It’s no surprise our society has become drawn to imagery and video. We see this type of media everywhere, particularly the growing presence on social platforms. Platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat and YouTube all rose to popularity quickly and include minimal text. So why is it useful for you to be including imagery in your online marketing initiatives?

Social Media Today showcased some really interesting facts about why visual marketing resonates so strongly with consumers and more importantly, why you should really be using it within your marketing strategy. Here are some of the most interesting facts we took away from it!

1. Our brain processes visuals 60,00 times faster than text. It typically takes 2 times longer to process and recognize words, however only 13 milliseconds to understand the meaning of an image, which is 10 times faster than the blink of an eye.
2. 93% of human communication is nonverbal with 50-80% of the human brain being dedicated to visual processing. This includes:
   1. Vision
   2. Visual Memory
   3. Colors
   4. Shapes
   5. Movement
   6. Patterns
   7. Spatial Awareness
   8. Image Recollection
3. When it comes to advertising, people read colored advertisements 42% more than non-colored ones and using colors for your business increases consumers’ brand recognition by 80%!

So what does this mean for your dealership’s marketing strategy?

1. 1. Use visuals throughout your website! Make sure your website isn’t too text-heavy. 81% of people skim content and want the ability to get information quickly without the trouble of reading through a lot of text in order to get to the point.
   2. Include photos of your inventory! Including your own photos is reported to help boost results. In one instance mentioned by Social Media Today, a real photo generated 35% higher results than a stock photo. Your customers will want to see what they’re really getting!
   3. Include staff photos in your emails! In another scenario mentioned by the SMT article, adding photos of their staff to the customer service phone number increased conversions by 21%. People want to know who they’re working with so have your employees include their headshot in the signature of their emails and see what happens!

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Our brain is literally wired to process and recall visual information more so than text. We actually only retain 10-20% of information we read, but if paired with an image this retention increases to 65%. So with that being said, check out this infographic from iScribblers to help you better remember the information we provided in this post!