Are you looking for home improvement marketing ideas to help grow your business?
These days, content marketing has become one of the most effective ways to reach out and engage with new customers, and content that includes visuals gets up to 94% more views than content without.
The bottom line here? Images are a powerful way to get more out of your marketing. But how can home improvement companies best use this to their advantage?
If you want to find out, keep reading. Below, I’ve included the absolute best visual content marketing tips for home improvement companies compiled from across the interweb.
1. Amplify your traffic with infographics
Did you know that in the space of just over two years, the volume of traffic searching for infographics has increased by 800%? They’re also liked and shared three times more on social media than any other type of content, proving we’re hungry for infographics.
The reason infographics are rising in popularity is because they often combine powerful visuals with compelling, easily-digestible statistics and facts, which prove oh-so popular with wide audiences.
If you have access to a graphic designer, or want to take advantage of some of the free online tools yourself, you could create some fun infographics to go with your content! Your infographics don’t have to be overly complicated, either.
Perhaps you could use findings from your own customer data to create something you could share about your bestselling products, services or buyer behaviour. Or you could research some outside facts and put together a brief history timeline of your industry. People love reading quick facts!
Just remember to cite any outside sources you use.
2. Generate buzz and increase sales with visual ‘teases’
If you’re gearing up to launch a new product or service, or an upcoming blog post that deserves a lot of attention, you could use visuals to post a ‘tease‘ on what’s coming. Whether that’s a sneak peak of the product you’re launching, or a hint of an upcoming post, it gets people talking first.
A video tease could be a powerful way of generating buzz, especially for mobile users. Did you know that halfway through 2015, mobile video plays increased by 74% up from 2014? And consumers who view video are 174% more likely to make a purchase, so even more reason to get that buzz going!
3. Help customers make faster decisions with ‘how to’ videos
Continuing on the theme of video for a second; sharing practical, actionable content is always seen to be great value for customers, and video is bigger than ever now, with 1 billion mobile videos views on YouTube every day. And 90% of users say that videos about products are helpful in the decision making process.
So, if you look at all of the questions people ask you about your products and/or services, how could your answers translate to video? You could have months’ worth of engaging video content ready to go, including how to solve any problems they’re currently facing.
4. Sell more effectively with video that speaks to customers
Remember that statistic I just mentioned about product videos being more helpful in the decision making process? You could go one step further, and use images and videos that really speak to your customers, by finding out how they use and interact with your products – what they love most about them.
After all, they don’t really care about your business or product; they care about solutions to their problems. So, use that information to create a story based on them, and how it can affect their day-to-day lives – once you put it all together, share it with them and watch the reaction.
Here’s an example from HP of how a simple printer can make such a difference to the lives of one family:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caM3f1k4hzg *INSERT VIDEO*
5. Convert more visitors with powerful calls-to-actions
Visual call-to-actions (or CTAs) can be powerful tools for helping convert visitors into leads, as it provides your visitors with an opportunity to take the next logical step – instead of just leaving your website never to return.
In fact, as mentioned in a previous blog, marketing company Brafton found that adding a relevant CTA button to article templates can increase your revenue by 83% – that’s a statistic not to be sniffed at!
So, don’t underestimate the importance of images when inserting touch points or CTAs onto your website or blog.
6. Increase conversions with customer-generated content
Another fantastic way to introduce more visuals – with minimal effort – is to encourage your customers to tweet, post and share photos of themselves using your product, with your own specific hashtag. You can then share these customer images on your blog, social media platforms and website.
For instance, if you install conservatories, you could encourage your customers to share photos of how happy they are with the finished product – or they could be relaxing in one of your bestselling hot tubs!
You could even display these images elsewhere on your website. Content marketing company Olapic’s clients see an average 4.6% conversion rate when customer photos are displayed on a page, which rises to 9.6% when visitors engage with these photos – almost doubling their conversions.
This is also a great way to increase customer engagement and show that you really care about and listen to your customers.
Want to create visual content yourself?
If you have the time and resources to go about making your content more visual, and want to create attention-grabbing images for yourself, the first thing you should do is sign up to Canva, which allows you to create pictures with text easily and professionally – without the help of a designer.
It could actually save you a significant amount of money, so it’s definitely worth a try!
I’m personally using Canva a lot at the moment for producing quality images to insert into my blogs and content marketing. It’s only $1 per image for use of their images and templates – and you will probably want to use them – although you can also edit your own images for free.
TIP: You can also upgrade your account to the paid version (or try the free 30-day trial first!) which costs only $12.95 (under £10) per month.
Conclusion
I hope this home improvement marketing ideas post has inspired you to start sharing more visual content on your blog and social media platforms. It can take a bit of experimenting, but there is so much to gain, and you could significantly increase your customer engagement and interest in your products.
So, I’d highly recommend trying some of my tips above, and let me know how you get on in the comments section! Need some extra advice, or have any questions? Post a comment below, and I’ll be happy to help!