Sometimes the Internet can seem like a constant stream of text. Lengthy Facebook posts, 140 character tweets, and long blog articles can make your eyes glaze over. It only highlights the increasingly bigger role that visual marketing has in smart brand strategies.
And it makes sense—humans are visual beings. Did you know when people hear information, they’re likely to remember only 10% of that information three days later? But if pair that same information with a relevant image, people retain 65% of the information three days later (source). That’s a huge difference.
So, how do you catch peoples’ eye and make your content memorable and standout material? This is where the importance of visual marketing come into play.
You can utilize visual marketing to elevate your brand experience and customer journey from your website to your social media presence. And even the littlest of tweaks can have a major impact on your followers, traffic, and ultimately sales. So let’s get into some of the best visual marketing assets that can help you level up your content.
1. Instagram Carousels
When it comes to longer-form content, blog posts, lead magnets (like e-books), or even other media formats (like video) usually come to mind. But people and brands have gotten savvier about sharing wordy content on visual platforms like Instagram. The app already lets you post up to 10 photos or videos as a single swipeable carousel. But instead of using this feature for images, using it create informative slideshows with the use of infographics has proven to be super effective when you have more to say. From listing out tips and recommendations to step-by-step tutorials to breaking down more informative and educational content, it’s visual storytelling at its best. This format gives you the capability to tell a story that’s longer than a single image and more robust than micro-blogging in the caption.
2. Pinnable Graphics
One of the most effective marketing strategies for attracting more of my ideal customers to my website and growing my traffic has been Pinterest marketing. And it’s no wonder: the visual search engine giant reported having 400 million monthly active users worldwide (so many people!). The great news is your website only needs two things to get started: a piece of content (like a blog post) and a visual graphic that you can pin to and promote on the platform.
Creating a pinnable blog graphic (or title image) can tell someone what your article is about in a “pinnable” (and therefore shareable) way. When done well, they are eye-catching, informative, and consistent.
To give your content more life and a wider reach, create 3-5 title images per each piece of content. You won’t want to show all images in the actual blog post so make sure you hide the other pinnable graphics before publishing.
3. Content Upgrades
Successful content upgrades have helped people grow their email list exponentially (including mine!). Similar to lead magnets, content upgrades are bonus content you can add to a blog post or article that people can access for free in exchange for their email. Like this:
Conversion rates are high for these free resources because they provide more value, making for strong and compelling call-to-actions in your content. Content upgrades can be cheat sheets, list of resources, video or audio recordings, checklists, printables, case studies…the list goes on. Anything that be delivered as a PDF is the easiest to produce for you as a business owner.
Creating a content upgrade can be as simple as using Google Docs and exporting it as a PDF. But if you want to increase your brand’s perceived value, consider going the extra mile in designing something that’s a little more visual, on-brand, and professional-looking. Doing so can also serve as a preview for your paid content (“if this is what your free content is like, I should really sign up for your course!”). Get started with your favorite design program (like Canva or Adobe InDesign).
4. Add a Visual Call to Action
Even the smallest of tweaks can have a huge difference in boosting your content and getting more clicks out of your audience. For example, you can create more opportunities for your audience to engage with your content by adding visual call-to-actions to your website or social media pages where they otherwise wouldn’t normally exist (i.e. banner covers on your Facebook page, YouTube Channel, or Medium profile):
5. Highlighting Content With Design Elements
When it comes to content on your website, something that gets overlooked a lot is utilizing design and visual elements to really make your content standout even more. For example, you can use illustrations or color blocking to make certain sections standout, create eye-catching graphics to call attention to or promote specific pieces of content, or frame photos with patterns or textures, like what we did for our client’s website, Wukkout!, in this next example:
If you’re not quite sure where to start, dedicate a good amount of time (I recommend 30-60 minutes) researching and gathering inspiration and ideas of what could work with your aesthetic and branding.
Take Away
Visual marketing has the power to attract new users to your content and keep them on your site. This is a great list of ways you can incorporate visual marketing regularly into your content strategy and put your website to work. To get started, download my actionable resource, Visual Marketing Checklist (hint: you’ll also get 3 bonus tips to help you with your visual content creation).
Customers love details and details will make your brand and content memorable. Do you have other tactics that have worked for you. Let us know in the comments below.