The Visual Marketing Revolution: 26 Rules to Help Social Media Marketers Connect the Dots

by Stephanie Diamond

Overview

Get Straight to Your Customer’s Mind, Heart, Buy Button…Visually!

Skip past the filters: jump straight into your customer’s powerful visual instinct, where 83% of all human learning is processed. Craft messages that can be brilliantly expressed visually. Then, brilliantly express them. Learn the modern and timeless arts of visual persuasion from a master: Stephanie Diamond. Design irresistible visual persona. Tell masterful visual stories. Create breakthrough images, infographics, and video. Use all the visual social tools at your disposal, from Instagram to Pinterest to YouTube. Words can’t express what you need to say. Visuals will. Get this book: see how.

• Think visually to solve marketing challenges text can’t handle
• Utilize visual maps to craft sharper messages and strategies
• Guide prospects on a visual journey they simply must follow
• Make abstract ideas intensely real and tangible
• Visually boost the effectiveness of emails, landing pages, and case studies
• Leverage new presentation tools that go way beyond PowerPoint
• Clear away obstacles to action with infographics, checklists, and worksheets
• Add visuals to deepen engagement on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+
• Create outstanding low-cost video for marketing and tutorials
• Optimize your visuals for tablets and smartphones
• Quickly improve social media performance with intuitive new visual tools

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780789748652
Publisher:	Que
Publication date:	05/30/2013
Series:	Que Biz-Tech Series
Pages:	343
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Stephanie Diamond is a thought leader and management marketing professional with 20-plus years of experience in building profits in more than 75 different industries. She has worked with solopreneurs, small-business owners, and multibillion-dollar corporations. As a best-selling author, she has written six business books, including Social Media Marketing for Dummies and Social CRM for Dummies.

She worked for eight years as a Marketing Director at AOL. When she joined, there were fewer than 1 million subscribers. When she left in 2002, there were 36 million. While at AOL, she developed a highly successful line of multimedia products that brought in an annual $40 million in incremental revenue.

In 2002, Stephanie founded Digital Media Works, Inc. (DigMediaWorks.com), an online marketing company that helps business owners discover the hidden profits in their businesses. She is passionate about guiding online companies to successfully generate more revenue and find their real value.

As a strategic thinker, Stephanie uses all the current visual thinking techniques and brain research to help companies get to the essence of their brands. She continues to focus on helping companies understand and communicate their value to customers.

Stephanie received a BA in Psychology from Hofstra University and an MSW and MPH from the University of Hawaii. She lives in New York with her husband and Maltese named Colby.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION 1

