Without a doubt images are a very powerful marketing tool, particularly when using social media. A picture paints a thousand words, as they say. It can also convey emotions powerfully. And emotion is what makes something compelling and shareable.
But there's a trap you can fall into when using visual marketing. And that is to think that it has to be slick and well produced for it to be effective. I know that some people resist getting into YouTube marketing, for example, because they think they have to have a professionally made video with an original soundtrack and heaps of natty effects before they can start. Obviously it's nice if you can have this sort of content. But it's not absolutely vital. Even something basic shot on a hand held camera will be fine as long as it's useful and compelling.
This is because generally speaking in the mind of the user relevance beats appearance. They're usually looking for quick, useful, and entertaining nuggets of content. If it's a bit ragged and messy that's okay. Aesthetic appeal tends not to be the most important thing to them.
Sometimes they're looking more for authenticity anyway, so being borderline amateurish might actually be a bonus. I've seen this in my YouTube video stats. If I added content that people were interested in at a particular time -- during the Festival of Perth for example -- it would get a lot of views and several shares even though it was very basic. Now I know I wasn't actually selling a product with those videos. But the principle still holds. And it can be applied to video marketing of products and services.
I'm not saying that you should upload crap that's badly shot and threadbare. I'm just saying that as long as it's compelling it doesn't need to be flash. This is worth remembering because this kind of content is actually very easy to create. If you know your stuff and have the desire to communicate it succinctly you can quickly make lots of videos that are sure to get some targeted interested viewers over time.
As well as putting a link to your website in the description, you can verbally exhort them to visit it in the video itself. Once they're there your problem is close to solved. As long as your website presents a professional image with clear navigation then some of these people are sure to become leads, right?
Something similar applies to Pinterest. When I started uploading photos I'd taken myself around Perth I didn't expect much repinning of them. They were hardly glossy and pretty. And Pinterest is just chockas with gorgeous eye candy, after all.
But what I've noticed is that while none of them have gone gangbusters, many have been shared repeatedly on the site. That's because people seek out and collect photos of recognizable landmarks to remind themselves of positive emotions. So those images don't have to be works of art. They just have to be clear and authentic and they will do the job.
But there's a trap you can fall into when using visual marketing. And that is to think that it has to be slick and well produced for it to be effective. I know that some people resist getting into YouTube marketing, for example, because they think they have to have a professionally made video with an original soundtrack and heaps of natty effects before they can start. Obviously it's nice if you can have this sort of content. But it's not absolutely vital. Even something basic shot on a hand held camera will be fine as long as it's useful and compelling.
This is because generally speaking in the mind of the user relevance beats appearance. They're usually looking for quick, useful, and entertaining nuggets of content. If it's a bit ragged and messy that's okay. Aesthetic appeal tends not to be the most important thing to them.
Sometimes they're looking more for authenticity anyway, so being borderline amateurish might actually be a bonus. I've seen this in my YouTube video stats. If I added content that people were interested in at a particular time -- during the Festival of Perth for example -- it would get a lot of views and several shares even though it was very basic. Now I know I wasn't actually selling a product with those videos. But the principle still holds. And it can be applied to video marketing of products and services.
I'm not saying that you should upload crap that's badly shot and threadbare. I'm just saying that as long as it's compelling it doesn't need to be flash. This is worth remembering because this kind of content is actually very easy to create. If you know your stuff and have the desire to communicate it succinctly you can quickly make lots of videos that are sure to get some targeted interested viewers over time.
As well as putting a link to your website in the description, you can verbally exhort them to visit it in the video itself. Once they're there your problem is close to solved. As long as your website presents a professional image with clear navigation then some of these people are sure to become leads, right?
Something similar applies to Pinterest. When I started uploading photos I'd taken myself around Perth I didn't expect much repinning of them. They were hardly glossy and pretty. And Pinterest is just chockas with gorgeous eye candy, after all.
But what I've noticed is that while none of them have gone gangbusters, many have been shared repeatedly on the site. That's because people seek out and collect photos of recognizable landmarks to remind themselves of positive emotions. So those images don't have to be works of art. They just have to be clear and authentic and they will do the job.