Are you looking to market your brand and you don't know where to start? Image marketing could be the answer!
It is the use of images, photos, and graphics to promote your brand… And image marketing can be a very powerful tool when combined with other marketing strategies. So, what exactly is image marketing? How is it different from branding? How can you benefit from it? Read on to find out!
What's image marketing?
Image marketing or visual marketing is a marketing approach that entails the use of images, photos, and graphics to promote a brand (or its products and services).
It's an extremely effective way of conveying a brand's unique style and visual identity. Besides, image marketing helps you to show your brand's value in a straightforward way that everyone can understand.
That's why it is often used along with some other forms of marketing such as content marketing and social media marketing. Actually, to build a stronger brand reputation and reach a wider audience it's important to have all the tools that marketing has to offer in your toolbox.
A few examples of image marketing include the use of striking product photos in advertisements, the design of infographics to depict complex pieces of information, and the creation of visually appealing graphics to advertise brands on social media. They all help you convey the feeling of your brand in images.
Why is image marketing so important for your business?
A picture is worth a thousand words and image marketing is devoted to displaying images to get a strong and direct message across without the need to read or interpret long pieces of information.
Visual content with catchy images has higher audience engagement. So, it's crucial to develop engaging visuals that fulfill the target audience's emotional and psychological needs. In addition, top-quality images capture the attention of potential customers faster. This way, you can communicate complex data in a way that is easier to digest.
Missing the opportunity to generate images that capture the attention of a wider audience is a mistake you can't afford to make. The best thing to do is to target all the senses of your users and generate not only audio and text, but also offer them highly attractive images that catch their attention and promote your idea in a simple way.
This strategy has the potential to increase your revenue – and above all give more strength to your brand in the medium and short term.
Is image marketing different from branding?
Branding is the global strategy to communicate the unique identity of your business in the marketplace. While image marketing is a particular marketing tool to convey a message through images.
Branding covers a wide range of areas such as the logo, name, and messaging. That said, image marketing can play an essential role in the development of a brand's image since the right images reinforce a brand's message and create a better visual identity – but it definitely can't take care of all the branding for your business.
Why are images more important than words in some industries?
People tend to remember visually appealing information better than text. For some industries and audiences, it's better to convey straightforward messages with images.
Text content is still very relevant and is unlikely to become irrelevant any time soon. However, by having a good image marketing strategy, you'll be able to reach a much larger audience that would otherwise not consume your content.
For instance, you can leverage stock photos and illustrations for creating visually engaging content. Subscriptions to stock photo sites like Adobe Stock or Shutterstock can be a cost-effective solution – and you can find collections from the same creator for consistency. Also, if you don't have professional design skills, editing tools like Canva can be used to make your images look more polished.
The best-written content can be overlooked if it’s not accompanied by high-quality imagery. Additionally, while SEO is important for drawing in search traffic, it's the visual aspects that will drive engagement on the page.
… And social media is critical for image marketing!
Social media platforms rely heavily on the use of images and graphics to engage users. This makes them ideal for image marketing – and businesses take advantage of this opportunity to develop their best designs and reach new users.
Two of the best historical example of successful image marketing campaigns are the ones from Nike and Coca-Cola.
Nike's JustDoIt campaign employed striking visuals and inspirational stories to advertise the Nike brand and its merchandise. Nike leveraged the power of social media to showcase incredible feats by athletes and everyday people – and it was a success for the company.
Similarly, Coca-Cola's ShareACoke campaign urged customers to buy Coca-Cola drinks named after their friends. This Coca-Cola social media campaign was a major success as people were sharing photos with Coca-Cola bottles, using the hashtag #ShareACoke. It kept the brand relevant in social media and people were sharing their own photos instead of Coca-Cola spending their budget creating customized images.
On top of using social media for image marketing, businesses can also leverage other marketing channels to capitalize on the power of images in their marketing initiatives such as email marketing or YouTube ads. Businesses can also use email marketing, paid advertisements, and other marketing channels to leverage the power of images in their marketing efforts.
Moreover, with the new developments that will bring the metaverse and artificial intelligence, visual content will only gain more ground in the world – and incorporating these strategies will keep you relevant to your audience, and above all, competitive in your niche market to win over a larger audience.
Image marketing can do nothing but grow!
As the world becomes increasingly saturated with information, people's attention span is shrinking. With so much content readily available, it's becoming more difficult for high-quality content to stand out and grab people's attention.
However, great and customized mages are powerful tools for capturing people's attention and holding it. So, to keep viewers engaged, it's important to present them with visually compelling content quickly, before they lose interest and move on to something else.
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