A picture paints a thousand words: Why custom graphics should be part of your content strategy

One of the most exciting features of the modern content marketing industry is the enormous range of content types, channels and engagement methods businesses have to choose from.

Exploring ideas and engaging with your customers through words – whether it’s in blog posts, social media updates, ebooks or whitepapers – is hugely powerful. However, it’s also important to acknowledge that written content loses a lot of its potential to capture and hold people’s attention if it’s not accompanied by compelling, high-quality visuals.

Making the effort to create your own custom graphic design can make an enormous difference to your marketing and the outcomes you achieve. Here’s why:

They set you apart

Most people who spend a lot of time in the digital environment are savvy enough to spot generic stock imagery that has probably been used countless times by all sorts of brands, for any number of different purposes.

Eschewing this easy option and committing the time and investment required to produce your very own, bespoke graphics will set you apart from your competitors and add a unique element to the customer experience.

Moreover, it gives you the creative control to produce something that perfectly complements the style, tone and purpose of the accompanying content, as well as representing your brand and what you stand for as a business.

Most people are visual learners

Research has shown that approximately two-thirds (65%) of people are visual learners. This suggests that your content is much more likely to have the desired impact and get your message across – whatever that might be – if it includes a strong visual element.

The same study revealed:

  • Coloured visual features increase people’s desire to read content by 80%
  • 93% of all communication is visual
  • Posts with images deliver 180% more engagement
  • The human brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text

It’s clear then that visual marketing assets can greatly increase your potential to attract your customers’ attention, get them to engage with your content and make a lasting impression on them.

These positive effects can be particularly pronounced when you’re using custom graphics, which you can design and produce with the express purpose of eliciting a certain response from the viewer.

digital image of two smartphones with hands emerging to touch fingers

They’re versatile

Regardless of the specific goals and business priorities driving your marketing strategy at the moment, it’s pretty much a certainty that you’ll be able to use custom graphics in some way to support your efforts.

After all, visual marketing is endlessly diverse and versatile, and custom graphics are more adaptable than most content types, thanks to the level of control you have over the end result.

Here are some of the ways you can use these assets:

  • To create a consistent brand identity across your website, social media channels and other areas
  • To support the launch of a new product or service
  • To make landing pages more distinctive and engaging, which helps to boost conversions

Your customers expect high-quality visual content

Perhaps most importantly of all, custom graphics can help you deliver a strong experience to your customers by meeting the expectations they’re likely to have for high-quality, distinctive visual content.

Nine out of ten consumers (91%) reportedly prefer visual and interactive content to traditional text-based or static media. Most brands seem well aware of this and are responding, with 80% of marketers using visual assets in their social media strategy and 32% saying images are the most important type of content for their business, followed by blogging.

The popularity of platforms like Instagram shows how much value people attach to compelling imagery, and consequently the sort of traction and results you can gain from producing your own attractive, highly shareable graphics.

Meeting audience expectations in this space will benefit your brand and boost customer awareness and perceptions of you as a business, supporting your efforts to gain new leads and ultimately generate more revenue.

Axonn can support your marketing efforts with custom graphics, video, written content and more.

Contact us today.