How to Use Photos (And Not Only) for Marketing and Promotion

Learn how photos can change customers’ attitudes and advertise the products and check the points to consider when you choose photo content and other visuals for your marketing campaign.

Product promotion plays a huge role in the market nowadays, as more and more competitors appear literally every minute. Companies are struggling to find strategies that will help to make their items become memorable and recognizable. However, the importance of usage of good and high-quality photos is often underestimated. This article will show how photos can change customers’ attitudes and advertise the products better than any words do.

Why It Is Important to Use Photos for Promotion

Visual content is crucial when it comes to advertising. It is scientifically proven that we recall more than 65% of what we see compared to only 10% of what we hear. Photos and images have lots of advantages and can improve readers’ experience:

• They grab attention and involve readers into the content fully
• They allow customers to get the idea fast without reading huge articles describing how good the product is
• They push readers to browse your website or blog longer and make them feel more comfortable and pleased

Undeniably, it works for all businesses as people care about their precious time, and having a look at a bright picture rather than reading a bunch of text makes customers choose those who know how to integrate images in ads.

However, it should be mentioned that images have to be added wisely and appropriately as low quality or irrelevant photos can ruin the first impression just from the beginning, especially when it comes to landing pages.

As soon as readers or customers approach your ad, they notice all the tiniest details and things as:

• Low-quality photos
• Inappropriate images
• Photos that make no sense

And these lapses will surely push your customer to choose other brands that pay more attention to the visual content.

Just imagine that two rival companies produce the same things, and one company contributes to its website and online platforms spending time and money on high-quality content and visual assets while the other company prefers to save money instead of developing its social media. That is why the website of the first company attracts users and makes them feel comfortable while searching for the products they need. On the other side, the second company uses low-quality photos, and the interface looks poor and repulsive.

If you want to buy sunglasses, would you rather choose to have a look at the picture like this or prefer to read a description?

Creative images make customers want the products offered. They grab attention; leave something to think about.

Let’s have a look at some best examples of ads:

 

As can be seen, these images are thought-provoking and attractive; they make customers stop, look at them, and think about the product. Nevertheless, people still wonder if it is possible to achieve this effect using simple photos?

Undoubtedly! Fantasy, creativity, and a little bit of Photoshop make miracles happen:

Okay, I bet that you’re starting to drool. Now searching for the delivery app to order some burgers.

How to Use Photos for Marketing

Though now it is should be clear that using photos is a must for a good promotion campaign, sometimes the question where and how the photos should be used still arise. In the era of high-tech and social media, it is necessary to use all tools in order to get more customers and users.

Social Media

Social media is a crucial tool to promote your products. Services as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, and others are used worldwide and those who find out how to integrate marketing campaigns in these media platforms have more users comparing to those who ignore these services.

Obviously, photos that are used on these platforms have their own features and should follow some rules:

• Special size (the wrong one can ruin images)
• They should be creative and unique to grab users’ attention
• They should be informative and reflect the main ideas you are trying to share

Just have a look at @Freddysusa Instagram account. It is so bright and catchy, provides photos that make you feel hungry immediately:

It actually works for all the spheres and helps to grab customers’ attention to various products.

Another good example of great visual content:

This is an Instagram page of @kirklands; it looks amazing, right? The style and details depicted in the profile create a cozy atmosphere and make you want to buy some decorative items in order to bring this comfort in your own house.

E-mails

Another good source for promoting your items and ideas are newsletters and e-mails. A long text without any images will hardly involve customers and engage them to deepen into the things you suggest. On the other side, correctly selected photos will make your promotion e-mail sound reliable and intriguing.

Blog Articles and Landing Pages

Undoubtedly, articles are mostly devoted to share information and give an explanation on some frequently asked topics;  however, they can be also effective for the thoughtful promotion of services and brands. And landing pages are created right for that goal. Appropriate usage of good-quality photos will make your posts engaging and creative. It will also immerse readers fully in the narrative and give them more space for imagination.

By the way, blogs are a good place for ads. Not all of them work properly, though. Have you noted that pop-up ads grab our attention only when images are uncommon and catchy?

Where to Get Photos

There are different types of images that are used in marketing and lots of places where these pictures can be found. If you aren’t creating custom photo content for your campaigns or are limited in budget, the most recognizable source of images are stock photos.

These types of photos are really popular nowadays. It is easy to find both free and paid ones. Various sources suggest professional images that can be beneficial for different business types. The main issue with stock photos is that they are usually considered outdated and overused. However, it is not true as stock photos can be a great marketing tool in case they are used wisely.

Surely, stock photos cannot represent your brand fully, and it is better to get original photos for narrow and specific goals, but such types of pictures can be really helpful for small enterprises and individuals that just start their way in entrepreneurship. The main idea is that these photos should be:

• Creative
• Realistic
• Informative
• Natural

Using the ones that are widely known and look weird make customers feel that you do not really care.

For instance, which one is better for the milk ad? Which evokes more emotions, make your mouth water, and pushes you to go and buy some milk?

Chances are high that’s the first picture letting you imagine how pleasantly cold milk will quench your thirst during a hot summer day, and each drop will make you feel alive.

As can be seen, stock photos can be of high-quality and have lots of advantages. They give freedom of choice and help with saving money. But they should be picked wisely and used in a proper way to contribute to your marketing strategy.

Other Types of Marketing Images

Obviously, visual content is usually not limited to photos and images only, and some companies prefer to use other visuals like illustrations, infographics, and so on. It is also quite easy to find the sources of them nowadays.

Icons and Illustrations

Not all the images used for marketing are real ones. More and more companies choose illustrations as they help to capture the atmosphere in more creative and flexible styles, or icons that can visually support features and benefits. Such types of assets are getting more and more popular nowadays, and it is quite easy to find them or even tune as you need by yourself. For example, Icons8 provides a variety of vector illustrations that can be easily customized for your personal needs with the use of our free tools like Vector Creator or Lunacy.

Infographics

Infographics present another quite popular type of images that is mostly used for blogs and help to represent both visual and symbolic data. It is stated that these types of pictures usually contribute to web traffic increase and have a positive effect on target audience expansion.

The images of this type are really useful in case you need to present a report with lots of data. It helps users not to be lost in the information you share. What’s more, they are effectively used as guestographics and viral content helping to increase brand recognition and attract traffic to the website or other channels of communication.

For example, here’s the infographic created for the guest article about typography basics: not only does it share handy and organize information but also it helps its creators present themselves in a positive way to their audience.

Conclusion

Even if you consider your company or product to be the best, it is still impossible to stay on top as more and more competitors are capturing the market. That is why marketing is quite essential nowadays, and those who know how to promote products and ideas usually win the game. Even though catchy slogans and unique descriptions help customers and users get more information about the things suggested, visual content is still the most vital tool as we remember things that we see with our own eyes better. So, if you want to stand out, make your marketing campaigns memorable and catchy.

About the author: Nadezhda Maksimova, copywriter and customer support representative for Icons8

Title image from the Flame pack on Ouch library of vector illustrations.

Learn how to design effective emails, how interface illustrations enhance user experience, how to choose photos for landing pages, and how to take cool black and white photos.