Every company has a product or service to offer. However, showing it off like a catalog is not always the best way to reach your potential customers. You need to make what you offer relevant, fit a lifestyle, and create an intent to purchase. Just having a nice image doesn’t always do the trick and you want people to understand the usefulness of it as well.
Restaurants do this frequently with their food. You often see it presented in a way that makes you imagine sitting there getting ready to eat. You can place yourself in the moment and imagine it being prepared. That is the key to connecting with your clients. You want to make them see themselves in the image, living that life, enjoying that setting, or wearing those clothes. The more they learn and understand about you and your products, the easier the sell.
The following 5 reasons will help provide ideas as to how to make this happen and further the discussion of why you need to consider it. It’s not a huge change to what most companies are currently doing, just a different take on how to present it.
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Create a Connection
Creating an image that connects with the viewer/clients is a huge part of the process! Anytime you can make someone see themselves using your product is a big win and half the battle. It doesn’t matter if it’s food, clothing, cars, or a cleaning service, you want to pull the viewer in and have them see themselves in that setting. Again, food and auto manufacturers do this well. It becomes a bit trickier when you look at manufacturing, employment, and other various products as creating context can be difficult, but not impossible. The tendency is to lean heavily on stock images, but that’s another discussion and doesn’t really help build your image.
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Create Impact
What grabs your attention more, an image of a fire extinguisher sitting on a table, or one being used to put out a fire? The one in use has more impact and drives home why you need one. It’s a powerful statement and a very useful demonstration of how items can be presented in a more impactful way than just sitting static. Presenting the usefulness of your product will cement it and your company in the mind of the consumer.
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Build Brand Value
Achieving this is just another way to solidify your brand and product in the minds of consumers. Capturing and displaying the usefulness of a tool or the fun you can have and places you can go with a vehicle all help people understand why they would want it or need it. Never assume people get it. Creating an image that shows the value always helps move someone to the next stage of purchasing.
Take safety as an example. Promoting content that focuses on the time spent researching how to make a product safer for consumers is a huge selling point. Something that is very true for vehicles, products for children, and a number of household items including that fire extinguisher. It demonstrates the care and thoughtfulness that goes into product development.
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Explain the Process
Often, this is the best way to sell something. Focus on the ‘how’ something is made, the people involved in making it as well as the end-use. Tell the story, provide the history. The more that is known, the more you strengthen that connection with the buyer. Help them understand why you are not like other companies. Explain why your products are better and safer.
Companies that have been in communities for extended periods or have deep family ties can take advantage of their own history and what about them has enabled them to last so long. There is a reason they made it to this point so it should be talked about. The more that can be learned about a company and how they bring products to market, the better.
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Become the Authority
The more information you put out about your business and the products made, the more you will become the authority on the topic. Your costumes will develop trust and view you as the go-to for their needs and you will see retention rise as well.
Together, these 5 items will aid you in getting your message out, your product/services better known and understood. Creating and sharing content can often be viewed as a daunting task, but most companies have a wealth of it. They just need to take the time to look at their own processes and talk about it.
Time spent developing and promoting content will lead to more traffic, greater SEO value, better customer retention, and more valuable leads.
