Visual content is king but, more importantly, quality visual content reigns supreme.
Amy Balliett is CEO and Founder of Killer Visual Strategies (formerly Killer Infographics), an industry-leading visual communications agency driving visual strategy and campaigns featuring video, motion graphics, and interactive experiences.
Balliett recently published “Killer Visual Strategies,” an examination of how visual communication has transformed the way brands connect with their customers.
In this episode of Velocitize Talks, Balliett shares her thoughts on visual content, design and the user experience.
Smarter content (1:23)
When it is custom and original and focused on visual communication as opposed to just eye candy, [content] can actually perform far better than any paid marketing advertisements.
Balliett has found that when her clients invest more money into quality deliverables and content, they save on their marketing dollars. This is key since content marketing can be time intensive and costly, especially for smaller companies with limited resources.
According to HubSpot, 83% of marketers say video gives them strong ROI, making it even more important to create compelling content. Seventy-four percent of the value of a video ad happens within the first 10 seconds; once the video hits two minutes, engagement goes way down. That’s one of the reasons why Killer Visual Strategies recommends keeping videos short.
The eyes have it (2:20)
When we’re working with our clients, we focus on a lot of different deliverables based on who their end audience is and what will appeal to them the most.
Balliett notes that 60% of people are visual learners and 91% of consumers prefer visual content to be the first piece of content delivered to them. Naturally visual content goes far beyond just video, to AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality), motion graphics and animation.
For example, Killer Visual Strategies created a campaign for the American Academy of Pediatrics involving an interactive map providing child vaccination data by state. This made the information much more accessible to users with just a couple clicks.
Showing the story (6:15)
Design is an innate talent that you have to have an eye for. You have to understand layout, you have to understand typography and information hierarchy but more importantly, you have to be a good illustrator.
Today’s designers have to think like a marketer as visual content becomes more pronounced in the messaging. What audience are you trying to reach? Where can you find them? And what content resonates with them? Gen Z is highly visual in the content they choose to consume. Their preferred platform is YouTube and they watch an average of 68 videos per day.
Poetry in motion (7:15)
If you have to read the text to understand what that content is, it’s not visual communication.
According to Balliett, visual information gets to the brain 60,000 times faster than any other form of communication. But obviously you need to do it right. Killer Visual Strategies created a motion graphic for Geekwire illustrating the power of technology through the lens of healthcare. The story follows the life of a young girl shaped by loss, a catalyst for her future career in genomics.
It’s all visual (8:08)
UX and UI design is about the closest thing in the design world to visual communication before visual communication became a trend.
Both the user experience (UX) and the user interface (UI) must be engaging and designed for a specific audience. Businesses that implement visual marketing as their primary form of marketing grow their revenue 49% faster than those that don’t.
For the most part, that means incorporating visual. Animated videos like this one from Slack can be just as effective as live videos but at a much lower cost.
Giving back (9:20)
Once Gen Z gets to their mid-20s, they will be the largest consumer base out there. These are generations that care about values above anything else so brands need to lead with their values.
Killer Visual Strategies has donated $4 million in services to nonprofits. It’s not just the right thing; it’s also increasingly what your audience expects. More than half of consumers want to see brands become involved in at least one social issue that doesn’t increase their bottom line.
To learn more about Killer Visual Strategies, visit their website and follow them on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter at @killervizcom.
This video was originally recorded in Seattle in 2019.