Should copywriters (AKA content creators) be threatened by the increasing use of visuals? Are visuals hijacking our livelihood? Are audiences going to lose their taste for absorbing information by reading and migrate to communications they can absorb visually?
Intriguing questions.
About human beings’ predilection for the visual, Aaron Baar, a reporter at MediaPost has this to say: “We’re said to eat with our eyes, and we know that a picture is worth a thousand words. Indeed, visual cues are the next frontier in search.” He continues by noting that EBay, Google, and Pinterest are all focusing on visual search capabilities. Google mobile search results, for example, now show thumbnail imagery in some product queries. And a study by Sticky shows that strong images can sometimes overcome placement and/or results listing.
So what should advertisers do to amp up their visual marketing? According to Nemanja Darijevic of Pixel Road Designs, they must do three things:
- Define goals clearly: That means defining the company’s goals, rather than being guided by personal preference.
- Choose relevant imagery: Imagery should help and inspire the target audience. Don’t pick the first image that looks ok.
- Be personal and original: Find interesting, relatively unused stock images. Better still, create your own.
Unsurprisingly, studies have found that consumer are much more likely (80%) to read content accompanied by a relevant visual and “those that had a relevant visual received 94% more views than those without one.”
With marketing communications becoming increasingly visual—Mr. Derijevic says 84% by 2018—what are writers to do?
I believe that we keep on writing. And no, I’m not suggesting that we ignore the trends. Instead, I think we need to work with them. More than ever, the right word—le mot juste—to borrow the French term is critical. And it matters just as much in an infographic as it does in a 15-page white paper.
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