We already know that people connect more with graphics than words.

They are easy to identify with, take lesser effort to understand and fall in the category of ‘relaxation’ rather than ‘effort’. Precisely, the reason for rise in graphical content or video content across the Internet.

But how can we use them to take our brand message forward? What type of persuasion techniques can we use so we are actually able to increase sales or conversion rates through these graphics?

We have a one-stop solution for you in these 8 tried and tested persuasion techniques to use in your visual content:

1. Delivering Relevant Messages
2. Converse, don’t just sell
3. Use Color Psychology
4. Push your message out multiple times
5. Choose the right artwork
6. Hand-in-hand with users
7. Establish harmony with the audience
8. Be Consistent

1. Delivering Relevant Messages:

Relevance is the meeting point between what you have to say to your audience and what they actually want to listen.

Using design to deliver your content is a HUGE responsibility. You don’t want to enter the zone where your content is perceived to be fluff, yet you want engagement to be considerably higher than a regular blog post. It is quite a thin line, where while social media shares might increase, but you might not really see an increase in brand engagement.

Some pre-analysis might help, how about getting answers to the following questions:

• Who is your User?
• What is he looking for?
• How does he think?

And ensure that all your visuals are centered on the answers to these questions. Once you do that, relevancy increases. While you may be shared less, it is by the right audience.

2. Converse, don’t just sell:

If you ever have a conversation with a successful sales guy, he will tell you that he never tries to thrust his product on someone.

The same applies when you are trying to create a video or an infographic series. Consider your visuals to be a story-telling aid. In fact, they are the best story telling aid, a brand has.

So build a story, talk to your audience. Tell them your secrets. Engage them. This is the time when you don’t talk about your brand every second. This is the time to actually interest them in what you have up your sleeve. So, think like an established brand. How do they talk to their audience? They sign contracts with advertising agencies, simply because they are aware of the amount of time it actually takes to persuade a consumer. So don’t wait, start today. But start smart. Just start with telling your story.

3. Use Color Psychology:

Colors talk. Different colors trigger different emotions.

Let’s look at this example by Fanta: The color orange is all about fun, vibrancy, vivacity, childhood and summer. Think popsicles, think ice candies or slush. Fanta has done an amazing job using this color throughout their advertising and messaging. They stand for the color orange and the video speaks well for the brand.

So use color wisely. Do you want your user to take action through a particular visual? Think Red. Red is the color of courage and will power. Perfect for that final push.

For many SAAS products, the intent of the Visual Content is to increase understanding. The first step to creating understanding is to actually inspire trust. It’s the only way they will give you their precious time. Blue is a great color for trust symbols. But, remember, your brand palette should accommodate all the colors, because that’s what matters the most.

4. Push your message out multiple times:

Always remember that your viewer’s memory is volatile. So you need to push the same message at him, again and again. Does your product save time? Show it to him. Not once. Not in one way. Show it to him multiple times and in different ways. It will finally seep in. And don’t stop at that; use multiple images and videos that push out the same messaging. The best way to do it is to build a video series. Most brands stick to their core messaging through all their visual content marketing but keep it going for a considerably large period. So build a series of 2-10 videos and take it forward.

5. Choose the right artwork:

In content marketing, it doesn’t matter how beautiful your graphics are. What matters is that they are used correctly and are engaging. The power of graphics and images is immense. But ensure all your images are high quality, high definition and essential to your story. Remove the fluff. No matter how pretty they are, if they don’t help your case, you don’t need them.

For example, if we are building content for a lifestyle product- say, a furniture website. If they are releasing a newsletter or a monthly content magazine, they need to be careful about what they choose. They are talking about being summer ready. Let’s understand their market: If this is catered to users in the North of India, this is an outright failure. No one will empathize with this picture, simply because up north, summers are horrendous. But if this is for the Bangalore audience, for example, bang on. That shade of yellow is fun yet warm, welcoming, speaks of summer sundowners and cocktail evenings with friends. So ensure your graphics give out the right message.

6. Hand-in-hand with users:

The key to avoid failure of matching intent is to NOT make assumptions about what your users want. It’s simple to eliminate assumptions and avoid falling into this pit.

Step 1: Go to Google Keyword Planner and research keywords to your planned Visuals.

Step 2: Analyze your Keywords Don’t just blindly fit in keywords to your content. Try and understand those keywords and why people are actually using them instead of something else. For example: SEO techniques for small business Versus SEO techniques for beginners. Now, it’s a fair assumption that someone searching for techniques for small business might be actually looking for Local SEO techniques. Your role as a marketer is to actually understand what your user is looking for and then give him exactly that.

Step 3: Visit your competitors’ sites Spend time on their sites understanding how the user is interacting with their content. Was it correct to assume that a small business SEO translated to Local SEO? Are there any comments around that? The deeper you delve, the more research you do, and the closer you get to your answer.

Step 4: Build your Visual Content Now that you know what your user is looking for, you can begin providing him with answers.

7. Establish harmony with the audience:

No one can take your content as far as your audience can. And the only way to do that is to build a rapport with them. Make them a part of your identity.

In Animated Explainer Videos, the ‘Meet Joe’ technique went far and wide. Everyone was using it and still uses it. Why? Clearly, it works. The story is simple. The audience understands Joe and that’s all you ever wanted. ‘Meet Joe’ is just one way of saying- build a rapport. If you found a more creative way of doing the same, it’s going to work better. Give them a situation they will connect with. And then give them a way out of that situation. Simple? So try and think like your audience. That’s the only way they will allow you to get close to them.

8. Be Consistent:

Proverb, slow and steady wins the race is too old school now! Because “slow” is too mainstream, we follow, “steady wins the race”. Imagine if you get famous for doling out digestible, high quality content. Check out Neil Patel. The guy has marketed every product on the back of great content. Consistency is the key. An infographic here or a video there will not do the trick. You don’t need to spend thousands on building great visual content any more. Just hook onto Instagram or Vine. And keep providing with relevant, high quality content. The self-marketers have been doing it for ages. Its time a brand understands the value of humanizing itself.

Conclusion

Persuasive techniques using graphics is highly competitive. And, these simple steps of using graphics will not only help you differentiate your product from others but also help you get noticed and give you a chance to stay in audience’s mind for long . Even so, do consider what do you have to lose by trying persuasive techniques of graphics? Do share it with us.

By: Sadbhav Shah

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