The Importance of Imagery in Marketing

Throughout 2021 we have seen an increase in the popularity and use of video content in marketing, no wonder with “93% of marketers who use video say that it’s an important part of their marketing strategy — an increase from 92% in 2020, making this the highest percentage of any year since 2015.” (HubSpot, 2021)

With that being said imagery still plays an important role today in marketing. Take a look back at your recent online purchases and imagery would have played a role, during your decision-making process.

Photo by Kaboompics .com from Pexels

We are visual people

We have all heard the age-old saying a picture is worth a thousand words, and we tend to respond better to a form of communication with visual elements. This is especially true in the age of social media, where using the right image, can catch a user’s attention, in an otherwise endless sea of content.

“We are incredible at remembering pictures. Hear a piece of information, and three days later you’ll remember 10% of it. Add a picture and you’ll remember 65%.” (Brain Rules)

Stock Images

Now I will confess, and it might seem overly obvious by now, that within my personal work and writing I do use stock images. For businesses and especially larger brands, I would recommend staying clear of stock images, or at least only using them on rare occasions and using images that link to the overall style of your brand.

Within my marketing career, I have found that using your own imagery, has had a far greater impact than either using no imagery at all or using stock imagery.

If you have not already, start by focusing on building up an image bank, that has a consistent look and feel for your brand. Not sure what the visual identity or look and feel or your imagery should be? Experiment, get a range of different image styles and try to pinpoint what works more naturally alongside your brand.

If you are on a limited budget there are plenty of aspiring photographers out there who would be more than willing to help you get a range of imagery, from office shots to product imagery.

Photo by cody lannom on Unsplash

However, don’t feel guilty for using stock images, as it can help you understand the style and feel of imagery that better matches your brand.

Getting the most out of your imagery

Here are a few quick tips to get the best out of the imagery you are using alongside your marketing material and content.

1. Ensure images are relevant. For example, if you are a business with family values, ensure the imagery you are using reflects that.
2. Balance your imagery and content. Take Amazon’s product page as an example, the imagery is balanced alongside the copy, providing you with a visual of the product as well as more detailed information as well as written reviews from other buyers.
3. Compress your imagery for web use. Although 1MB does not seem large for an image file size, once you start to add more and more imagery onto your website, it adds up, and ultimately slows down your website, and affects a user’s experience. Use tools like TinyPNG, to compress down your images for web use.
4. Be consistent. Pick a style and feel for the imagery you will be using across your marketing, to keep it consistent across multiple channels. When you see an advertisement with an image from Apple, you can tell it is from Apple.
5. Be honest. More of a general point, but still important across any marketing activity, if your imagery is not showcasing your products or services in a truthful and honest light, and depicting how it is, then you will damage your brand and lose trust with your customers. Imagine coming across a car you liked online, from the pictures it looks great and it is even in green (your favourite colour), you buy it, then when it arrives, not only is it not green but it is covered in dents and scratches. You wouldn’t be happy, would you?

“LinkedIn posts with images get 2x higher engagement” (Hootsuite, 2021)

In summary

Imagery in 2021, still plays an important part within marketing and remains an effective method to help promote and raise awareness around your brand and products.

I would be interested to know what has been the most impactful and effective use of imagery you have seen in a recent marketing campaign?