An increasingly important part of affiliate marketing is creating compelling visual content that converts users into buyers. We are a community of visual learners, and the most straightforward way to get your marketing point across is to do it with the power of visual content. As the saying goes, “A picture paints a thousand words”, and similarly, visual entertainment gives the constant lesson of “Show, don’t tell”, in order to capture the attention of an audience.
This is because, like any word, there are connotations to every visual aspect of graphics, symbols, colours, composition, etc., having meaning. We explain below how you can make your marketing point using the power of visual content:
Types of Visual Content
Product photos: Showcase products with high-quality images. Allow viewers to see details that inspire them to purchase and use the visuals of the graphic, be it photo trickery or graphics, to point out the selling points. According to Social Insider, Facebook posts with photos receive up to 2.3x more overall engagement than text-only posts.
Infographics: The power of visual content is in the fact that you can do a lot with it: display statistics, comparisons, and timelines using images, charts, and graphs. This allows you to simplify complex data in an easily digestible way.
Videos: Demonstrate products, provide tutorials, and create testimonials. Video content builds trust and credibility due to the ability to see the products and services in action. According to Animoto, 60% of consumers say they’re more likely to consider buying a product or service if they see video content about it on social media.
Symbolism in marketing
Of course, every project starts with a “why”. Define who your target demographic is and what you want them to gain from your marketing campaign and start thinking about the visual hallmarks of them. Pull out the concepts and decide what colour they evoke in the mind.
However, it’s important to then inject some creativity for your visuals to stand out. Have you noticed that a majority of your phone apps are blue? That’s because blue evokes technology and stability. The obvious answer to a “green” product is to colour it green in the marketing. But in a market already saturated with “green products”, that is simply going to get lost.
Quality over quantity
Additionally, people are going to judge the quality of your visuals. Whether it’s a photo, an infographic or a video, the production quality matters, your viewers might not know what is making them say “This looks amateurish” but they will know it when they see it. It’s important to take care to make your visual marketing products look professional, as customers may assume that the quality of your graphics reflects the quality of your products and services.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that in today’s digital world where the tools for creating graphics are more accessible than ever, it’s easier than ever before to create professional-looking quality visuals.
Conclusion
Visuals might not be the be-all and end-all of a lot of things in life, but in marketing at least, they are an important thing to the customer. We might still like what a brand stands for or what a product is trying to create a solution for, but in the social media and affiliate marketing landscape, there isn’t a lot of room for words, making the right visuals crucial.
