A lot of marketing graphics and visuals used in modern ads and social media can look… well… blah. They’re out of date and about as interesting as a wet noodle. Here’s a rule of thumb: If your graphics are older than Justin Bieber, they need to go. In 2023, producing quality visuals for your brand is absolutely essential.
Marketing visuals like sketches, flowcharts, diagrams, and maps are critical tools when it comes to impressing your clients or customers. Top-notch visual aids can not only enhance your brand perception but also make it easier for viewers to understand your offerings and brand and keep them engaged.
How? Keep reading! This article will walk through six key ways that impressive marketing visuals can turn your content from zero to hero – making it practical, powerful, and productive and a traffic machine for your company.
1. Increases Engagement
You might be thinking this is an obvious point – and you’re right! Relevant visuals improve viewers’ understanding of, engagement with, and retention of information. So why are some companies still using charts made on Microsoft Word?
We’re not making this up – there are plenty of stats behind the principle that good visuals are a game changer. For instance, after people consume any information, they can generally recall only 10% of that information three days later. But if the same information is accompanied by a relevant image or visual aid, people can retain around 65% of it.
The value of proper graphics skyrockets when we start talking about the visual representation of directions and processes. People following directions that include both text and illustrations perform tasks 323% better than those following directions that are solely text-based.
In a nutshell, adding engaging marketing visuals to your projects makes them stronger overall. Don’t waste your time presenting solely text-based information that people are going to forget anyway – make your marketing materials stand out. Be the brand people can’t stop talking about, not the one they can’t even remember the name of.
2. Improves Your SEO
Everyone knows about SEO (search engine optimization). In simple terms, it’s optimizing for search algorithms like Google’s in order to get your content listed higher on the results pages. How often do you click past the first page of Google search results? Not often.
Including eye-catching marketing visuals in your content is essential to ranking higher in Google’s (or any other search engine’s) results. Plus, great images or charts can be reused and linked to by other creators, influencers, or businesses – attracting even more traffic to your pages.
Every day, images and visual content of all shapes and sizes are dumped into Google. Businesses and marketers have a unique opportunity to harness the power of search engines for their own benefit. You can use SEO to your advantage by including useful branded images that help elevate your rankings and visibility.
3. Retains Page Views
So you can get someone to your page… but can you keep them there?
Visuals are an essential piece of capturing readers’ attention and keeping it. Think back to the last time you clicked on a text-heavy website. You might not even be able to remember a time unless you got there by accident. If users end up looking at a wall of text, the back button is often the next click. Nobody has time to read an essay.
Humans process images 60,000 times faster than we can process words, so when people are faced with text on text on text, they can get easily overwhelmed. Breaking up content with visuals for every scroll keeps readers engaged and increases the likelihood of them staying on your site.
4. Turns Time Into Money
This goes hand in hand with the previous point – the longer someone stays on your page, the more likely they are to contact you, make a purchase, or otherwise follow through on your call to action. And that’s where the money is and the real value of optimized visuals and content.
The better the quality of your visual assets (ie., the more aesthetically pleasing, informative, and relevant it is), the longer users will stay on your page, which translates to higher conversions.
Size doesn’t matter, when it comes to images, anyway. One image isn’t enough to do the job; all of your images need to be high-quality and take up space on the page so that they are noticeable. Maximizing your image quantity and quality is the path toward getting your readers to slow down and really take in your content.
Bonus points if you can make your images highly informative too – if you can convey your message through a visual flowchart rather than a novel-length block of text, you’re much more likely to retain your reader’s interest and sell them on your product or service.
5. Builds Your Brand Recognition
A key benefit of effective and relevant visuals is their effect on branding. You’ll want the look of your images to match the look and feel of your brand and stand out from the sea of other content. If you’re using a tool like SketchWow to build unique, engaging visuals, you’ll have the option to cater them to your specific needs.
Keeping all of your marketing visuals in line with your brand’s messaging is a crucial part of building brand recognition. Online design software can make it easy to keep on top of and consistent with your brand standards and integrate them into your marketing visuals.
When customers begin to recognize your branding, it builds trust, and you gain authority in your industry. Once you’ve built trust and consumers believe you provide a reputable and high-quality product or service, they’ll be more likely to make the decision to buy.
6. Boosts Conversion Rates
Conversion rates: the difficult but most desired outcome from marketing. Let’s say potential customers are on your website, and they’re staying on, but they aren’t making purchases. Are you able to convert these pageviews into dollars?
Integrating marketing visuals into your site, especially near your call to action (CTA), can have a significant impact on conversion rates. Well-created imagery throughout your site and funnels can have an effect on your customers taking the plunge.
Revamp Your Marketing Visuals Now
If you want to level up your marketing visuals, consider using premier creative software like SketchWow. With SketchWow, you’ll be able to bring your visuals into the twenty-first century, and add personality and brand-specificity to all of your visual assets.
No more boring presentations, dry flowcharts, or unappealing graphs that put you and your customers to sleep. An investment in marketing, and specifically the assets that you use to market, is an investment that will always pay off. Your wallet – and your customers – will thank you.
Check out our product page to learn more about what SketchWow can do for you!
