Small business owners, you need to be investing in visual content marketing!
Why? Because it’s more important than ever before.
Studies show that visual content is more likely to be shared and engaged with than any other type of content.
So, if you want your small business to succeed, you must start creating visually appealing content.
Don’t know where to start? No problem!
This blog post will teach you what you need to know about visual content marketing.
Keep reading for tips and tricks on creating eye-catching visuals that will help your business stand out from the competition.
Making the pivot
Content marketing strategies pivoted during the Covid-19 pandemic, placing additional pressure on businesses to reassess their strategy.
Research published by HubSpot within their Marketing Statistics Report for 2022 shows that 57% of marketers pivoted towards visual content marketing during this time.
In the UK, 73% of businesses pivoted to visual content marketing strategies because of the pandemic.
With a growing number of small businesses keen to continue leveraging visual content, it’s crucial to understand how to best use this approach to achieve your marketing goals.
Make it more engaging
Visual content marketing is essential because it makes your business more attractive, engaging, understandable, memorable and relatable.
We know that visual content gets more views than words alone. More eyeballs on your content mean you stand a better chance of getting in front of your target audience.
As a small business, you should be adding visuals to every piece of content marketing you produce.
But how? Here are some suggestions.
Get comfortable in front of the camera
To create visual content, you need to get comfortable appearing in photographs and on camera.
We know this can be daunting, as many of us have insecurities to overcome before presenting how we look to the wider world.
Here’s the secret; the only person who cares how you appear on camera is you.
Practising smiling for the camera or talking on video makes it easier to overcome any irrational fears about being the star of visual content.
Getting comfortable on camera might require being a little uncomfortable at first, but it does get easier.
Keep it brief
Your visual video content doesn’t need to be exceptionally long.
In fact, short-form video content is more popular than ever, with platforms including TikTok and Instagram promoting shorter video clips to their users.
While making long-form video content can be time-consuming and costly, it’s a piece of cake to chat to your smartphone for 30 or 60 seconds.
When starting your visual content marketing, don’t overthink factors such as production value – done is better than perfect!
Master Canva templates
Our favourite online tool for creating visual content is Canva.
Once you have created a series of templates in Canva, using your brand elements such as colours and typeface, it’s relatively simple to drop in updated text or images to make fresh content.
Another brilliant feature in Canva is ‘magic resize’, allowing you to quickly update your creations to the correct size for different social media platforms.
When using magic resize, you will need to do a bit of additional editing to make the design elements look perfect. Still, it’s a quick and easy way to resize your visual content for the various platforms.
Intersperse words with visuals
There’s still a role for words within your content marketing.
Short- and long-form blog posts are brilliant for search engine optimisation.
But it would help if you spice them up, making your posts more visually appealing.
You can incorporate visuals within your blogs in several ways, including pull quotes or pre-written tweets.
Adding a ClickToTweet box to your blog posts can create some additional visual interest. Share on XYou might even drop an infographic into a blog post, summarising your key points and any stats you reference.
Don’t neglect image quality
Some of the most popular visual content we’ve seen in recent years is anything but professional looking.
Slightly blurry photos taken on smartphones have a habit of going viral.
The message is more important than the megapixels.
But there’s no excuse for neglecting image quality when the opportunity affords a professional approach.
Ensure you invest in high-quality photography and videography for pre-planned visual content marketing.
Mix it up with more ‘authentic’, behind-the-scenes type visual content, but make professional images your cornerstone for a visual content marketing strategy.
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Now that you understand the importance of visual content marketing, it’s time to start incorporating visuals into your small business strategy.
This may seem daunting at first, but luckily, plenty of resources are available to help you get started.
The best way to learn is by doing, so try experimenting with different types of visuals and see what works best for your audience.
Keep in mind that visuals should complement your textual content – they should not simply duplicate what’s already been said.
Stay true to your brand voice and values while creating visually appealing content.
Are you ready to add some visual flair to your marketing? Let us know how we can help!
