A recent study found that nearly 74% of business owners use visual elements in their online marketing strategies. While well-written blogs still serve a purpose, most consumers want visual content from the companies they follow and engage with. Ignoring the needs of consumers can lead to your marketing campaigns failing in fairly short order. Developing visual marketing strategies will help you reach a wider audience with your message.
As you start to iron out the details of your visual marketing strategy, you need to figure out how much photography and videography you will use.
Freeze a Moment in Time With the Power of Photography
As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Even in the fast-paced world of online marketing, an appealing photograph can make consumers stop and pay attention to your brand. If you want to successfully implement photography into your visual marketing strategy, there are a few things you need to keep in mind.
One of the main things you will need to produce professional-grade photos is the right equipment. Attempting to capture pictures of your products or your services in action without a high-quality camera can be impossible. This is why you need to make room in your budget to purchase a good camera. While a good camera can be pricey, they are worth the money in the long run.
Benefits of using photography
When using photography as part of your visual marketing strategy, you can take advantage of numerous benefits like:
- Photos are easy to capture and process in a hurry
- Small file sizes make uploading pictures easy
- You have the ability to brand images
If you want to incorporate photos into your existing marketing strategy, you need to be selective about the types of images you use. Before you start to publish photos, assess whether or not they are on brand. Routinely posting high-definition photos on your social media accounts or your website can help you keep your audience interested and engaged.
Potential drawbacks of using photography
The biggest mistake most business owners make when trying to use photography in their marketing campaigns is using low-quality images. If the images you are using are pixelated or out of focus, you will have a hard time getting consumers to stop and pay attention to what you are saying.
Also, simply posting a photo isn’t enough. If you don’t provide context (and text) then the full message you are trying to get across may be missed. With video, this isn’t necessary. Video is self-contained and can ensure your message is conveyed successfully.
Tell Your Story With the Help of Videography
In the past few years, the popularity of online videos has skyrocketed. Many brands have found that the videos they create and post on social media get shared much more than photographs.
Bringing your videos to life will require the use of a video camera and great editing software. If you don’t have either of these elements in place, hiring an experienced video marketing agency is a great idea.
Advantages of videography
If you are on the fence about whether or not to use videography in your visual marketing campaigns, you need to consider the benefits associated with this type of media.
- Videos are more memorable than text or picture-based posts
- A well-produced video can influence buying decisions
- Videos have a higher rate of social media shares
- Videos can convey lots of information in a short amount of time
Disadvantages of using videography
One of the biggest complaints most people have about creating videos is that this process is time-consuming. The equipment needed to produce new videos can also be extremely expensive.
Also, videos have much larger files than photos. This means they may slow down your website speed, which is going to impact your search rank. It may also cause more people to bounce away from your site before viewing your content.
It’s Time To Take Action!
Visual marketing is a must have for any business today. However, if you have limited marketing dollars to invest, you have to decide what is best for each campaign — photography or videography. Most agree, videos may take more time to produce and while they do have some drawbacks, they also provide the engaging, visual experience modern consumers are searching for. This makes it an obvious winner when you have the resources to invest in it.
