Visual Content for Brand Marketing
The alternate title for this post is: A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words, because given the rise in visual sharing platforms today, including Pinterest, Instagram, Vine and more, it’s imperative that brands have a plan for creating compelling visual images.
Some brands have in-house graphic designers or can afford to hire one, which partially solves the problem. But designers need ideas, and ideas need to be aligned with marketing plans and goals.
Here are some ideas for incorporating photos (or short-form video like Vine) into your brand marketing plans, fueling your visual social networks at the same time.
Photos of Your Team & Location
- Humanize your brand by creating a series of pics of your team: in silly hats, in their workspaces, or out in the field
- Show off your office, your factory, your stores, or your tradeshow booth in a series or gallery
- Create a caption contest for funny faces your team members make
Photos of Your Products
- Take pictures of your products in the wild – being used by actual people in real life
- Take or crop close-up or partial pictures of products and ask your fans/followers to identify them
- Create a fashion show or product parade with brand fans at an event, or have an impromptu show with your office staff
Graphic Images of Words or Numbers
- Create infographics or, at the very least, charts you can share with your social networks – data can be silly (average number of sandwiches eaten between midnight and 4 am) or serious (reduction in bandwidth consumption based on your software efficiency)
- Illustrate quotes or key data points through typography (example in my image above and also here)
Highlight A Hero Product
- Highlight a hero product and create a series of topical, relevant photos or graphics around it; Oreo does this exceptionally well
- Use your hero product as your mascot or spokesproduct in funny cartoons or graphics
So now you’ve got some ideas; the next question is how to create the photos or graphics. Here are a few photo and graphics creation resources to get you started:
Online Photography Help
iPhoneography Course (from Photojojo)
Photo Editing Apps (simple!)
OverHD (for iPhone only – but great for creating images on the fly – worth the $1.99!)
Infographics and Charts
Piktochart (free for basic use)
Infogram (free)
Now go forth and create! And please follow me on Vine (@stephanies), Instagram (stephanies) or Pinterest (stephanieschwab) – leave your links in the comments so I can check out your visual profiles, too!
Image source (frame only): Flickr (eriwst)
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