10 things to consider when choosing images for your business marketing

The consistent use of visual imagery in the marketing of your business has always been important, but it’s become even more vital now that most of us feel duty bound to post on social media platforms.

This is not just theoretical advice, I’ve used rubber duck images in my own marketing for many years and they definitely appeal. Indeed,  they’ve occasionally been the main reason why potential clients have got in touch with me in the first place!

So if you’re looking for images to represent your business where should you start?

1.  Well let’s begin with a PLEASE DON’T and that’s about picking images that are similar to everyone else in your sector.  I illustrate this in my video “ Marketing is the art of differentiation” 

2.  What sort of target market are you trying to attract? If it’s a corporate market, cutesy images are definitely in the handle with care box as they may wrongly position your professional service or product.

3.  Have you heard of the saying “your vibe is your tribe”? Images should reflect your brand and appeal to the sort of person you want to work with. My rubber ducks ensure I don’t get called by someone who is serious and intense – which is great as I probably wouldn’t be the right consultant for them!

I’m sorry if 2 and 3 sound as if they are contradicting each other.  This is why choosing images is tricky and requires careful consideration. You’re often walking a narrow path between just the right image and exactly the wrong one

4.  Don’t pick an image that is SO unusual that there are very few available on royalty free photo sites. You will need a large portfolio of similar images to use in your marketing materials and in your social media posts

5.  Don’t pick a very detailed image. You need something clear and eye-catching – especially on Instagram where your board has postage stamp size images that need to impress a new potential follower viewing on a smartphone.

6.  If you’re worried about the cost of buying a lot of images I have some ideas for you.

• Either create your own suite of images by photographing images on – for example a consistently coloured background, or in a similar light or within a tight range of two or three colours (perhaps the ones used in your logo?) so that they become associated with your business

• or consider an image that can be cropped and flipped for variety. Like these which I have used in the past.

or use  Canva (www.canva.com) to create a series of different backgrounds on one outline image

7.  Consider where you’re going to use your images. If you’re ever likely to use large banners or posters you need to make sure they scale up well for example.

8.  Think about what you want the images to represent, we have already talked about them representing your vibe. But you may want them

• to represent the specific way in which you work
• to be a simple metaphor for a complicated subject. (For one endocrinology client I used cog wheels to represent the intricate workings of our hormones)
• to inject some personality into a sector that may not be the most exciting
• to represent what your target market thinks is important green or safe, or loving or strong…

9.  Don’t upload large file size images onto your website. This will slow down the loading and have an adverse effect on your conversion rate and SEO. Make sure you first compress any website images you want to use.

10. Put aside a good amount of time to select images in the first place and then get into the habit of regularly producing visual content. Part of uploading your blog post – for example – should include the creation of a captioned image for social media which links back to your website.

Don’t just take my word for images being important.  There are some very  interesting facts and figures in this inside track blog post “Visual content marketing statistics from marketers “ 

Key take away points for me were:

• 50% of marketers report that their original content performs best but 35% say that consistently creating visual content is their biggest struggle

• 32% of markets say that visual images are the most important form of their content for their business. Blogging came second to this and I KNOW that’s also something with which many business owners struggle.

If you’d like help in either area please don’t hesitate to get in touch.