Visual Marketing, 1 Simple Rule to Unlock Amazing Results
In my journey to become a good marketer, I study a lot (and I mean a lot) of marketing design. Visual marketing is one of the most important parts of marketing that I’ve learned so far. When I first learned about visual marketing, I thought “pictures, video, social, got it” but surprisingly, it’s not that simple. I recently read a book that got me thinking about visual marketing a little differently. The book is not profound in any way, reading it won’t turn you into a marketing genius but, I’ll get to that in a minute.
The thing is, I’m always looking for the marketing content that makes me sit up and pay attention. I know I said the “ME” word. I’m also smart enough to know that it’s not about me, it’s about the buyer. That was marketing 101 in one sentence, your welcome. I always start with myself because I’m a buyer of things just like everyone else.
If I want a sincere answer as to why I buy stuff, it’s coming from me. That said, I’m also looking for the things that the world is attracted to via social engagement, top videos, and trends or whatever else I can find, analyze and adapt to my market. Marketing 102, right there.
“Why does one thing work well and, another flop?” Honestly, I don’t know how to answer this eternal marketing question.
I do know that visuals make the most impact on us mortals. You can tell stories with visuals, create an idea, explain a concept, make people laugh, or cry. We can do it all with visuals. From silent movies to billboards, visuals have an emotional impact.
Visual Marketing, Not so Defined
Visual marketing is tough to define, at least for me it is. I’m not alone though. Visual marketing is a complicated topic for a lot of marketers and entrepreneurs. Maybe it’s because we tend to over think marketing in general. After all, if we don’t do it right, it can break the bank. Going broke before your business takes off is a big pill to swallow.
Rather than give you a definition of yet another form of marketing I invite you to read a book. This book is not a 2000 page textbook about theory and principles of marketing. This book is all about inspiration. It has been designed to get you to think about visual marketing and the enormous potential using visuals has in putting your brand on the map.
Every one of the 99 examples in this book is thought-provoking. Some of them are as simple as changing your “about me” image. Seriously, it can be that easy.
Visual Marketing: 99 Proven Ways for Small Businesses to Market with Images and Design.
That’s the book. I told you it wasn’t profound. Still, flipping through the ideas in this book got me thinking about what visual marketing is at a deeper level.
How do you define something so intangible? How do you determine the symbols that will bring your tribe together?
I thought I would use this post to take you on a trip with me to figuring out what visuals make your audience tick. I’m not going to share my great insight into visual marketing because I’m not a marketing expert. Instead, I want you to think with me.
What visual cues bring your people together?
When your tribe raise their hands and say, “I want to be a part of that,” what compels them toward your business?
Visual Marketing Defined
Okay now that I’ve admitted how confusing and philosophical I find this particular form of marketing, let me attempt to give you a textbook definition for it.
Visual marketing is everything we communicate to our customers without using words. When it comes down to it, visual marketing is a way to connect people to your brand through emotions. Rather than studying demographics about age, gender and race, visual marketers study things like desires, interests and our perspective on ourselves.
With content marketing, we create blog posts to cater to a specific type of person with specific interests and demographics. Through our visuals, we create an emotional connection.
Learning What Triggers Your Audience
Visual marketing goes further than the basic definition I just gave you. You’re not using words alone but rather visual cues.
Let me give you an example from my own business. Excuse the indulgence, but I figured since you’re reading this, this section is about you, and you’ll love knowing what I think of you, marketing 101 again.
Who I think my readers are, that’s you;-)
At the time I’m writing this, my business is very new. I’ll be honest. I’m still working out who my audience is. Getting to know your audience isn’t something that works itself out overnight. If your business is new, don’t be too hard on yourself if you’re unsure.
With that said, I feel like the people who read my blog and buy my designs love expressing their femininity without letting go of their power. Yes, strong, independent lovers of glitter. I’m not talking gender here. I’m talking about people who love pink and shimmer but also focus on their bottom line. Business minded, feminine, and focused. That’s why I use a lot of pinks and strong feminine touches in my design.
How Would You Define Your Audiences Drivers?
Drivers are the things that inspire emotion from your audience. The things that motivate them and “drive” them to action.
It’s a little embarrassing to admit now, but I may as well be brutally honest with you. I spent most of my career in a high-level job in a male-dominated field. If you read my about page then you probably already knew that part. I also loved the pink day planners and feminine style, but I didn’t want to run the risk of not being taken seriously. Yup, I played that game for almost two decades. I hid that fun and feminine side of myself for a long time.
