How to Create Images in Your Marketing Stories
In my last blog post I talked about how to ensure that your marketing story is something that your audience wants to read. To create images for your audience in your story is not just about finding the right visual or photo, it’s also about how you choose the words. The format you use can also make a difference in how your audience perceives your marketing story.
Use The Natural Talents of Your Audience
Human beings are natural storytellers and also love to listen to stories. Our imaginations are amazing and limitless. Words form pictures in your reader’s mind. The words that you choose can make or break you. If your words prove you don’t understand your audience then you’re in trouble.
Even a 450-page book that has no imagery whatsoever can be thoroughly enjoyed when read by the right audience, as long as the author was creative in putting together the right words. They need to paint the images they wanted their audience to envision. Horror story writers do this brilliantly well!
I’m sometimes disappointed with the film version of a book as often the characters don’t quite match how I’ve imagined them. If the author studies their audience well enough and uses the imagination of their audience, they will weave a winning marketing story.
Find Descriptive Words That Speak to Your Audience
If you use the right descriptive words to appeal to your audience’s senses you can actually make them think exactly what you want them to think at the time you want them to think it. That’s very powerful stuff. The technology you are using will also let you consider alternative formats to present your information.
Research keywords that your audience uses and words that create the images you want your audience to think about. If you want to take your readers on a wild ride through the rapids, you can do that with your words. If you want them to feel comfortable, relaxed, and serene your words can do that too. I was going to create two images at this point – one of white water rafting and the other of a peaceful beach scene – but decided that they weren’t relevant as I had both of those images clearly in my head already! The fact is words matter.
Creating images in your story is not just about finding the right visual or photo, it's also about how you choose the words. Click To Tweet
Choose the Right Imagery
Will you write a paper, a blog post, a slideshow, create a video or a combination of all of them? You have many choices. It’s important to ensure that any imagery you use doesn’t take away from your words and lead your audience in the wrong direction. Use great care when choosing the graphics that go with your story to make sure that nothing is confusing or contradictory. Try to use words that go with the images and vice versa. Also, use colours, formatting and fonts that are easy for your audience to read and understand.
Images can go far in helping back up the words that you use in your marketing story. They can also convey many more feelings and emotions more quickly than words alone. But, only if you are very careful and selective when choosing the images. The saying, “A picture is worth a 1000 words” is very accurate, but you don’t want them to compete with the actual words you use to tell your marketing story. Consider the emotion or action you want to evoke as you choose the images.
Visuals in your marketing stories are very powerful elements so it’s worth investing the time to learn to employ them. You can do this by talking to your audience, sharing images on social media with quotes and learning what your particular audience likes by simply asking them.
My next blog post will talk about the different ways you can repurpose each marketing story in order to get even more traction.
