Have you noticed how many people settle into non-reading as adults? According to Pew Research, 27% of the population haven’t read a book in the last year…and these are your shoppers. What does that tell you? It tells me that visual content is just as important as words, maybe more so!

As much as it breaks my heart to see adults miss out on literature, it’s happening. Even reading books on electronic devices changes how we interpret the data. I have Kindle on my phone and on an Ipad, so it’s not that I don’t appreciate the convenience, but I will be among the first to admit that it’s not the same. On a phone, the data is parsed out in small segments, so instead of the eye sweeping across a page of text and assimilating sentences in a single breath, sometimes it tiptoes into my brain in bits and pieces. I fail to grasp some of the author’s intent and the grandeur of words chosen for a specific intent. The same thing happens when your message gets lost in a lot of words…raise your hand if you’ve read this far!

Raise your had if you jumped in right about here! The picture draws the eye, doesn’t it? Graphics make a huge difference in getting your message across.

I will be attracted to the one that stimulates more than the sense of color. I may have to search for what I want, but the rich visual content promises me an adventure.

In much the same way, when you blog and post and create flyers or ads, think in terms of what picture will pique your customer’s interest. If you’d like more information on taking the best pictures, refer to The Ultimate Guide to Visual Content. Most of us are small businesses, so the lure of a hundred varieties of the same shirt isn’t realistic, but the promise of an adventure is well within our means, and in the midst of a pandemic and a looming recession, may be the only adventure some of us will have this winter, lol. Attract your customers with rich visual content.