While some content marketing tactics require more resources than others to generate meaningful performance, visual content marketing is one of those areas that can be a cost-effective option for startups seeking to attract attention in the market. Plus, it's one of the most attractive ways for your audience to notice you and tune in.
Now that I've used different types of visual marketing tactics, I've put together some good practices that have yielded even higher performance that can help others trying to do likewise for their new businesses:
- Avoid stock photos like the plague. If you're looking for authentic, then the last thing you want is a bunch of pictures of people posed in uncomfortable positions when, in fact, everyone your audience can say that they are models. Instead, with the incredible clarity and technology that comes with smart phone cameras, take your own photos of your team and your business and use them on your website and social media platforms to tell your story. We have had such positive feedback from seeing the real people in the business and our customers. Depending on your culture or the message you want to convey about your brand, you can use humor in your homemade visuals. Make them natural rather than posed to show them what you really are.
- Put on your brand image through your computer graphics. Since you're probably working on your branding, including colors, fonts, and graphic representation, it's a good idea to bring that distinct look to your infographics. posting on your own sites as well as sharing on media sites. This link to your brand will make it instantly recognizable to your audience, connecting valuable visual content with your brand and attributes. It's a subconscious way to continue to convey these intangibles to your audience.
- Collect GIF (fy) with and do not forget the memes. Although these seem at first more appropriate for friends and family, humor is one of the best ways to engage with your customers and prospects as long as you respect your image. professional and that you respect your message. Most audience members do not expect you to use these visual devices, so you will instantly gain credit by being less "stuffy" or "corporate."
- Plan your visual content, but do not overload it and do not waste time creating it. Although this should not be a slapdash activity, the visual content should not absorb all your time. Use the tools available to help you design and finish it, especially if the visual arts are not on your list of skills. Although I can not give you time, focus on what can pay you the most, which would mean spending a few hours a week or outsourcing to a visual freelancer who can spin it quickly while creating something d & # 39; irresistible.
- Emphasize consistency without being repetitive. The thing about visual content is that your audience wants to see something different every time they see it, and will quickly get bored if you use the same visuals. Yet you are also trying to send a consistent message and use the visuals to put your mark in their minds. Although you can use a similar color scheme and overall tone to your visual content to promote consistency, you can catch the attention of your audience by changing the type of visual content. Use statistics and research once, for example, and invite customers to tell their stories another time. In this way, it is consistent in theme and look but variable in type of visual content.
- Recycle your visual content to get more results for the budget. Even if you do not want to be repetitive, this does not mean that you can not recycle your content by displaying it on a set of channels or by unmounting it and using certain visuals in different ways. For example, we used our original photos on our website, but then we created a slideshow on Snapchat and Instagram to highlight a specific event, such as the first anniversary of our company. We also took live videos of customer testimonials and compiled them as success stories on our website. In this way, the visual content is repackaged for additional value.
- Make sure your content and visual content strategies are on the same page. To return to the idea of consistency, all our visual and regular content campaigns are planned together so that themes articulate and provide a way to illustrate our main message to our audiences. When they see the message through all media, it sticks and resonates at a deeper level. This is also a great way to build trust because they see you do not say one thing on social media, but another on your blog. Planning these two types of content also saves time and maximizes our resources.
- Ask your fans and fans to give you their content. Not only has this demand increased our levels of engagement; it has provided "free" visuals that maximize what we are trying to accomplish with this type of content. Our audience likes them because they feel more involved, and we appreciate the creativity. Their visual content inspires even some of our campaigns, which, in turn, recognize them as our tribute, further strengthening our bond.
Try some of the visual marketing tactics mentioned above and you'll see for yourself how your audience reacts.
Author : Angela Ruth is co-founder of Customer Care Ninja and Director of Marketing at Due. Let's change the way payments are made.