You know that saying about pictures being worth a thousand words? It’s true, especially when it comes to building your brand. Visual content has become an effective way for companies to shape how people view them. If you want customers and clients to see your brand as innovative, premium, or fun, the visuals you put out there really matter.
The good news is that you don’t have to spend a fortune on flashy graphics or hire a team of designers to elevate your brand image. Some simple yet powerful visuals can go a long way in conveying the essence of your brand. In this article, we’ll explore eight visual content types you can leverage to strengthen your brand identity. From color palettes to typography, photography to infographics, these visual elements will allow your brand personality to shine through. Read on to discover new ways to show your customers what your brand is all about using captivating visuals.
Table of Contents
Impressive Visual Branding
Your brand is so much more than just your logo or product images. It’s the visual impression you make on customers and how you’re perceived. Strong visual branding creates familiarity, builds trust, and forges emotional connections.
Some of the most impactful visuals to elevate your brand include:
- High-quality photography. Use lifestyle images showing your product or service in action. Close-up product shots are also effective for generating desire. Also, avoid using custom stock photos everyone has seen 100 times, and invest in unique stock photos to develop a cohesive and impactful brand image.
- Video. Short brand videos or explainer videos are dynamic and memorable. They allow customers to experience your brand in an immersive way. Even live streaming or video blogging on social media can be impactful.
- Illustrations. Custom illustrations, icons, or graphics give your brand a human touch and help visual content stand out. They should have a consistent style aligned with your brand persona.
- Color palette. Choosing a complementary color palette and using it consistently in all visual branding, including your website, social media, and print marketing materials, creates instant recognition.
With a thoughtful visual branding strategy, you’ll build awareness, shape customer perceptions, and give your brand an unmistakable signature style.
Use multiple platforms
Spread your visual content across several platforms to maximize exposure. Post on your website and blog, then share on social media. Cross-promote content across channels by including links back to your site.
Repurpose visuals when possible. That infographic you created? Turn it into a series of social posts. That product video? Clip it into snippets for YouTube and IGTV. Your behind-the-scenes photos? Use them for a perfect Instagram story. The more people see your content, the stronger your brand recognition becomes.
Infographics – Make Data Beautiful
Infographics are an excellent way to boost your brand image. They demonstrate your expertise in an eye-catching way and build trust by backing up your key messages with hard facts and figures.
Some highly effective types of infographics for brands include:
- Data charts: Bar charts, pie charts, line charts. They showcase trends, growth, market share, budgets, etc., in an engaging visual format.
- Timelines: Illustrate the history of your company, key milestones, product launches or events. They give a sense of foundation and longevity.
- Maps: Highlight your geographic reach, areas served, and locations of offices or stores. Maps convey scale and scope.
- Process diagrams: Step-by-step visuals demonstrating how your product or service works. They educate customers on what you provide and your key differentiators.
The key is to keep your infographics simple but compelling, with an attractive color scheme and layout.
Behind-the-Scenes Photos and Videos
Behind-the-scenes photos and videos give your followers a glimpse into the real people and processes behind your brand.
Share photos of your team at work.
Post casual photos of your staff collaborating or brainstorming. Show people in a meeting sketching ideas on a whiteboard or testing a new product prototype. These authentic images help humanize your brand and build trust that real people are working hard behind the logo.
Film short videos of how your product comes to life.
If you manufacture a physical product, show parts of the design, testing or assembly process. For example, capture clips of raw materials being mixed together, a designer making final tweaks to a prototype, or a product rolling off the assembly line. These “making of” videos give fans an insider’s view of all the care and craftsmanship that go into creating your offering.
Accessible Visual Content
Making your visual content accessible means ensuring people of all abilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the content.
- Use alt text for images. The alt attribute provides a text alternative for non-text content in web pages. Screen reader users rely on alt text, so make sure to be descriptive.
- Caption your visuals. Captions not only make the content accessible for those with hearing impairments but also help search engines better understand your visuals. Captions should be brief but should summarize the key message or highlight the important details.
- Use descriptive links. Link text should clearly indicate where the link goes. “Click here” or “read more” are not helpful for screen reader users.
- Ensure Keyboard navigation is possible. Not all users can use a mouse, so make sure your site can be navigated using keyboard commands alone. All interactive elements should be reachable and operable with a keyboard.
- Provide transcripts and closed captions. For video and audio content, offer text alternatives like transcripts, closed captions or subtitles. This allows the content to be read and understood by those who can’t hear the audio.
Making these accessibility considerations will allow more people to benefit from your visual content. An accessible user experience should be the goal of any content creator.
Conclusion
So there you have it – eight visuals you need to boost your brand image and connect with your audience. Creating stunning visuals is easier than ever, and sharing them on social media is a breeze. But simply posting random images won’t cut it. You need a strategy and a purpose behind each visual to make a real impact. Focus on high quality over quantity, choose visuals that align with your brand values, and engage your followers by evoking emotion. So, pick your favorite visual concept from the list and get creative.