With the rise of social media and the decline of basic text messaging, images are more important than ever. Consumers now have the ability to share images of products and advertising campaigns through their phones, desktops, and even their fridge or bathroom mirrors. This blog post will explore how images can help online marketers grow their businesses.

Images Help Increase Brand Awareness

If you’re unfamiliar, brand awareness is the degree to which a consumer knows, understands, and can associate with a brand or product. It is different from brand loyalty, which is a commitment to a particular brand or product that a consumer feels strongly about. To improve brand awareness, you can use several methods, one of which is through imagery. Let’s take a look at how.

In one experiment, researchers from the University of Texas at Austin found that visual media, such as photos and infographics, increased the knowledge of participants by 24% and that verbal media, such as articles and podcasts, only led to a 4% increase in knowledge. This means that visuals can actually improve your understanding of a product or service, which is great for branding and marketing purposes.

When used effectively, images can be a powerful vehicle for communicating ideas, theories, concepts, and so on. This is why businesses will often times use images in combination with text when creating materials for customers.

Why should you care about brand awareness? Consider this, according to HubSpot Blogs research:

• 55% of consumers strongly associate brands with relevant images
• 71% of consumers believe that a business’ physical presence in the real world is just as relevant (if not more relevant) than its online presence
• 43% of consumers believe that a business’ online and offline presence work in tandem to form a complete identity
• 62% of consumers believe that a business’ social media activity is an important factor in establishing its identity
• 36% of consumers have a clearer idea of a business’ value proposition based on images alone
• 55% of consumers would rather read about an organisation’s history than get to know it through words alone
• 68% of consumers feel that a brand’s culture is something that they experience rather than learn about
• 36% of consumers believe that a brand’s mission statement is something that they learn about through marketing materials
• 50% of consumers think that a business has to have a sense of humour in order to be taken seriously

Images Make Products More Desirable

It’s well known that consumers want what they can’t have. In one study, researchers found that people are three times more likely to buy a product that they’ve seen in a commercial or in a tabloid story. This is why product images are so vital. They can make or break a brand or product’s popularity based on existing customers’ word of mouth, social media shares, and so on.

If you’re creating a catalogue of products for sale, you have several options for how to present them. You can use a static image for each item, perhaps with a simple text description below (for items that are just a few inches high).

However, if your products are a little larger than that, you might want to think about using a photo-realistic rendering (think of a high-quality painting, but on a smaller scale) to give the customer a better sense of what they’re buying.

Why should you care about the way your products are presented? Let’s consider this, according to HubSpot Blogs research:

• 55% of consumers feel that a business’ online presence is an important part of their purchase journey
• 71% of consumers strongly believe that a business’ physical presence in the real world is as relevant (if not more relevant) than its online presence
• 64% of consumers say that they use a business’ social media activity to get an idea of its culture
• 50% of consumers feel that the mission statement of an organisation is something that they learn about through marketing materials
• 38% of consumers think that a company’s culture is an important element in establishing its identity
• 43% of consumers prefer to learn about a brand’s culture through marketing materials rather than through the words of a salesperson
• 36% of consumers believe that a business has to be professional and take itself seriously if it wants to be taken seriously
• 36% of consumers think that a business has to be responsible to be taken seriously
• 36% of consumers feel that a sense of humour is important for a business to be taken seriously
• 50% of consumers feel that a company’s pricing structure is an important part of their purchasing decision
• 57% of consumers believe that a company’s culture is something that they experience rather than learn about
• 34% of consumers feel that a company’s customers are an important part of its culture
• 38% of consumers feel that a brand’s mission statement is something that they learn about through marketing materials
• 43% of consumers prefer to learn about a brand’s history through marketing materials rather than through the words of a salesperson
• 36% of consumers think that a business has to be reliable and consistent to be taken seriously

Images Help Customers Make Purchasing Decisions

Images can help customers make purchasing decisions. In the above experiment, the researchers found that consumers were able to identify the category of product (air freshener, humidifier, or deodoriser) based on image alone. This makes sense, because images can show a product in all its glory, and therefore reveal everything a customer needs to know about it. This is why many businesses will often times use images in promotional materials and on their websites.

The great thing about using images for marketing and sales purposes is that it’s usually pretty easy to replicate. The only real expense will be the time it takes to find high-quality photographs for each product or service. But if you can find the time, it’s usually not difficult to find the money to pay for these photographs.

Use Stories To Engage With Customers

One of the problems with text-based content is that it’s often difficult to keep a customer’s attention while they’re reading. After all, it’s difficult to focus on a single piece of text for very long. This is why most businesses resort to using images or illustrations to engage with customers and keep their attention.

Consider using stories to tell your business’ history. These are simply sentences that are arranged in a narrative style. They are short, sweet, and easy to consume. Your customers can more easily keep their attention while reading stories than they can while reading blocks of text.

Use Online Videos To Better Explain Complex Concepts

With traditional text-based content, there’s always the chance that some of your readers will have questions after you’ve gone through an entire article. When this happens, it can sometimes be difficult to explain complex ideas in a simple manner. This is why many businesses resort to using videos to better explain these complex ideas.

In a world full of ever-changing technology, it can be difficult to find the exact right words to perfectly explain your business’ products or services. Videos allow for a much better explanation of complex ideas because they can depict everything clearly and concisely. Plus, online videos are usually pretty easy to find and can be shared quickly and easily.

Use Online Videos To Demonstrate The Product Or Service

It’s always nice when a company can use their websites and social media to demonstrate the product or service in a clear and concise manner. But sometimes, this is easier said than done. Sometimes, you just need a quick video to explain what a product or service is and how it works.

If you’re not a professional videographer, you can easily record yourself using a phone or computer webcam to explain products and services. Just keep in mind that these videos will only serve to educate your customers, not to sell them anything.