3 Reasons Why Visual Elements Are Really Important in Your Business

There are many different ways in which people market their businesses, ranging from compelling multi-page customer case studies to prosaic and motivational written content on website landing pages, and more.

Perhaps the most “iconic” (no pun intended) and potent marketing tool out there, however, is the effective use of visual and graphical elements of various types, ranging from storefront window graphics, to company logos, to evocative photographs of sandy beaches or bustling nightlife.

If you haven’t been paying very much attention to visual elements in your own marketing thus far, here are a few reasons why those visual elements are really important, and why you need to start taking them seriously.

Because visuals convey emotional and aspirational content, on a “subliminal” level

One often-overlooked concept in the world of marketing and persuasion is that getting people to invest in your product or services is typically much more a matter of evoking the right kind of emotional energy and associations than it is about actually “convincing” them of something.

The term “subliminal” has a bad reputation, because it’s associated with things like hypnosis, and manipulating people into making decisions against their will. For the most part, however, to describe something as “subliminal” in a marking context just means that it makes some impression on people beneath the level of their rational awareness.

All successful marketing campaigns employ some form of “subliminal” advertising. And, this is primarily done through the effective use of imagery.

If a brand wants to signify luxury, comfort, and happiness, they may use plenty of images of warm, sunny beaches. Many people, when they see those pictures, will be reminded of pleasant vacations, and time spent in the sun, and will feel correspondingly warm emotions.

Like the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Use the right pictures and visuals to draw up the right emotional energy.

Because not everyone has a lot of patience for reading in-depth marketing copy

Some people really love reading books in their leisure time, and some people have a lot of patience for scrolling through pages of compelling marketing copy on a website.

At the same time, however, there are also many people out there who don’t have a lot of patience for reading a bunch of text in one go – especially when they are rapidly switching between different websites in order to make a purchasing decision.

Visual elements simply convey their messages much more quickly than written content tends to – and, what’s more, requires far less invested concentration on the part of the shopper.

Instead of just describing in painstaking detail how your product works, and relying on your prospective customers’ powers of imagination, include easy photos, diagrams, and videos of the thing in action. The easier it is for people to quickly and effortlessly get a sense of what’s going on, the better.

Because logos and visual elements act as rapid-fire “triggers” for different associations

When you see a well-known logo such as the McDonald’s “golden arches,” you don’t have to sit around and think for a long time about what it means, and how you should feel about it. The logo itself will automatically and instantly trigger the various ideas and emotions you already have associated with it.

In the case of McDonald’s, those associations and emotions will have been crafted by your own experiences with the company, memories of visiting the restaurants, and their own marketing materials. But it’s the sight of the logo that really “sets everything off.”

A logo is a very powerful tool in your marketing arsenal. If you don’t yet have a memorable one in place, you need to get one.