Heineken, Target, Dolce & Gabbana, H&M, and Estee Lauder share a common denominator: visual branding mistakes, especially on social media. Majority of the mistakes point to visual content with tasteless, offensive or culturally insensitive photos. These visual marketing mistakes compel any knowing brand to hire a reputable video or photo editing company. Speaking of which, here are the mistakes to avoid.
Failing to create a solid visual marketing strategy
Visual marketing won’t work without a concrete foundation. For one, it reflects the brand and everything it embodies. If the foundation is shaky, you cannot expect this strategy to boost online engagements and drive profitability. Brands must think of visuals as the doorway to valuable and insightful information. The strategy is the starting point that ties the tactics that the brand should implement on social media or other platforms.
Disseminating visuals without any brand fit
Images, illustrations, photos, and even GIFs can be sourced online for free. However, a brand cannot just take in any related photos. Branding guidelines must be implemented when choosing visuals not just to make the images truly relatable, but also ensure that it represents the brand accurately. The mantra nowadays is visual storytelling. If your brand cannot do this, it will lag behind the competition.
Publishing the same image on all platforms
Brands’ common treatment is to create and post similar images on applicable platforms. While it is true that synergism works, this does not mean so. Social networking sites have distinct guidelines, specifications, and restrictions on the sizes of visuals to use, among others, to make them shareable. For brands, the priority is to tailor the visual based on the parameters each channel set for optimum shareability.
Failing to brand the visual content
A frequently neglected part of content creation is branding the images or infographics, for instance. Visual marketing also aims to raise brand awareness. If the visual doesn’t include any brand identifier such as the company name or logo, then the strategy is a fail. Brand identifiers also include fonts and colors that should be consistent. Otherwise, the visual strategy will look and feel fragmented. It’s not all about your branded content–utilize user-generated visuals too.
Overstuffing the visual content
The same goes for cramming too many information on the visuals. The graphics and images should complement the textual content. If you are going to cram all the information or images into one visual, it defeats the purpose. No one likes a cluttered infographic whereby users are drowning in too many texts. Make sure that the visual collateral has a breather.
Inconsistency is a serious deal breaker
Grasping the brand through comprehensive visual marketing cannot be emphasized enough. People expect to see quality visuals from a brand and be consistent about it. Users don’t want to engage with brands that only confuses them with their visual heavy and yet burst apart. Also, the image-savvy users can easily detect the lack of synergy in your strategy. So do yourself a favor and start devising a visual marketing strategy now, and one that includes provision for hiring professional photo editors, among others.
