If you’re hopping onto the content marketing bandwagon, you need to know exactly what will stimulate your online growth and engagement. While textual content is always going to remain at the core of this marketing technique, visual content is already changing the digital industry.

About 65% of people are visual learners and 90% of information in our brain is stored in the form of visuals. Presentations that use visuals more are 43% more persuasive. And that’s exactly why we think it is important to use content types that people ‘actually’ resonate with.

7 types of visual content that will boost your marketing campaign results

Here are 7 types of visual content that will instantly take your marketing campaigns to the next level of gaining conversions:

1. Images

According  to the popular marketer and blogger, Jeff Bullas, articles with images get 94% more views than those without any. The increased use of mobile devices and unlimited access to the internet has resulted in reduced attention spans. This makes heavy textual content the most ‘boring’ of the lot.

When you split up the body of text with ample images, people tend to read it till the end – provided the images are contextually relevant and high quality. While it is preferable to use original images (ones taken or created by you), you can always dig into the free stock images available across the internet to find something that suits your post the best.

Also read: The ultimate digital marketing toolkit you need

2. Videos

While there are other cheaper types of visual content that your brand can dabble in, having a few videos in your bucket will only serve as an evergreen piece that can be used in multiple ways. A study shows that using a video on a landing page increases conversions by 86%. And according to Moz, posts with videos receive nearly 300% more inbound links than those without.

Your video content could be a how-to-guide, animated storyline, demonstrations or for that matter, customer testimonials. The only thing you need to make sure of is that the video is relevant and in sync with your brand message.

3. Infographics

Infographics are an excellent way of conveying complex data and statistics in a compelling, and easily understandable manner – what we like to call, consumable. Remember, the idea is to share knowledge with your target audience. The information shared in the infographic must be accurate and contextually relevant in nature.

To reap maximum benefits from this content type, choose a layout and design that is simple yet impactful. The designer must be able to combine the right colors, shapes and fonts to match your brand’s digital image. When creating an infographic, it is important to ensure all the visual elements carry a narrative – after all, your audience needs to know why you’re sharing the information with them.

Note: Bloggers love sharing infographics on their own sites and social media. So do take a look at what your target audience likes in terms of visuals before creating one.

4. Presentations

Presentations are no longer restricted to just boardroom meetings. They are being extensively used and shared via sites like SlideShare. Today, having a good slide deck in place allows you to not only inform and communicate better with your audience, but also drastically increase the outreach of your brand.

Infographics and presentations have a lot in common when it comes to visualizing them. Although, their scope of use is very different. You can use presentations to cover all those topics that might get too textual for a blog post and too long for an infographic. Rand Fishkin’s popular presentation on content marketing mistakes is the perfect example of how to present complex information in an appealing, consumable manner.

Also read: SlideShare Best Practices: How to turn written content into a winning deck

5. Memes

Memes are commonly associated with humour today. While many people couldn’t fathom the use of these in their content marketing strategies initially, marketers today use them extensive to create a quirky form of visual content that clicks with the younger generation primarily.

Creating a meme of your own is a great way to set yourself apart from your competitors – they don’t just evoke emotions, but associate the brand to be conscious about their audience’s choices. But before you do that, identify your audience and niche to decide whether or not memes are suited for your. After all, even the jokes need to be contextual!

6. Screenshots

Screenshots are very useful for providing your audience with a glimpse into your product or service. It lets you show them what you offer from a direct perspective. These can be clubbed with a strong marketing copy or a customer testimonial to boost your brand’s credibility.

You can use this content type to capture customer reviews or testimonials from social media as 88% of people tend to seek them before engaging with a business. Alternatively, you can also use these in infographics, slide decks and how-to guides.

7. Exit Overlays

When executed correctly, marketing overlays can serve as a great way to engage website visitors, drive sales, build massive email subscriber lists and generate a greater number of sales leads.  But on the other hand, when done wrong, they tend to annoy visitors, compromise the user experience and even result make the sales ready leads turn away. And that’s where exit overlays come in.

image courtesy: Worlds Apart Film (using Exit Bee to get more social following)

Watch it in action here: Worlds Apart

Exit overlays are a smarter approach to backing a marketing campaign. They only show up when the visitor is about to leave the website. Exit Bee makes use of a visitor’s on-site behaviour to convert them with highly targeted messages and offers right before they are about to leave the website. Approaching overlays in this manner avoids annoying the visitors and doesn’t disturb the user experience.

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But before you go in for exit overlay to support your marketing strategy, here are a few things you need to check off first:

• Identify what your audience really values
• Keep the first interaction as easy as possible
• Analyse what your audience engages in the most
• Define your end goal – be it signups, subscriptions, lead generation or sales
• Align your goals with that of your prospects

Want to give exit overlays a shot? Sign up for our free trial today!

Over to you

What visual content type are you using to power your marketing campaigns?