5 Benefits Of Using Photos In Marketing

In today’s digitized society, no business can thrive without digital marketing. However, marketing is more than just metrics and numbers. It’s a strategy to convey feelings that resonate with your audience. And at the core of good marketing lies visuals. After all, there isn’t a more powerful way to convey feelings and emotions than using the right visuals.

Furthermore, marketing and visuals go a long way back. Throughout history, people have used pictures to convey stories, spread propaganda, or sell products. After all, Pictures convey a lot more than words ever can. The subtle emotions expressed by pictures make communicating abstract and complex ideas much easier. Not to mention, images, especially when used correctly, can leave lasting impressions on your audience.

With the rise of social media, the visual aspect of marketing is even more important. Today, we’ll share five benefits of marketing using strong visuals for businesses. If you’re interested in learning more, continue scrolling.

1. They leave lasting impressions

Simple as it may seem, humans have an innate fascination with visuals. The human brain is designed to process information visually; 90% of all information our brain perceives is visual. After all, Eyesight does take up 50% of our brain’s processing resources.

Moreover, content that includes graphics constantly receives more clicks while searching through countless results. A study revealed that content with high-quality images receives over 94% more clicks/views than content without images. When your online content doesn’t include images, it’s more likely to be overlooked. Given all of this, it’s easy to see why visual elements are more likely to leave a lasting impression on your audience.

Plus, adding visuals to your marketing has never been easier. You can easily find the perfect picture for your marketing using licensed stock photos or custom-create one that fits your marketing strategy down to the last detail. Not to mention, cell phone cameras nowadays don’t fall short of professional cameras. With filters and handy photo-editing apps, you can easily create a perfect picture that attracts your audience. So, what’s stopping you from using images in your marketing strategy?

2. Pictures speak louder than words

Humans aren’t merely receptive to visual stimuli; we’re also naturally gifted interpreters of visual content. Amazingly, humans can grasp the essence of a visual element in a fraction of a second – which is considerably faster than the time it would take to grasp the meaning behind a block of text.

Our eyes are so naturally adept at visual processing information that we often prefer visualized rather than boring blocks of text. So when advertising your business online, it’s important to include images that give readers a better understanding of your business offerings and help them resonate with your brand.

Furthermore, search engines highly value images and prioritize content with eye-catching visuals. It pays off to be selective about the photos you use in marketing since people are more likely to form an impression of your product based on the subtleties of the picture attached. A good image can cover subpar content but not vice versa.

3. Pictures can spark feelings

A powerful image can spark emotions inside your audience by stimulating their feelings. Feelings evoked by visually-stimulating content are much more immediate and intense than reading a descriptive text. And stronger emotions lead to a stronger connection to the content that sparked those feelings.

When choosing images for your marketing, instead of “nice-looking” ones, go for images that evoke feelings that capture the essence of what you’re trying to convey. While a striking backdrop may pique one’s interest, adding a caring family may make it rather touching. Furthermore, Your audience won’t respond positively to an image that doesn’t seem to belong on your website. No matter how well it represents the message you’re trying to convey, it won’t bring in the results you expect if it doesn’t fit well with the rest of your brand image.

When combined with your online content, stunning visuals that capture universal human experiences like love, belonging, and independence can help your audience feel a deeper bond with your brand.

4. Pictures are attention-magnets

If you’ve noticed, all popular social platforms, from Pinterest to Instagram, revolve around visuals. Ever wondered why? The answer is simple; humans love visuals. Just like the inherent love for all pretty things, humans also love a good visual treat.

Finding the type of visual content that works best for your brand will allow you to reach out, connect and resonate with a better part of your target demographic. More than two-thirds of people learn better visually, so you can effectively appeal to a larger audience with the right images.

Moreover, the attention-grabbing aspect of visual elements also leads to a lasting impression, making your brand more memorable for your audience. Your audience will be able to associate the content you post online with your brand identity due to the eye-catching nature of the images you use.

5. They bring in skyrocketing engagement

As already discussed, pictures capture our attention, evoke strong feelings and leave a lasting impression. But they also lead to more engagement on your social channels. Expert marketers already know that pictures boost click-through rates as there is a direct correlation between the number of shares and the presence of images in a marketing strategy. A study reveals that online content supplemented by eye-catching visuals is 40% more shareable than content without visual elements.

We perceive the world around us through our vision. It also plays a pivotal role in decision-making as visuals around us influence our decisions regarding our next actions. Also, the visual cortex is where decision-making takes place; as soon as online users view your content, they are already planning their next move, whether liking, commenting, sharing, or subscribing to your content.

Bottom Line

Images may speak to us on a deeper level than words can, helping us to decipher hidden meanings. Like in food commercials, visuals play a pivotal role in setting audience expectations. Visuals also help narrate a story as illustrations do in a picture book. Visuals in any form instantly attract the attention of any audience.

If you go back to the beginning of the Internet, you’ll see that text predominated over visuals. However, over time businesses discovered that content with visuals brought in better results. Furthermore, the explanations of even the most basic infographics may easily balloon to two thousand words, but the textual description won’t make it any interesting. In essence, pictures in marketing can do everything text can, but better.