How to tell a story using images
By Opeyemi Obembe
A picture they say is worth a thousand words. A thousand words that you can grab with just a glance or one that seduces you to look more, to see more, to understand more or to ask more questions.
Research suggests that vision is our dominant sense. Seeing takes up to 50% of the brain’s resources, making us literally hardwired to respond to images. While one can argue that texts are also visual, images do a better job of reaching into our brains and affecting the intuitive, emotional parts of us. This makes images a powerful marketing and storytelling tool.
In marketing, image is a very essential tool that is used to convey message faster to the consumers, and in return give results that indicate strategic stimulation of the sense (sight) of the consumer in the marketing process. The image of your product/service/brand can send a message without a single word. Images also help to make sales faster and better.
4 tips to help you tell your story using images
- Know your audience
As a photojournalist/Visual storyteller/Content marketer, understand that the images are for your audience, not for you. You need to know what kind of images your audience wants to see or which ones tells your story or passes your message the best.
Trusting your instincts can be applied when you know what your audience wants to see. You serve as the eyes for your audience, and then your audience serves as the judge/critic.
Professionals in this field make a lot of mistakes by not doing adequate research on their audience. Your images aren’t meant for everyone, you must have a particular target audience.
- Plan your images
After doing your research on the images your audience wants to see and then go out to the field to take the pictures, know the type of images you want to produce and originality should be your watchword.
Before telling a story, you need to know the kind of story you want to tell and the right images to use for the story.
Know if single or several images will be good to make your audience understand your message. Single image won’t give a full story unless you back it up with captions. Plan your images and arrange them accordingly.
- Show your images to people
Show your images to people to see their reactions; they say nobody is an island of knowledge. If you don’t show your images to people to react, how would you know if you’ve done a good job?
People reactions will tell you if you’ve actually achieved your aim or otherwise. Adjust and correct your mistakes before uploading it for your clients to see. You can’t have a perfect image but research and practice make it perfect.
- Let your images do the talking
After showing your images to people and you’ve adjusted all the necessary areas if need be, upload your images to the targeted audience and allow them to give feedback. Let your images do the talking while they criticize the images.
Did you find these tips helpful? How do you choose what images to incorporate in your marketing and storytelling? Follow us on social media and leave a comment!
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