Exploit the Power of Visuals in Your Digital Marketing
If you subscribe to any digital marketing blogs, you’re bound to see a handful of articles each week on the importance of video.
Without a doubt, video is becoming the “language of choice” to communicate a wide range of messages today. It’s so versatile it can simply tell a story, deliver important “how-to” details, or merely entertain.
But let’s not get tunnel vision. Let’s consider why video is so powerful and then look at our entire website and digital marketing efforts and see how the answer to that question should influence our plans.
Video is important because visuals deliver a powerful impact. If you read a history book, you’ll discover that one reason much of the American public turned against the War in Vietnam was because they were being exposed to visuals from the war every night during the evening news. It was the first war that had that kind of immediate visual impact.
Using Visual Elements in Digital Marketing
The takeaway I want you to get today is that you need to consider all the visual elements of your website and digital marketing program. While video is important, you can go to far and ignore the rest of your online visual elements. Among these are:
- Logo,
- Color palette,
- Use of static images,
- Newsletter design, and others.
You need to have a unified approach to organizing and leveraging all of these visual elements because they will help you establish your brand. For example, here’s a simple search feature from an e-commerce site. Can you tell which site it’s from, merely by the color palette?
If you answered Amazon, give yourself 10 points. The golden yellow color Amazon uses helps consumers identify the brand. Do you have a color palette that you’ve committed to for the long haul? The answer to this question will have a big impact on your logo and the overall design of your website and all the marketing materials you produce.
Your Logo: Get it Right the First Time
This also shines a light on how important it is to get your logo right the first time. While some companies never do a complete redesign, they’re well known for tweaking their logos occasionally. New designs are either small changes or new designs that blatantly reference the older designs. In other words, you need to start out with a logo and colors that you’re willing to live with for the life of your company.
We also mentioned static images in the short list of visual elements above. There are dozens of ways you will use static images on your website and in your digital marketing materials. Keeping with the theme of this article that visuals deliver a powerful impact, you must be very thoughtful with the images you use.
You need to be guided by the purpose of the images you use. For example, an online business selling children’s clothing will use images completely differently than an industrial safety consultant. In the case of the clothing seller, investing in top quality photography for product pages is the highest priority. However, the consultant may be able to use good stock photography in some cases, although the consultant will want to hire an excellent portrait photographer for headshots, etc.
Multiple Uses for Visual Elements
Also, remember that many of the visuals you create for your website will also be used in other materials, such as your newsletter or even in print pieces. Be sure that their quality is high enough to warrant all of the add-on uses. This will help you justify paying a bit more for the best quality art design, photography, and graphics.
Finally, always take a holistic approach to the visual aspects of your website. Consider how all of these visual elements come together to create a design that will be associated with your brand. Perhaps even define it. Remember that an important part of this holistic approach is to keep your future in mind. How can your visuals be refreshed over time in ways that maintain your brand identity but still look modern and relevant to new users?