Visual marketing is the use of visual elements to catch attention and drive conversions.
This is a highly effective method for one very simple reason — your customers and leads love it.
81% of users say that they prefer videos over all other content on social media, while 68% say that images are their preferred content type.
Three-quarters of users also stated that they are more likely to follow a brand on social media if the brand includes video content.
In other words, visual content marketing is something you need to be doing.
But let’s take a look at this in more detail. Let’s examine some visual content marketing examples and see why these elements are so useful to brands.
How can visual marketing help your brand?
Before we get into the key statistics of visual content marketing, here are a few ways this approach benefits your brand.
- Visual marketing elements are more likely to gain attention or go viral, increasing awareness for your brand.
- Users are far more engaged by visual elements than textual content.
- While users who are already on your page may enjoy your written pieces, shares of visual content on social media can lead to direct lead generation.
- Visual marketing makes life much easier for marketers, leading to increased morale and better employee retention.
How effective is visual marketing?
Statistics don’t lie — and there are plenty of these statistics that show just how effective visual marketing really is.
1. Appeal
91% of people like visual content. This shows just how powerful the method is in creating a favourable impression for your brand.
2. Comprehension
You have a message and you need to get that message across, fast! Visual marketing helps you achieve this. A study from MIT found that subjects were able to identify images up to 600 times faster than they were able to understand a line of text.
3. Retention
You don’t just need people to understand your messaging, you also need people to remember it. Back in 2012, a revised study published by the Social Research Network showed that 65% of us are visual learners, demonstrating how important visual content is to knowledge retention. This is likely to be even more crucial in today’s fast-paced online environment.
4. Content variety
Variety is the spice of life, as the old adage goes, and this is certainly true in digital marketing. Your written content has its place, but visual elements provide a more engaging mix.
5. Budget
Visual content might be more expensive to produce, but it’s certainly more cost-effective. 66% of video marketers achieve more conversions than those who do not use video.
6. Content creation resources
You may feel as if you don’t have the resources required to create visual content, but this is not the case. There are a wealth of different apps — many of them free — that can assist you as you craft stunning images, infographics, videos and more.
Types of visual content
Now that you know a little more about what visual marketing can provide to your business, let’s look at some visual content marketing examples you can use within your own strategy.
1. Annual reports
Annual reports provide great insight to customers, but they can be dry and hard to engage with without visual elements.
2. Data visualisation
Data visualisation helps you to tell a story with your data, putting your customer right at the heart of the action — a far more effective strategy than simple textual representation.
3. eBooks
Many of your customers likely love to read, but they might not necessarily love to read what you produce for them. Visual content elements elevate your eBooks into something truly engaging.
4. Infographics
If you want your customers to immediately recognise information, and then retain this information in the long term, infographics are great for this.
5. Interactive infographics
Interactivity adds an extra level of engagement. By introducing interactive elements to your infographics, you are bringing your customers on a more engaging journey.
6. Microcontent
You have a great piece of content that will really benefit your users, but not all of these users are going to read it. Using long-form pieces to craft and publish microcontent helps you to foster connections with users who perhaps don’t have the time to view the content in its entirety.
7. Motion graphics
You don’t necessarily need to film a video each time you want to create visual content. With motion graphics, you can engage your customers with an animated image or set of data.
8. Presentation design
We’ve all sat through presentations that went on too long. Streamline the presentations you publish with lots of visuals.
9. Explainer videos
Your customers need support, but they don’t always want to have to reach out to your staff. Explainer videos show that you are serious about assisting your customers with their problems.
10. Video
Just think how many people are absorbed in TikTok and Instagram Reels. Experiment with different types of video content and capture this kind of attention for your brand.
Key takeaways
Visual content benefits your business in the following ways:
- Improved brand recognition among leads and customers
- Increased traffic to your website
- Better engagement from customers
- More conversion and a better ROI on content
Embrace the power of visual marketing for your business
Visual content is the future of marketing, certainly, but it’s not a distant future. Instead, this is something you can embrace right now.
Learn more about the best examples of visual content marketing.
