The importance of using images in marketing

Thanks to the carefully selected visual aide preceding this opening paragraph, you should be in no doubt that I am pleased to have you back and raring to get on with this week’s topic; the importance of using images alongside your text in marketing communication.

First of all, I just want to clarify how easy it is to incorporate pictures into your text and share them with your readers, fans, followers and subscribers.  Adding my chosen image above was a feat made easy courtesy of the ‘Insert’ button but another quick and easy way to share pictures is with a simple copy and paste job.  And, thanks to some clever boffins, sharing pictures via social media has been made almost instantaneous with apps like Instagram which allow you to snap and share at the touch of a button.  By sending your photos to social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter you are encouraging your friends and followers to engage with you via a simple comment, like or share.  The more interesting and engaging the photo the more it encourages interaction…easy!

Now, back to the main point in hand,  an image can tell a thousand words (Cliché, I know) and has the ability to draw a reader in.  However, images can also be open to interpretation and that is why combining them with your text is such a good idea.

Sometimes visual messages are much stronger and more alluring than words alone, especially in specific industries. Think of the fashion and food industries, you rarely buy a pair of jeans purely based on the claim they take inches off, you want proof.  And when considering consumables an inviting, colourful and evocative picture is going to create desire far better than a simple description. Pictures grab you and the words back up your message.

Pictures are also a useful tool for making something memorable and noticeable.  The brain is able to accept and process images far quicker than it can text making pictures extremely valuable in a marketer’s fight to get their message across in mere seconds.  It is proven that including images in articles, press releases and advertisements is going to get them more views and the same can be said for online stores, images can mean more than descriptions, USPs and reviews.

Images are universal in language.  Think of a smile, it can convey a multitude of messages when you are struggling for words or to be understood.  The same can be said for generic images which can be applied to many industries.

Images make great content for SEO

And lastly and probably the most technical point of the day, images make for great SEO content…search engines love content and correctly tagged images make up valuable content and can also come in pretty handy when people are using online search engines like Google to find you.

And now that I have dealt with both images and copy, next week I will talk about how to combine both in the form of a presentation…you have a week to mentally prepare yourself!

Picture This – Gaining Interest through images

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