Regardless of which field of marketing i.e. Public Relations, Digital Marketing, Advertising etc. you may belong to, as marketers you all must have heard this one phrase- content is king. Rightly so, appealing content captures the interest of the readers and keeps them engaged to the brand. However, in this changing scenario where new rules get laid almost every day, there is one more saying that needs to be added and that is visual is the queen. Thus, a holistic campaign should ideally include both content and visuals that work together rather than one over the other.

Therefore, comes the role of multimedia marketing. But, before dwelling into that further, let’s understand what it really means. Multimedia marketing is a form of content marketing that takes the support of visuals like images, graphics, infographics, videos, pictures, etc. to deliver an engaging and cohesive brand message. This medium is comparatively more customer-centric as enables communicating with a wider audience on multiple social channels. 

Also, as per data shared by brainrules, 10% of the information heard is remembered for about three days as compared to 65% recall of the same material backed by appropriate visuals. This clearly proves the power of visuals. Therefore, rather than opting for only text-based content, let’s find out the visual ways companies can connect better with their existing and prospective customers

 

1. Images 

 

Pictures play a pivotal role in making people stay with your text longer. In fact, according to Marketer Jeff Bullas, an article supported by images get 94% more views as compared to the one without it. It helps in giving a break to the eyes while ensuring the reader stays with the content.  Also, in the fast-moving mobile generation where a brand always faces the challenge of capturing attention on a small screen, good quality, attractive images that take less time to upload keeps audiences captivated longer. Being sharable an educative, inspiring and thought-provoking images can reach a large group of customers and get you more eyes-balls than you would have thought. So, use free websites like Flickr and incorporate images now. 

 

2. Infographics

 

Infographics have been there for some time now and the good thing is that they are still climbing up the popularity charts. The complex text when represented in an easy-to-understand graphical form can help a brand create or reinforce brand awareness which results in increased traffic to the website. As they are sharable, it also contributes towards search engine optimization and higher engaging that has the potential of reaching out to more people.

Here are some statistics that can help explain its effectiveness-

• An infographic is 30 times more likely to be read than a text-heavy article
• It can improve web traffic by 12%
• It is “liked” and shared on social media 3X more than any other type of content

 

3. GIFs

 

Many of you must have used GIFs or Graphics Interchange Format sometime or the other. So, if this type of content has taken a place in regular communications, then how can marketers leave it behind from their strategy. This simple way of expressing emotions or situations in an animated and dynamic way help brands connect with their audience in a casual way. According to stats from Buffer, Facebook Messenger users send across around 5 million animated GIFs a day. That’s a whopping lot. Being easy to create and, consume it can be used to react to trends, such as news and events, national days and weekly trends. It has the ability to instantly capture user attention while sharing information in an entertaining way. A good GIF can increase brand recognition and can lead to high levels of engagement.

 

4. Videos 

 

• As stated by YouTube, it has over a billion users i.e. nearly one-third of total internet users
• 36% of online consumers trust video ads says a report by Nielsen Wire
• 45% of people watch more than an hour of Facebook or YouTube videos a week
• Videos will be contributing to a massive 85% of total internet traffic in 2019

 

The above data is enough to prove that amongst all kinds of multimedia available video rules. It is one of the most popular mediums that enable staying connected with existing or new customers throughout the year. It has the power of storytelling by awakening emotions, depicting by demonstrating, which no other visual format has and is also the easiest and fastest to consume. An interesting video can engage a customer for a longer time as compared to a static image and can even promote social sharing that can lead to a higher conversion rate. Thus, to make a content interesting turn text-heavy articles into videos, post videos interviews or even next time disseminate a press release in a video format. These tactics support organic growth as well as reaches those people who are looking for informative content in a video format.

 Thus, by employing the above multimedia content strategies brands can maintain constant engagement with existing and new customers, boost conversion rates, and expand their reach by attracting potential consumers with its sharable content.