Part I: Rules for Social Media Marketers

1 RECOGNIZE THE POWER OF VISUAL PERSUASION 7

What You Need to Know 7

The Power of Visuals and Text 10

Evaluate Your Online Ability to Persuade 10

A Visual Marketing Method 13

Relationship Building 15

Scarcity 15

Banner with Story and Graphics 15

Green Attitude 16

Word of Mouth for More Social Proof 16

Liking, Belonging, and Listening to Feedback 16

Reciprocity 16

Toe in the Water 16

Social Proof 17

WIIFM 17

Authority 17

Tools to Consider 17

Ideas to Use 17

Idea Map 18

Endnotes 18

2 CREATE PERSONAS TO UNDERSTAND YOUR CUSTOMERS 19

What You Need to Know 20

Understand Your Niche 20

Speak the Language of Your Buyers 23

Use Personas to Clarify Your Target Market 24

Overcoming Obstacles 25

A Visual Marketing Method 25

Ideas to Use 29

Idea Map 30

Endnotes 30

3 SOCIAL MEDIA IS STORYTELLING, SO TELL STORIES 31

What You Need to Know 31

The Bigger Picture 32

Customers Get Swept Up 33

Why Are Business Stories Difficult to Get Right? 34

The Story Structure 35

A Visual Marketing Method 37

Capturing Existing Stories 37

Tools to Consider 39

Ideas to Use 39

Idea Map 40

Endnotes 40

4 UNDERSTAND HOW YOUR CONTENT SUPPORTS YOUR BUSINESS 41

What You Need to Know 41

How Content Fits In 42

The Power of Great Content 43

Snackable Visual Content 44

Make a Commitment 44

A Visual Marketing Method 46

Ideas to Use 49

Idea Map 49

Endnotes 49

5 TAKE BUYERS ON A JOURNEY 51

What You Need to Know 51

How We Buy Online 52

Problem 53

Personas 54

Options 55

Details 55

Buy 57

Satisfaction 57

A Visual Marketing Method 58

Ideas to Use 59

Idea Map 60

6 CONNECT USING COLLABORATION’S MANY FORMS 61

What You Need to Know 61

Forms of Collaboration 62

In-House Collaboration (Employee to Employee) 63

Co-Creation (Employee to Customers) 63

Crowdsourcing (Company to Experts) 65

Crowd Funding (Experts to Customers) 66

Ideas to Use 67

Idea Map 68

Endnotes 68

7 KNOW YOUR CONTENT 69

What You Need to Know 69

Topic Inventory 71

A Visual Marketing Method 72

Ideas to Use 74

Idea Map 75

Endnotes 75

Part II: Tools to Help You Create Your Visual Marketing

8 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW 79

Why Mind Maps Intimidate Some People 80

Principles of Good Mind Maps 81

Using Mind Maps for Online Marketing 82

Mind Maps Are Useful for Work Groups 83

A Visual Marketing Method 84

Tools to Consider 86

Ideas to Use 87

Idea Map 88

Endnotes 88

9 MAKE IDEAS TANGIBLE 89

What You Need to Know 89

Create Artifacts 91

Benefits of Tangible Ideas 92

Making Your Ideas Visible 92

Physical Tools That Make Ideas Visible 93

A Visual Marketing Method 97

Tools to Consider 99

Ideas to Use 100

Idea Map 100

Endnotes 100

10 USE DIAGRAMS AND OTHER DATA VISUALIZATION TOOLS TO EXPLAIN MARKETING IDEAS 103

What You Need to Know 103

Benefits of Diagrams 105

Types of Diagrams to Consider 106

Tools to Consider 110

Ideas to Use 111

Idea Map 111

Endnotes 112

11 USE VISUAL GUIDES THAT BUILD ON KNOWLEDGE 113

What You Need to Know 113

Types of Templates 114

Structures for Business Writing 117

Design Templates 117

Checklists as Guides 118

Make Checklists Valuable 120

Tools to Consider 120

Ideas to Use 121

Idea Map 121

Endnotes 121

12 USE VISUAL PRESENTATIONS TO CONNECT WITH AN AUDIENCE 123

What You Need to Know 123

Smarter and Better 124

Understanding the Lizard Brain 125

Look at Examples 126

Tools to Consider 127

A Visual Marketing Method 129

Ideas to Use 132

Idea Map 133

Endnotes 133

Part III: Content to Get Customer Attention

13 EMAIL IS STILL A POWERFUL VISUAL MARKETING TOOL 137

What You Need to Know 137

Using QR Codes 139

Finding Images 141

Tools to Consider 143

A Visual Marketing Method 143

Ideas to Use 147

Idea Map 148

Endnotes 148