My people, the people that read my blog, are just like me. They don’t want to pretend to think and act like a man so the boys club will take them seriously. My people don’t want to pretend to be anything other than who they are. They love pink, sparkle and even some flowers once in a while and still take care of business. My people want to be a Boss. My tribe is not willing to hide who they are to make their mark on the world.
Elements of Visual Marketing
Branding
Visual marketing stems far beyond demographics like age, gender, and ethnicity using things like logos, colors, fonts and all of the things that we typically think of as branding. These visual cues like the sign over our shop door, the uniforms that your employees wear, brochures, business cards and even the way our websites look are all part of visual marketing.
Here are a few examples you probably already know but maybe not.
- Logo
- Business card, Brochures, Stationary
- Website design
- Social Media Design
- Color, typography, texture & Pattern
The first time I heard visual marketing explained to me I automatically tied it in with branding. Branding is what makes the most sense, your logo, your business card, your website. All of these are visual symbols of your business but, branding is only one part of visual marketing. Branding conveys a message about who you are, but it does not completely convey the ideals of your customers.
How Visual Marketing Can Help Your Brand
Marketing, in general, can help your business grow and gain exposure. Visual marketing, in particular, is something that helps your business grow and also enhances and provides support for your businesses branding as well.
Okay, so visuals are compelling, how do I use it to sell my stuff?
Symbolism and Emotional Connection
Beyond branding, visual marketing emphasizes the cues used to get people to raise their hand to say yes this is me. I belong to this group. Branding alone won’t make this happen.
Visual marketing is a form of advertising that uses visual cues and emotional reaction to invoke action.
According to many marketing professionals, visual marketing is the use of objects and symbols in advertising to communicate a message. To me, this means using symbolism and visual communication to tell stories as well.
Tools To Create Clear Visual Marketing
A designer begins to tell a story through a mood board. A marketing agency uses storyboards. The pros use these tools to get clear on the emotion they want to project to the end user.
Story and symbolism are more than just merchandising or an ad campaign with a pretty model holding your product.
Visual symbolism and objects that represent something meaningful to groups of people. At the risk of sounding prophetic, I would say that visual marketing plays on our very nature as humans to belong. When we belong, we feel connected to the brand that brought us the feeling of belonging and to others that also relate to the brand. That’s magic!
According to this genius Facebook marketer, the visual cues and symbols you use on your Facebook page are your audiences “bumper sticker.”
Examples of Visual Marketing Done Right
Apple Classic Macintosh Ad
My favorite example of visual marketing at its best is the infamous 1984 Apple commercial that played during the Super Bowl. This marketing campaign created amazing unity among the people that use Apple products, and you never see an Apple product!
This message was about rebellion. Most importantly, it got people to raise their hand and say, “This is me!”
“This is the type of person that I want to be and, that type of person owns a Macintosh.”
Arby’s
Someone at Arby’s figured this one out, check out their Facebook page or Twitter feed, and you’ll know they cater to gamers and Anime diehards. They do it using visual cues that speak to that audience. I’m not a gamer but my nephew used my computer over the summer, and I started seeing tons of advertisements explicitly catered to Anime lovers and gamers. Arby’s was one of the most impressive examples of visual marketing that uses visuals in this way that I’ve seen in a long time.
Why Is Visual Marketing So Important?
- Every part of visual marketing is purposeful in creating community among those people in which it creates an emotional connection.
- An emotional connection to your ideal customer will enhance the memory of your brand and help people to identify with you, remember you and hopefully at some point, buy from you.
- You know the adage that a picture is worth 1000 words? Stories are like a magnet. Stories draw us in. It’s human nature regardless of age, gender or culture. A story creates a connection. We love movies and books because of the stories they tell. Visual marketing combines pictures and stories with symbolism, a triple threat! Whether a simple mark, color or typography all of this comes together to enhance your story and to create something tangible from emotion via images.
The One Simple Rule
I took you through all of this to give you one simple rule for creating amazing results with your visual marketing. The rule is never to lose touch with your audience’s emotions. Find out and use your audiences drivers to get them to connect with you. Simple, but not easy. Understanding what drives your audience will take some time to discover, and it may change over time, but the results are worth it.
Next Steps
I hope you enjoyed my take on visual marketing and you got an idea of how you could use visual marketing to connect with your audience.
Come back next week where I will break down different forms of visual marketing and give you some ideas on how to use it in your business. I have tons of inspiration coming your way!
Have you had successes with visual marketing? I’d love to hear about it. Share in the comments below or on our Facebook page. As always, make sure to sign up for the PrettyWebz newsletter to get a monthly update on everything we’re discussing here on the blog, special promotions and to get direct links for the current month’s free graphics and other resources in your mailbox every single month. You can sign up in the footer of this page!
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