Ok, we say it all the time and by now, you're probably sick of hearing it - but this is true, we live for creating imagery of all kinds. It doesn't matter what the product is, what you're using it for, or what your overall project goals are, there is nothing that excites us more than to partner with you and work together to bring your ideas to life.
We are so focused on the image creation, overall process, and how to achieve the results you are looking for, that we don't spend nearly enough time thinking about why. Sure, we will often discuss with you what your uses are, why you need this particular image - but images are so a part of our lives that we don't often think about why images are needed all-together. So...why imagery? Well, we did a little research.
Thanks to a beautiful infographic put together by the great people at MDG Advertising, we have a few insights into the importance of High Quality Images (whether its online or print). Check out the full infographic below.
1. Images help - no matter what your goals are!
Are you trying to increase your SEO? Do you have an article that you want read amongst the people in your industry? Are you issuing a press release that you are using to increase interest in your product or brand? Is it for Social Media? Are you starting an E-Commerce store?
It literally does not matter what you are trying to do - Images will increase the interest by your target audience across the board.
Articles with images get 94% more views
Press releases that include photos or videos get increased views by at least 45%
Facebook engagement for photos is 37% higher and among the most shared Facebook posts since 2014 roughly 90% are images
Adding a photo URL to your tweets can boost retweets by 35%
60% of consumers are more likely to consider / contact businesses when they show up in local search results
2. Comments are Trumping Likes
There was a time when "Likes" were on everyone's wish list. The more, the better. That has changed. Brands are looking for engagement rather than just likes - and it has become a race to get people to engage with their page - not just like it. Engagement can be defined as comments, shares, retweets etc...
So what gives you the best "bang for your buck" when it comes to social engagement? You guessed it. Images and Videos.
3. High Quality Images are More Important Than Product Information, Descriptions, or Ratings/Reviews?
Yes.
In a recent survey to gauge the effectiveness of different e-commerce elements - customers value images as more important (67%) than product-specific information (63%), long descriptions (54%), or Ratings and Reviews(53%).
4. High Quality is the Key
High quality, interesting, and relevant is the key to image success.
Basically everyone has a smart phone - and we all know what amateur photos look like - because we are taking about one trillion photos per year. (THAT'S TRILLION WITH A T!)
To really capitalize on the benefits that images can bring, you need to invest in good images. There's no way around it. Even a good amateur photo will have noticeable shortcomings when compared with a professionally designed, planned, lit, and styled image sitting on a set.
And that's where you reap the full benefits that images can bring you. There's nothing necessarily "wrong" with the image on the left - but when you are trying to achieve engagement (shares, comments etc...) the "prettier" the image the better.
Ultimately, we are moving towards an image-centric society and, the best marketers will be investing into all different types of media - with video and imagery at the top of that list. Big companies usually have high advertising/marketing budgets so let's take a look at what their imagery looks like. (Check out Apple, GM,Siemens, Nestle just to name a few) Or you can just take my word for it - their images are very well planned out and executed.
So why images? It's really quite simple if you break it all the way down and really oversimplify things. When images are done right, they are nice to look at. And that's what the internet/social media/advertising in general really boils down to. Things that are nice to look at. In fact, the most successful images are so nice to look at, that people want to comment on it or share it with their friends. Simple as that.
I could try and convince you that TRG is the only place for you to go to get those high-quality, pretty images but I prefer to let our images do the talking for us.
Check out our pretty photos here! Or check out our pretty CGI!
And, as always, let us know what you think in the comments below.
