There’s a common trend that’s popping up throughout many creative industries. I’ve been a part of it and perhaps you have been, too.
Many business owners have started to make the move from service-based offerings - like web design and photography - to e-courses and digital products. Look around on most business-based websites and you’ll see a myriad of great courses, online workshops, digital downloads, ebooks, themes, templates, and software.
Along with those digital products come a myriad of helpful resources for how to create them. But there’s one thing no one seems to be talking about...
There’s little information out there geared toward effectively marketing your e-course (or any other product, for that matter) so that it sells well.
Too many people put the majority of their time and effort into creating their offering, only to put little time and effort into promoting it. They create a quick photo or graphic, give it a mention on social media, and expect people to come running.
But no one comes. Or at least not as many people as they had hoped.
Maybe you’ve experienced that in the past. Or maybe you’re in the process of creating a product or service and fear results like those in the future.
If you’re in either of those boats, you’re in need of a marketing plan. A step-by-step guide that helps you create a clever, effective campaign and carry it out to completion. A resource that helps you research your market, come up with a fitting concept, create strong graphics, and promote those graphics on several different outlets. A plan that ultimately steps up your marketing efforts and brings in more sales.
That’s what I’ve been working to create for you these past couple months (which explains why I’ve been a little on the quiet side lately).
This new offering is without a doubt the most beneficial resource I’ve ever created for Elle & Company readers. It’s a guide I wish I had worked through 2 years ago when I first launched my business, because marketing is a crucial part of selling any product or service.
Especially at a time when the internet is getting so inundated with content and everyone is vying for customers’ attention.
Check out these crazy statistics: 1.5 billion individual units of content are out in the cyber world right now, 2 million videos are being uploaded each day, along with 140 million new daily tweets. Knowing this, business owners should be doing everything possible to grab consumers’ attention with the content they share online.
But how? Where do you start? How can you quickly grab people’s attention among a sea of other content?
The answer lies in strong visuals.
There’s a time and place for content marketing through newsletters, blog posts, podcasts, and the like, but if you want to quickly generate interest among potential customers and give them a positive first impression of your offering, you must create strong visuals within your marketing campaigns.
And here’s why.
1 | Visual content is processed faster
Our brains can only process a limited amount of information at any given time, so any data that can be processed faster takes precedence in grabbing someone’s attention.
Visuals like photos, graphics, and videos are easier to process than lines and paragraphs of text. In fact, the time it takes the human brain to process visual information is 60,000 times faster than the time it takes it to decode text.
2 | Visual content makes up 93% of all human communication
70% of all humans’ sensory receptors are all concentrated inside a person’s eye, which explains why we’re so responsive to visuals.
This also explains why 65% of us are visual learners.
3 | Visual content gains more exposure
Businesses have the potential to generate up to 94% more views on social media, simply by adding a compelling visual element or graphic to their posts.
4 | Visual content generates more shares
Visual marketing tools like infographics and memes have a greater chance of going viral through an increase in likes and shares.
And if the visual content is syndicated in a form that’s clickable (like a pin or a mention on another website), you have the potential to gain numerous inbound links. High-quality and relevant inbound links can boost your rankings in search engines.
5 | Visual content encourages viewers to take action
40% of online users provide more favorable responses to visual content as opposed to text-based content.
Studies also show that people following directions with text and illustrations do 323% better than people following directions without illustrations.
6 | Visual content is more memorable
This quote from Forbes says it well:
“Harnessing the power of images and visuals will make your marketing more powerful and more memorable. Images — when done deftly –can turn concepts and intangible things into something concrete. That helps people envision your brand and your message in their mind’s eye — and remember you when it comes times to buy.”
Visual marketing continues to be a growing field for this very reason. Now, more than ever, creative entrepreneurs are recognizing the need to create strong visuals to effectively market their e-courses and other digital products.
But recognizing the need and knowing how to create a full-blown visual marketing campaign from start to finish are two very different things. The majority of business owners aren’t struggling with the why, they’re struggling with the how.
And that’s where Elle & Company’s new e-course comes in.
