The importance of visual content in general is obvious as it represents about 93% of human communication. If you only have a few seconds to choose, I bet you’ll want the most visually appealing product. Similar to this, your ads only get a few seconds to grab someone’s attention. Visuals are an extraordinary way to make sure you’re not going unnoticed.
They work by commanding attention, stimulating curiosity, and establishing a brand or a product’s personality. But how exactly can visuals improve your advertising campaigns? Let’s take a look!
Visual content is easier to process and understand
We’re living in an era of big data. This means that everywhere we look, there’s something more to take in. But there’s only so much a brain can process, isn’t there?
Our eyes can register as many as 36,000 visual messages every hour. Incredible, isn’t it? Could you read 36,000 words per hour? That would be pretty outstanding, as the average is estimated to be around 250 words per second.
The bottom line here? Visuals communicate so much more and so much faster compared to text. Therefore, if you want to get the most out of your advertising campaigns, using visual content is a must.
Using your ad space at its fullest
Have you ever heard of the old Chinese saying:
“A picture is worth ten thousand words”
Visual content plays an essential part in our lives. When it comes to advertising, it is, first of all, a powerful way to draw someone’s attention. Videos and pictures tell a story a thousand times more efficiently than spoken or written words.
Moreover, they allow you to tell your story while using less ad space. Great advertising spots are limited and expensive. Pictures allow you to use your advertising real estate more efficiently. Furthermore, even if you’re using the same space, you can convey more by using visual content.
Increasing brand awareness
When it comes to increasing brand awareness and lead engagement, importance of visual content is vital. This is because they help potential buyers visualize your product or service in a more relatable way. Moreover, image ads help people build an affinity towards your brand faster.
Let’s think about it. Your current PPC bidding plan contains PPC campaigns that are targeted towards specific keywords so that your ad will appear in the right search queries. But how great would it be if people would start searching for your brand instead?
This is how it typically happens: you see a brand advertised multiple times but have no intention of making a purchase. Then, suddenly, something happens, and the need arises. You start your research swiftly, and the one thing that comes to your mind first is?
Precisely! The one brand you’ve heard about before! You decide to check it out.
This is how brand awareness works. However, to build it, you will need to invest in quality visual content because it manages to command attention. After all, people only remember about 10% of what they read, but up to 65% of what they see. The more visible you become, the better your recall rate for your brand.
Appealing to your audience
Visual content helps you strike the right chord with your dream audience as well. Let’s take a moment to think about how billboards target their preferred market segment.
Ads displayed in Beverly Hills will be quite different than those found in the suburbs, for sure. The first ones will look glamorous and luxurious, as they target high-income earners. The second would probably advertise commodities like cereal or yogurt instead.
PPC ads shouldn’t be too different. Whether you’re selling jewelry or offering dog-walking services, once you get to know your buyer persona, you will also be able to tell what they’d like to see.
Putting this information into images can help you send your message across in a clearer and more relatable way. In turn, this will bring more value to your brand and an increase in the number of conversions.
Easier targeting
Let me repeat this; pictures help you connect with your audience so that written messages can’t.
Visual content allows you to make use of something called psychological projection. Psychological identification is why in advertising men are attracted to pictures of men and women to those of women. For example, if a man sees an ad portraying a handsome fellow, he projects himself into that person’s shoes. The same goes for women.
Psychological projection is a powerful reason why advertising should feature visuals with a high attention value. It’s something that cannot be achieved through headers and text.
These pictures, combined with a strong sale story, will help you, as an advertiser, send the kind of message that will attract a significant number of leads and, ultimately, turn them into your customers.
Bottom Line
In today’s age, incorporating visual elements into your advertising campaign is essential. The benefits of using imagery are many.
Importance of visual content is clear because you can use it to: stimulate curiosity, command attention, demonstrate your product’s features or benefits, associate a specific product with a particular lifestyle and, why not, anchor your brand identity in the minds and memories of your target audience.
Once you get your visuals right, don’t forget about optimization. Stunning visuals are sure to improve your click-through rate; however, they still have to appear at the right moment in the right place to the right people.
