Digital Marketing Makeover: Now’s the Time to Step Up Your Visual Marketing Game

When you look at the priorities for digital marketing for this year, it’s clear that visual elements and strategies dominate the list. Whether it’s videos, images, or various social media approaches, visual marketing is here to stay.

And if you want to be competitive in the present and future, then you need to step up your game and maximize the resources you have. Here are a few tips to help nudge you in the right direction:

1. Ditch the Stock Photos

Stock photography dominated the internet landscape in the early days, but is now a strategy of the past. Any website that uses stock photography as its primary means of visually engaging users is cheapening its value offering and suppressing the overall user experience. It’s time to get rid of these cold and impersonal images and replace them with unique, relevant visuals. Generally, this means going one of two routes:

• Creating your own visuals. The first approach involves actually creating your own visuals. You can do this by investing in a camera, taking your own images, and training your team to digitally transform these images into quality visuals that are worthy of being used in your marketing strategy. If this is a strategy you’re considering, make sure you spend time studying how to take attractive photos that are conducive to high conversions.
• Paying for professional visuals. Another option is to pay for professional visuals. The benefit of this approach is that you don’t have to waste your own time taking images and editing them. The downside is that most businesses can’t afford professional imagery 100 percent of the time.

In all likelihood, you’ll merge these approaches to create a highly personalized visual strategy that satisfies your demands and meets your needs. Whatever the case, it’s absolutely imperative that you stop using regurgitated stock images that lack personality.

2. Invest in a Video Strategy

Video is hugely important in the grand scheme of digital marketing. It’s no longer enough to simply have a YouTube channel where you occasionally post a quick clip. You need a full-fledged video strategy in order to be competitive.

Begin by developing your story. What message do you want to convey to your audience? Once you have an answer to this question, you can then adapt your story to different mediums–such as on-site video content, YouTube videos, social media, etc.–in order to reach various segments of your target audience.

The key to a successful video marketing strategy is to avoid “selling” and focus on “telling.” Salesy videos are no longer effective with most audiences. Today’s users are looking for natural content that meets them where they are.

3. Begin Leveraging Social Platforms

Over the past 24 months, the entire social media world has transformed. Specifically, social media as an industry has gravitated towards visual content. We’re not only seeing this in the content that’s being shared, but also in the new platforms that are finding success.

If you look at the social networking platforms that are most effective with the younger demographic, you’ll see that Snapchat, Instagram, Vine, and Periscope are leading the way. In other words, this is where you need to be investing your time and money. The key to being successful in social media in the coming years involves a heavy commitment to visual storytelling.

Putting It All Together

Moving forward, visual marketing is the name of the game. You can’t expect to be competitive unless you turn your attention towards video, high-quality imagery, and social media platforms that focus on the real-time delivery of highly personalized visuals. Heed the advice laid out in this article and you’ll be well on your way to being successful.