They say that a picture speaks a thousand words. And that cannot be more true in the world of digital marketing.
Branding and marketing is about more than simply conveying a message to your customers. It also involves emotions, needs and desires. In order to invoke those strong feelings from consumers, you need to add a little more ‘oomph’ to your marketing and advertising materials, and that will be through visuals and images.
Marketing or ad copy without images is akin to ice cream without toppings… Well, it does get the job done, but it doesn’t quite excite you, eh? This same goes for text-only ads, blog posts, site pages, social posts, and more.
Thus, that is why you need images and visuals to aid your digital marketing efforts. Follow creative agency Singapore I Concept as we walk you through the benefits of using images in digital marketing, what kind of visuals you might use, and how and where to best use them.
The power of images in digital marketing
Still not quite captivated by the fact that images have tremendous marketing power? Here are some facts and statistics, to give you solid proof that it is worth investing the time to create or look up some awesome images for your digital marketing campaigns. They clearly show how vital marketing images are, for marketing successes.
- Some 65% of people are visual learners (that means they learn through seeing, not reading).
- The brain can process visual information 60,000 times faster as compared to text.
- Visual aids in the classroom improve learning by up to 400%.
- Images help you to get more views on your content. Research claims that content with images receive an increase in views by 94%.
Now, we go into the details of the many benefits of having and including quality visuals and images in your marketing material.
Benefits of using images in digital marketing
Images are memorable
Seeing a gorgeous image or breathtaking photo typically sticks with us longer than what we remember from reading a short description, blog post, or advertisement. We actually recall over 65% of what we see, versus 10% of what we hear.
Images communicate faster
We live in a fast-paced world, and consumers see over 5,000 advertisements a day. Images are crucial, especially in digital marketing, because they are digested quicker. It takes readers almost 10 seconds to process and decide on the value of written text, not to mention the time required to read it.
On the other hand, the mental and emotional impact from an image happens almost instantly (in about 100 milliseconds).
Images keep readers around
Images encourage readers to stick around. According to a study, your website visitors likely don’t stay on your website or blog for more than 15 seconds.
Interesting and engaging images can help your visitors want to spend more time on your articles and site pages.
Images boost open and engagement rates
Whether your content includes images that illustrate text or simply accompany an article, readers want to see visuals. Articles and blog posts that contain images get over 90% more total views than those without.
The same goes for social media. Tweets with images receive 150% more retweets than tweets without images, and Facebook posts with images see over two times more engagement than those without. Online articles that feature an image every 75 to 100 words were shared twice as much as articles with fewer images.
Images help make sales
Online shopping might be more popular than ever, but buyers still wonder what their product will look like when it arrives. Don’t you?
That’s why quality, accurate product photos are so important. 67% of consumers say the quality of each product image is very important when choosing and purchasing products. Customers also think that product image quality is more valuable than product information (63%), a detailed product description (54%), or customer ratings and reviews (53%).
How to use images in digital marketing?
Images have a place in almost every facet of your promotional strategies. And there are so many different kinds of images and visuals that you can choose to incorporate. You can look up stock photos from a variety of sites and doctor them to fit your message, create branded images or graphics to could be photography or (digitally illustrated), infographics that enhances the facts and figures you’d like to share (and make them more digestible for the average joe), GIFs that are moving or transiting real or animated visuals, as well as user-generated content, most commonly found through social media platforms.
Below, we cover the most popular (and perhaps easiest) places to incorporate images and visuals in your digital marketing drive.
Images on social media
Social media is certainly an image-heavy medium. Networks such as Instagram, Snapchat and Tiktok practically require images and visuals, but brands Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others also benefit immensely from the use of images and visuals.
Whether you are posting an image on your timeline or updating your account with new cover and profile photos, each network recommends certain images dimensions. Sizing images for social media use is important as incorrect dimensions can construct other images or cause your posts to be showing in low quality – and therefore uninteresting to your audience.
Do note and try to use the same identifier images for your brand, whether photographed or digitally designed, across all your chosen networks and platforms. These include cover photos, profile pictures, logos, and more. This helps to build your brand identity and awareness among your followers.
Images in Emails
Your customers get lots of email marketing (a.k.a. electronic direct mailers) each day. If they choose to open yours, you want them to stick around and read it, right?
Images can help with this. Whether sharing product photography, branded images, or fun GIFs, sending emails with images can keep your readers engaged, interested, and better informed about the purpose of your email.
Images in blog posts
Blog posts are key in search engine optimisation efforts. Blog posts and articles are traditionally text-centric marketing efforts, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t benefit from a few images. When added to your content, images can illustrate your topics, engage your readers, and spice up an otherwise lengthy piece of text.
Images within the blog post could be infographics, explainer photos, screenshots or product images, and any blog post cover images (the image displayed at the top of the post and with the post summary, like what you see at the top of this article) should represent the purpose of the content. They very well complement the long-form content writing.
Images with products
Like we said above, in the world of eCommerce development and social media management, product photos are key to helping consumers choose and purchase your products – or persuade them to do the opposite if not done well. Consider investing in high-quality, professional product photography, or utilise your best camera tools. If your product is digital, like a software or web application, include plenty of detailed screenshots and animated GIFs to illustrate how your product looks post-purchase.
And when possible, do use user-generated content, or encourage reviewers to post images of their product purchases too.
Get digital marketing right with I Concept
Images, graphics, GIFs, infographics, stock photos, user-generated content… There are so many different ways to employ visual content in your digital marketing efforts. Better yet, it’s incredibly easy.
But if you need more help with strategising what to put out on the multiple platforms and channels, or some advice on the how-tos to navigate the world of digital marketing, you can turn to I Concept, your choice creative agency Singapore.
As a premier digital agency, we have the know-hows and experience in helping our clients develop optimised digital marketing strategies that cater to their respective needs, as well as delivering the works that reach out to the masses. From social media management and marketing, to website and content development, as well as search engine optimisation and marketing efforts, our goal is to take your businesses’ message and spread them to the audience online in a targetted fashion.
You can even tap on the Productivity Solutions Grant for Digital Marketing as you choose to engage our services, with up to 50% subsidy available.
Should you have the need to build your own eCommerce development, we too are your go-to digital agency that’s on the Pre-Approved@SMEs Go Digital vendor list, where you can also get up to 50% funding subsidy.
Learn more about I Concept’s range of services, and get in contact with us today!
