Product visuals are a key element in content marketing. Without catchy images and videos, even a brilliant copywriting piece about goods can get lost among myriads of other promo texts. 

The reasons for that are simple: 65% of all people are visual learners. The human brain perceives and processes the images way faster than texts. Visuals are more memorable and entertaining and provoke a stronger emotional response than words, engaging readers with the brand. This way, they help manufacturers build a connection with the audience and make prospects more likely to become buyers.

So, what types of product visuals are there? And how exactly can they boost a brand’s success? Read up to find out how to enhance your ecommerce content marketing strategy with the right visuals!

Brands use numerous platforms to promote and sell products. They can do it through a company’s website, Instagram, Facebook, specialized sites like Amazon and Shopify, and so on. But whatever platform they choose, they won’t succeed without top-notch images that immediately catch the viewers’ attention and serve as a teaser to text descriptions. 

To make the most of using product visuals, it’s wise to build blog articles and social media posts around imagery, unfolding the story about the presented items. For example, a photo can show an unusual way to use the product, and words can explain this option in detail. When visuals inspire the text instead of serving as an addition to it, the results can be surprisingly impressive. So, the manufacturers should make use of this strategy when creating content.

They also need to remember that viewers quickly get used to imagery. So, manufacturers need to make sure they have enough pictures on hand to regularly update content. Otherwise, old photos will turn the potential buyers off instead of motivating them to make a purchase. 

Sharing new images on a regular basis is possible even without endless photo shootings. For this, manufacturers can outsource creating visuals to a CGI company. This way, they’ll get as many quality photoreal 3D renderings as they need without spending much time and effort on it. 3D artists create visuals digitally, which doesn’t require bringing products and props to the studio and back as well as waiting for a long time until the photographer processes the pictures. Which is a great relief for any manufacturer. 

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People like when they can not just view the pics but also interact with them: click to rotate, change features, zoom in, etc. Therefore, such kinds of product visuals as interactive quizzes, maps, 360-degree views, timelines, 3D configurators, etc, are more than welcome in content marketing. 

A company can go a step further and get even more creative. For instance, they can make an interactive video as Honda did. The footage of this famous brand tells two parallel stories. But the viewer can see the second one only if they click on the video and holds the mouse button pressed. Once the button is released, the video gets back to the first story. Another good example of interactive content is a movie created by the British luxury clothing brand Ted Baker. In their video, they showcase a man and a woman strolling through the woods wearing fashionable garments. The viewer can see tags “click to shop” pointing at their clothing and accessories. And if a person stops the video and clicks on an item, they’ll see a pop-up with detailed information about the clothes, including its price and link to the store. 

Such kind of product visuals is a great tool to hold the viewer’s’ attention and interest. So, the more interactive content the brand shares, the more sales it will get.

The best way to explain how to use an item is by creating a step-by-step tutorial about it with pics or videos. Such a format of product visuals is perfect for showcasing the functionality of complicated devices in a simple and entertaining way. Producers of home appliances, electronic gadgets, cars, and lots of other products actively exploit this type of content. For example, PlayStation makes videos that show users how to set up their brand-new PlayStation VR and get ready for playing.

With the help of modern technologies, it is possible to create tutorials even for a product that hasn’t been manufactured yet. 3D modelling and rendering services allow showing any item in photoreal quality before it physically exists. For this, a manufacturer should send drawings of a product to a CGI studio and order still renders or a 3D animation for a tutorial. In many cases, it is even better than shooting real-life pictures and footage. CG renderings are created digitally so they can easily show the tiniest details of an item that are not easy to capture with a camera. 3D rendering can demonstrate all the functions of a product and also the process of its assemblage and installation — like in the 3D animation above.

GIFs are actively used in most of the social media networks. Which means they should be an integral part of a successful SMM strategy of any company. This catchy and shareable type of product visuals can easily increase brand awareness and bring new customers. They are especially useful to target zoomers.

GIFs are a great tool to liven up long blog articles and social media posts. They give the audience a little pause from reading and break up a lengthy text into easily digestible parts. GIFs can showcase a product in motion or just amuse a reader by illustrating the text with funny scenes from pop culture. But the main point is that they keep a customer’s attention and provoke a positive emotional response, engaging potential buyers with the brand.

YouTube statistics prove that videos are the most popular type of content in the world. More than one billion viewers consume more than 1 000 000 hours of video every day! This opens wonderful opportunities for brands that aim to reach out to a large audience.

There are numerous ways to show a product’s benefits and express the brand’s values through videos. For example, an item can be shown in action in a thrilling scenario. Or, a short digital movie can answer common questions of the customers. And these are only a few examples. In fact, there are no limits to creativity with the video format. 

However, the process of getting a quality promo movie can be a hassle. It requires choosing the location, renting it, transporting products and props there, hiring a professional cameraman and actors, etc. A manufacturer can avoid all these organizational issues by ordering photoreal 3D animations from a CGI firm. In this case, it is only needed to provide visual references, such as drawings or photos of a product, and pro 3D artists will create photorealistic CG footage based on them. As a result, a brand gets high-quality 3D product visuals showcasing their goods in any required setting and scenario with minimal effort.

There are visuals that allow presenting massive layers of data in an easily-digestible way, are eye-pleasing, and perfect for sharing at the same time. All this refers to infographics. They can become a life-savior when businesses need to share facts and statistics, explain production processes, etc. 

For example, a brand has conducted original research and wants to present the results to their audience. Or a manufacturer wants to show the stages of creating a product, demonstrate a report on a company’s environmental responsibility, etc. In these cases, infographics are the best option to present data. 

To take a presentation to the next level, a brand can make such visuals in the GIF format so that the elements will appear one after another, move and interact. Gifographics can boost SEO and help attract more readers. Therefore, this kind of product visuals is another great tool to win customers’ hearts and minds.

CTAs can be placed not only at the end of a promo text. They can also be embedded in different pages of the website in the form of visuals, i.e. CTA bars with pictures. To understand where to put CTAs and what message they should contain, a manufacturer has to study a customer’s journey through the website. Then, it is needed to insert bars that offer activities leading to the next level of the funnel in the right parts of the text. 

For example, an educational blog post about solar panels may not the best place to put a CTA pushing the prospect to buy a new roof system for their house. But it is perfect for placing a bar that offers to calculate possible savings from switching to solar energy. After making a calculation, a reader can be offered to subscribe to a company’s newsletter. This way, a lead will continue the journey down the sales funnel and will be more likely to become a buyer in the future.

Product visuals come in different creative formats, enhancing marketing strategies of manufacturers in numerous ways. Photos attract attention and illustrate copywriting pieces, interactive elements engage and entertain readers, and step-by-step tutorials teach them how to install and use products. GIFs amuse potential customers, videos can show the product’s benefits in an interesting scenario, infographics present massive data in a compact format, and CTA bars naturally lead prospects down the funnel to making a purchase.

Want to enforce your content marketing strategy with high-end 3D product visuals? Contact our team for 3D modeling and rendering services and get perfect tools to boost your brand’s success!