Images Or Words – Which Has More Impact In Marketing?

Graphic designers will tell you that marketing is all about images. Copywriters will tell you it’s all about the power of words. But which really does have more impact in marketing?

The truth is that images and words can both play an equally important part. It all comes down to knowing how to use them in the right settings. This guide explains more about the pros of both images and words.

Images Are Processed Much Faster Than Words

The human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than words. In instances, where you need to communicate your message quickly, images are essential.

This is why a billboard or a Facebook ad made up entirely of words is a bad idea – you need to be able to quickly grab someone’s attention while driving past a billboard or scrolling through social media and a striking image can guarantee that.

Words Provide Important Specific Detail

An image can indeed be ‘worth a thousands words’, however an image can also be easily misinterpreted, which is why some words are often needed to provide clarity.

When it comes to providing specific detail, words are necessary. In situations where consumers may only have a few seconds to read or listen to an ad, these words need to be carefully chosen in order to highlight only the most important information. In situations where consumers are willing to spend much more time engaging with your content, much longer and more comprehensive content can be beneficial (such as online product descriptions or podcasts).

Images Are Easier To Remember

There are definitely times when words can leave a lasting impression – such as with catchy slogans and interesting facts. However, in general, a person will only remember 10% of the text or audio that they consume. We’re much better at recalling images. Consequently, for times when you want to leave a lasting impact, it’s good to use images.

Images are a big part of branding – a strong logo, color scheme and fonts can help people to remember your company.

Words Can Be Searched

Words have the benefit that you can search them. When it comes to inbound marketing (encouraging customers to come to you rather than advertising to your customers), keywords are often necessary for helping customers to find you. You cannot search for an image – not without using words.

When it comes to creating searchable web content, SEO services are often worth hiring to help you find the right keywords and implement them properly. With things like social media marketing, hashtags can play a similar role to keywords, helping people searching for terms to find your content.

Both Images And Words Can Build Trust

Images and words are both important for building trust. Images are typically used to provide visual evidence. Many people are more likely to buy a product online if there are photographs provided, while many people trust an online service if photos of employees are provided.

Words meanwhile can be used to show how knowledgeable you are. Blog posts, eBooks, seminars and educational videos all rely on the ability to use words to give people advice – being able to explain things well can prove you’re an expert in your field and that you are a company that should be trusted.

For The Best Results, Use Them Together

Words and images are most effective when used together. Words can help to bring context to images, while images can help bring attention to words. A few effective ways to combine images and words are listed below:

• Support videos with spoken audio commentaries and text to provide detail. Allow captions for people watching videos on mute.
• Accompany any images you share on social media with words and hashtags. This helps to contextualize them and make them possible to search.
• Use images in blog posts that can serve as attention-grabbing thumbnails. It’s also worth breaking up long written posts with multiple images to keep up engagement.
• Add emojis to emails subject lines to make them stand out more and get more opens.
• Combine words and images together when providing stats in the form of infographics – these can help to make such stats comprehensive and memorable.