How Service Businesses Can Create Great Visual Content

As the owner of a successful service business, I know what makes my business great.  I know the value we can provide to business owners and I know the things that differentiate me from my competition.  There are so many benefits to the service we provide!  I could talk about it all day!

Yet there is one thing we don’t offer.  A visually stunning product.  It’s hard to take tons of photos of virtual assistants working.  It’s difficult to take compelling video of me creating a social media strategy.  How long would you watch me sitting at my desk scribbling notes and researching :)  The services we provide are incredible but let’s face it, they aren’t glamorous.

I’m not alone.  There are plenty of service businesses out there who are struggling with the idea of creating visual content.  Yet, visual content is exactly what they need! 

Posts with visuals receive 94% more page visits and engagement than those without.  

Tweets with images receive 150% more re-tweets

Photos on Facebook generate 33% more likes than text posts

These are just a few statistics that prove images are one of the most important factors in optimizing your content online.

Why is visual so important? 

1.       We’re exhausted from content overwhelm
2.       There’s not enough time to read everything
3.       Photos are more sharable
4.       We can grasp a photo more quickly than words

So, what types of visual content can a service business create?

Types of Visual Content

1.       Comics
2.       Memes
3.       Infographics
4.       Emotion Invoking Photos
          a.      Quotes
          b.      Motivational/Inspirational
          c.      Stats
          d.      Questions
5.       Differentiating photos – Share what makes you unique
          a.       Personal insights
          b.      Thought of the day
          c.       What differentiates you – be direct – be bold – stand out
          d.      Values
          e.      The inspiration behind your business
          f.        Share the benefits you provide
                    i.      Tips
                   ii.      How To
6.       Videos
7.       Presentations
8.       Checklists
9.       Visual Note Taking

Make them laugh, make them cry, show them how to do something, share an emotion, share value!

That’s your objective when creating these types of photos.  Here’s a great article about how other businesses have shared their story visually. Take a look and get inspired!

By now you may have a few ideas about the types of photos you can create for your business.  Let’s look at some of my favorite tools.

Tools for Creating Great Visual Content

Stock Photos
Unsplash
PhotoPin
The Dollar Photo Club

Comics
Pixton

Infographics
Piktochart
Visual.ly
Vengage

Create Photos
Canva
Awesome Screenshot
QuotesCover
Quozio

Video
Powtoon
VideoScribe
Easy Sketch Pro

Presentations
Prezi
Slideshare
Slideteam.net

Visual Note Taking
Mind Meister

You can also use a nice whiteboard software like VideoScribe

Are you feeling inspired? Need some help?  Contact us for more ways to increase your brand visibility online!