5 Steps to Building an Effective Visual Message

Contributed by Melissa Baker
Sept 20, 2016

Graphics say so much while actually saying so little. People need to receive the message with only about 20% of the graphic being text, to be most effective. How do you do that? It’s not always easy but when you get it right, it is so powerful! Of course you can hire a graphic designer and if you are doing a professional mailer, business card or something going out to the masses that needs to truly represent you, let your vendor do the artwork. Social media, blogs and other things don’t always require the professional touch but should still tell the story with a great visual. Let’s get started on how to construct an effective visual message.

1. Know your audience. Is there a pain point you are tapping into? Is there a specific demographic you need to have relate to your visual?

2. Where are you posting? Size is key and depending on the platform your work might get stretched into “oBLURvion” or worse, cut off.

3. What do you want them to “hear”. Choose your photo based on what it is telling you…they may not read ANY of your text…that photo must say a thousand words.

4. Solve the problem in one great phrase. With such limited text you need to pinpoint the problem and solution into one phrase. Re-iterate the photos message with the direction focused on your business. For example in the photo I have included here, the plant has sprung to life in a place that seemed desolate to be fruitful, the text reiterates the photo and points then thought process to a business issue and solution.

5. INCLUDE YOUR LOGO AND CONTACT INFO.

If you are interested in some great resources for free and low cost photos, check out our Facebook post with direct links to some sites we use: https://www.facebook.com/PinDotMedia/photoresources

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