14 SPREAD YOUR MESSAGE WITH INFOGRAPHICS 149

What You Need to Know 149

Why We Love Infographics 150

Look at Examples 153

Tools to Consider 154

A Visual Marketing Method 155

Process You Can Try 155

Ideas to Use 158

Idea Map 159

Endnotes 159

15 DEVELOP CASE STUDIES AND REPORTS WITH VISUALS 161

What You Need to Know 161

Resources for Examples of CSR 162

Finding Your CSR Online 163

A Visual Marketing Method 165

Ideas to Use 171

Idea Map 172

Endnotes 172

16 DIGITAL PUBLISHING AND EBOOKS ARE HERE NOW—USE THEM 173

What You Need to Know 173

A Visual Marketing Method 174

Purpose/Revenue 175

Content 178

Document Conversion and Distribution 179

Added-Value 181

Promotion 182

Importance of Book Cover and Visuals 183

Ideas to Use 185

Idea Map 186

Endnotes 186

17 ROCK YOUR VISUAL BRAND ON SOCIAL MEDIA 187

What You Need to Know 187

Analyzing Your Brand 190

Visual Expectations 195

A Visual Marketing Method 198

Ideas to Use 198

Idea Map 198

Endnotes 199

18 LANDING PAGES WON’T PERFORM WELL WITHOUT VISUALS 201

What You Need to Know 201

About Landing Pages 202

Rules of Persuasion 203

Mechanisms of a Landing Page 204

Components 205

Where Are Buyers in the Journey? 205

Effective Handshake 206

Email Marketing 206

A Visual Marketing Method 207

Basecamp Software 207

WorkFlowy 209

SEOmoz 211

Tools to Consider 213

Ideas to Use 214

Idea Map 214

Endnote 214

PART IV: Tactics for Social Media Platforms

19 VISUALS ARE A MUST ON FACEBOOK 217

What You Need to Know 217

A More Visual Facebook 220

A Visual Marketing Method 222

Ideas to Use 228

Idea Map 229

Endnotes 229

20 USE TWITTER TO LINK TO VISUALS 231

What You Need to Know 231

A More Visual Twitter 233

Tools to Consider 237

A Visual Marketing Method 239

Ideas to Use 242

Idea Map 242

Endnotes 243

21 INSTAGRAM IS GREAT FOR QUICK VISUALS FROM YOUR MOBILE 245

What You Need to Know 245

A Word about Captions 248

Why Instagram Is Great for Social Media 248

What Should You Promote? 251

A Visual Marketing Method 251

Using Instagram Photos as Part of a Business Plan 253

A Healthcare Company Educating People Around the World 254

Ideas to Use 255

Idea Map 256

Endnotes 256

22 USE PINTEREST AS A MARKETING HUB 257

What You Need to Know 257

Pinterest for Business 259

Value to Your Customers When You Use Pinterest 261

What Makes Pinterest Great for Social Media? 262

Tools to Consider 266

A Visual Marketing Method 268

Ideas to Use 271

Idea Map 272

Endnotes 272

23 TUMBLR MAKES IT EASY TO SHARE VISUALS 273

What You Need to Know 273

Getting Started with a Tumblog 274

Blog Types 275

Posting 275

Curation 276

Why Tumblr Is Great for Social Media 278

Tools to Consider 280

A Visual Marketing Method 280

Themes/Branding 284

Promoting Your Tumblog 285

Ideas to Use 285

Idea Map 286

Endnotes 286

24 GOOGLE+ IS MORE VISUAL THAN YOU THINK 287

What You Need to Know 287

Getting Started with Google+ 289

Why Google+ Is Great for Social Media 291

Tools to Consider 292

A Visual Marketing Method 293

Ideas to Use 296

Idea Map 297

Endnotes 297

25 MOBILE APPS PROVIDE VISUAL OPPORTUNITIES 299

What You Need to Know 299

Can Visual Reinvention Work? 301

Tools to Consider 303

More productive 303

Educate and Entertain Your Customers 307

Encourage Staff Collaboration 309

A Visual Marketing Method 310

Capturing Your Handwritten Notes 312

Social Media Sharing 313

Ideas to Use 314

Idea Map 314

Endnotes 315

26 YOUTUBE IS THE PLACE TO VIEW VIDEOS 317

What You Need to Know 317

Getting Started with YouTube 318

Why YouTube Is Great for Social Media 321

Promotion 323

Tools to Consider 325

Screen Recorders 325

Advanced Software 325

Animated Videos 326

A Visual Marketing Method 327

Ideas to Use 328

Idea Map 329

Endnotes 329

INDEX 331