and benefits of what you have to offer, they are already emotionally invested and inclined toward what you have to sell.
Colors, graphics, fonts, images and shapes used in visual content all convey a contrast of various feelings and emotions. Use these to connect with your audience and build your brand.
Look at the Numbers
It’s easy to take what we’re saying here for granted. However, when you look at the data behind the power of visual branding, you can really get a firm idea of its importance.
Visual content is crucial to a successful marketing campaign because of its ability to engage with the audience. According to recent studies, visual content gets 94% more views than content without relevant image, 63% of all visitors who click on a Google image will go to that website, and placing an image every 75-100 words can double the number of social shares an article receives.
In addition to engagement, visual content is also much easier for consumers to comprehend. In fact, according to a study performed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the brain can process an image in as little as 13 milliseconds. Think about how long it takes to read simple bullet points on a PowerPoint presentation.
Rules of Engagement
Visual content can help you tell the story of your brand and appeals to the positive emotions of your audience, but what is the most effective way to do this? Here are 3 rules of visual content engagement:
- Consider Audience Needs. Visual content should be sensitive to the needs of the client. You should deliver content that doesn’t impede web load times or cause viewers to scroll past without engaging in other material.
- Keep it Simple. Consider the fact that more than likely, your audience is viewing your content on a smaller device, such as a smart phone. Content that is too busy or hurts the eye means that you risk losing the connection you established with your consumers.
- Strike a Balance. Your graphics should resist the urge to use too many words to convey your message. Tell the story of your brand in images as much as possible. Although words are a necessity, don’t let them take priority.
Effective visual content is extremely powerful when used correctly to communicate your message. Visuals lend themselves to creative freedom and spread content in a way that reflects your brand. Develop content that personalizes your business while appealing to your audience and you’ll be very happy with the outcome.
