A digital marketing expert offering insights during a consultancy session

Visual Marketing Isn't About Pretty Pictures, It's About Proof

It's not about having more visuals, it's about making the visuals you do create actually work for your brand. In a world where everyone's a content creator and stock photography is cheaper than ever, slapping any old image on your website just doesn't cut it anymore.

In general, people make decisions based on how something makes them feel, so the psychology behind your visual strategy in your social media campaign is essential in order to get consumers to connect with your brand.

As the saying goes: A picture is worth more than a thousand words.

Concept of visual marketing

The concept of visual marketing can be seen as simple, thinking any good-looking stock photo will do, but this isn’t the case, and it’s only the first step of your strategy. Every person has something called visual perception, it’s a part of the brain that processes information from their surroundings. However, since you process a vast amount of information on a daily basis, you only remember some of those things, things that made you feel a certain way, whether it’s happy, sad or anything in between.

This means you will need to have an understanding of the importance of images you use as you want to be able to play off your consumers’ past experiences in a positive way.

As mentioned previously, by using generic stock photos you won’t be able to create a connection with your consumers and it works the same way if you go on the opposite end of the spectrum by being too drastic.

In some instances, leaning towards the most drastic side can pay off if you manage to connect with your customers by evoking a positive emotion. Keep in mind, when triggering a positive emotion and response from one customer doesn’t mean that it will work for all of them!

Communication and visual design

Before deciding which images to use you need to sit, think and chose what message you want your audience to receive from your images. It’s an important question to keep in mind before choosing your images.

To help convey to the overall message of the image, design it in a way directed towards your consumers. If you have people in your images, ensure they are relatable and reflect your brand’s voice. This can be tricky when using stock images!

Talking to your audience isn’t just about having a physical conversation with them. You need to tell your audience a story in such a way that they can see themselves in it—and this is especially true of your images. The right visual doesn’t just show a product; it shows a lifestyle, a solution, an aspiration.

Doesn’t matter if you’re targeting corporate decision-makers in London or Gen Z creatives in Berlin, the message has to feel like it was made for them. That means industry-specific contexts, culturally relevant visuals, and understanding whether your audience researches for six months or impulse-buys in six seconds.

Choosing the right image

The first thing your consumers will notice about your post is the image, which also happens to be the catalyst for determining whether or not they will act on any Call-To-Action (CTA) that you might have in your post. That’s why it’s crucial your images are relatable and evoke the right type of emotion for them to connect with your brand.

Trial and error is to be expected as you need to research and test what type of images your audience best reacts to on different platforms.

Visual marketing is an important tool for all businesses, but here’s what most people miss: good visual marketing allows your customers to see themselves in what you’re offering. Whether you’re selling software, saving, or services, people need to look at your visuals and think “that could be me.” Grabbing the first images you come across, however, just isn’t enough.

Using the wrong images for your audience will divert them away and make them much more likely to go to one of your competitors. To get the images right, you have to understand your customer. Who are they? What problems are they trying to solve? What version of themselves are they hoping to become? When you know who your customers are, then choose your images to appeal to them. Everything else is just decoration.

Colour theory

Different colours can trigger certain feelings and responses; some colours work better or work on different social media platforms. An example would be: yellow reflects youth and fun whilst the colour blue overlap with feelings or trust or serenity.

Being consistent with your colour theme is key, more so when it reflects your brand. Make time to research different platforms your company is currently using to see what works best on each channel as it’ll not only benefit your social media accounts but your business as well.

It can sometimes be difficult to decide which pieces are right to post and you may have to test your way forward to determine which themes of visual content works best for you and your audience. In addition, it’s good to do research on how your target audience reacts to content on different social media channels. Keep in mind that it’s important to remain consistent throughout