Now and again, you may have heard that using great visual content in marketing communications will help your business in several ways, from increasing your brand awareness to sales convers. We often see brands using social media influencers and brand ambassadors to reach relevant audiences on a large scale. We also often get bombarded with digital advertisements when we visit the internet. But, more traditional types of marketing, such as print media and e-newsletter still exist. So, the scope of marketing practices has really developed in the past years.
Different businesses use various creative marketing approaches, but you may not be sure if those would work for yours. Especially when your product / service involves a significant amount of cost and time or when it’s difficult to measure ROI. Some people ask “Can a certain model or influencer really increase my sales?” or “Why do my advertisements have small ROI?”. If these questions have popped up into your head, find your answers here. Brands have always used photos for their marketing campaigns. In this blog, we will focus on photos specifically, to provide a thorough explanation of how they could help increase your sales.
1. Multiple Perspectives
What do you think about Zalora and Shopee? Many of you might have described their website’s appearance when talking about these brands. The appearance of a website or social media plays a great role in the buyer’s judgment and decision making. This is because, for several types of business, customers are unable to touch the product. To create desire and trust, businesses need to show everything online. One way to do it is by using professional photos. Photos do not only attract customers by enhancing the beauty of the product, but also allow to show the product in multiple perspectives. See below an example of Zalora’s website where they showcase each product at different angles.
2. Show the Products in Use
Customers like to see how a certain product or service can be useful to their lives and as a solution to their problem. Whether your business is trying to deliver an idea to an individual through 1-to-1 communication or through mass media, professional photos always create a greater impression than texts. Especially when the digital environment is so competitive and you have only a few seconds to make your customers understand your message and remember it. When people recognize your effort to communicate about your product, they will perceive your business in a positive manner. See how Samsung does it.
3. Buy You Time
Have you ever looked at a painting in a museum or a billboard advertisement and it took you some time before you finished looking at it? People have a short attention span and professional photos that are large and attractive is a better solution for your marketing than low-quality and unattractive photos. Professional photos can make your customers stay longer on your website and social media which give you the time to convince them to make the buying decision. Shailen Mehta, founder & CEO of eJOHRI stated that how your website is presented impacts on whether customers would like to invest another couple of minutes on your website or move on.
Another way how professional photos buy you time is by creating customer retention. If you want your brand to be remembered by current and future customers, the most cost-efficient and effective strategy is to use professional photos. And your visual content needs to show up many times, not just three to five times, but up to 15 times and through multiple channels. According to Toma Kulbytė, customer retention is much cheaper than the acquisition of new customers. Current customers are also more likely to buy from you again if they had a positive experience the first time, and help your business to improve.
The pictures below are taken from Apple’s website. You will agree that even if you don’t intend to be a customer, you would want to stare at their photos and browse their website for some time.
4. Consistency
Customer’s buying decision does not happen instantly. It takes time for people to notice and become aware, to remember, and to talk about your brand. After that, people need to trust you before eventually deciding to buy. For the firsts step to happen, consistency is crucial because “it is the glue that helps people put you back into context” – Endeavor Creative. The brand consistency gradually nurtures trust and moves people deeper into the marketing funnel by using the same logo, brand color, design, and even the style and quality of the photos. Because the consistency of a brand has been embedded in people’s mind, your visual content will be recognized in no time. According to Lucid Press, brand consistency contributes to an average increase in revenue by 23% and color increases brand recognition by up to 80%.
FWD Insurance – one of Klaud9‘s clients – have communicated their brand identity and brand guidelines clearly because they know who they are and want people to keep recognizing them. At the same time, with social media, businesses are expected to share new content frequently. FWD realize that it is challenging to maintain consistency for their brand globally and on an on-going frequent basis. So, they used Klaud9‘s services and online platform as the solution for creating fast, consistent, on-brand content that is available globally. As an example, you can see how FWD Insurance uses their brand look and colors in all their professional photos.
5. Build Trust and Confidence
Nowadays, people decide what content they receive or block. According to Daniel Newman – CEO of Broadsuite Media Group, millennials hardly respond to advertisements but looking for information from trusted sources, such as families and friends. A study by Nora Ganim Barnes shows that as digital natives, millennials filter the information before making a buying decision. Brands need not only to be strong but also relatable and engaging, neither too promotional nor too passive. Often times, brands go the extra mile by creating not only professional photos with high-quality, but also show the natural and beautiful side of being humans.
Below are professional photos made by Klaud9 contributors for Cetaphil which showcase the product in use in the most natural way possible.
Visuals significantly influence your brand identity, brand image, reputation, and even overall sales. The lack of commitment to good marketing practices – e.g. the usage of professionally-shot photos – can result in disadvantages for your business. It is a learning curve for all businesses, but if you start now, your business will start benefiting sooner.
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