As a digital marketer, it’s easy to say that visual content marketing is in demand online. Visual content can expand our mindset and narrow down businesses that we’d want to work with. Why would we want to work with them in the first place?
Building trust with visual content marketing happens all the time offline however it’s a bit harder to do online. I have a bit of story for you – I live in the countryside in Indiana where we use our own well water therefore we have a septic tank (basically a sewer for ya’ll city folk – haha). We’re fairly new to the whole “country life” and so we’re learning new things on the farm all the time. The septic tank is no exception. Now I know our local newspaper has ads for companies but I didn’t have to think about what business to call. Do you know why? Every week we get the newspaper with a septic tank company listed on the front page with a blaring red 4-letter logo. They happen to be down the street. They’re the house with the cattle and with a bunch of trucks with their big red logo. I guess you can say I “see” them almost every day.
I’ve never talked to anyone about septic tanks or really know how they work. As I looked in the newspaper there were other businesses that could do the job. Guess who I picked for the job? The one that I’ve seen over and over in the weekly paper and on my drive. Why?! That’s visual marketing! You have to put your brand out there in the world. The other businesses in the paper seemed qualified but I had acquired a trust factor with this other business. My mind had already been set that they were qualified and they would help me. Isn’t that weird how the brain works?
Think about how this translates into online visual content marketing. Every time you use an image you are educating your audience with your brand. What’s your brand and business making them feel? The emotions they sense will develop a sense of TRUST. If you can develop that sense of trust then they will most likely go to you for their problems.
Here’s Building Trust with Visual Content Marketing in 3 Simple Ways:
1. Logo
Have it clear and concise. It doesn’t have to be fancy but it does need to represent your business in a direct way. Check out the Goodwill logo – it represents happy and… goodwill.
Goodwill is always a business that I know I can support from so many years of seeing them while driving and knowing their cause educates me to want to be a part of their cause. I trust them! Learn more about logo inspiration and design here at Digital Synopsis. Lot’s of great looking logos!
2. Blog
Yes, that’s right your blog represents you and many people still don’t understand how important it is to have for their business. Now I’m not saying to do it daily or weekly but have it consistent. Every month, biweekly, weekly… no matter how frequent you blog make it consistent. The more people “see” your blog then you can start building trust. The most important part of the blog is after you write it up because once you hit publish the masses will not come. Believe me! haha There are so many tips about blogs however the biggest tip that I can provide is to have images with your blog to make them shareable. That’s basically your “ad” just like the newspaper I read. If you have an image to represent your blog and your brand then people will notice.
Check out how blog title images can really have an impact for your blog here with a little DIY with Canva. It’s easy and free!
3. Social Media
Social media can be a bit shady, right?! Spammers, trolls, and so-called marketing gurus are to blame therefore social media is really a BIG part of gaining trust. People get skeptical with dealing with others on social media. This is when you can engage conversations with your audience. How can it be done? With images! Twitter is a great example of where the use of images can start up great conversations. Take a look below! 
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsA soothing image with a thank you note along with a logo and branding colors helped to start a fun conversation and starts building trust.
Groups on social media as well can help greatly with building trust. This is where you have your profile image next to your great advice or comment to an issue a group member has. On Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and other social media groups, there are always rules to abide and the first rule is usually not to be a spammer. No one likes spam. Therefore use the groups to be helpful and offer advice when asked if it’s of your expertise. There are many times I’ll go on Facebook and have notifications where people mention me because they’re talking about Canva. It’s pretty funny how my obsession of Canva has left me as the go-to person on all things Canva. haha I don’t mind!
[tweet_box inject=”Having your social media profiles in line with your brand makes a difference. Build that trust. via tigerlilyva11″]Having your social media profiles in line with your brand makes a difference in offering advice too.[/tweet_box]
People will recognize you easily and feel they can trust you, especially if you use a photo of yourself and not of your logo. Of course I have to include video on social media as well. The best videos are impromptu with tips. With Periscope having exploded onto the Twitter scene, it really changed how visual marketing is expected in social media. Facebook is also following suit with their own live video broadcasting.
Think of social media as the phone call you have with a local business. This is the opportunity to ask questions, verify their qualifications, if their customer service is excellent, and if you really want to work together.
What Are Your Thoughts for Building Trust?
Do you agree that people are more likely to trust you when you engage with them with visual content marketing? Give it a try and get those conversations going!
Take care,
Tigerlily 
Hi Lillian,
It sure takes time to build trust! But as long as we are persistent in having some kind of process we follow every day it sure does work. I love Canva and use it to make my own images on social media.
I always see that the one’s I make get more conversations going than anything else. Yes we are visual people and need to brand ourselves some way. I don’t have a logo yet….have been thinking about it for some time now lol.
But I do brand myself with my picture and on anything I do create visually I do put “image by: donnamerrilltribedotcom.
-Donna
Hi Donna,
It does take time to build trust!
I know you’ve been doing your Canva images and I’ve seen the engagement. You go girl!
Although you don’t have a logo yet, you still have your photo that people can easily get a sense of trust in working with you. You know the face to the name is a HUGE trust indicator for most.
Thanks for stopping by!
Lillian
Such a informative article.
I did see all the links, others may miss them.
Blog images
Material Plaette
Psychology of Color
Creating a Blog Title Image Using Canva with 6 Easy Steps
For Your Brand
Great article Lillian.
Hi Kathryn,
I’m glad you visited the other links to learn more! Thanks for reading this article and I’m glad it provided useful tips.
Take care,
Lillian
Visual content is a subject that really enthuses me, Lilian, and one I often post about. People love images and our brains are wired to process information in them quicker than pure text. I certainly get more engagement using them although because of the different image shape for Twitter, rather than Instagram or Facebook, I haven’t used them too much on there. Thank you for jogging my memory. Another thing for my to-do list 🙂
Whereas an image on a blog post has to be relevant to the topic, there’s always a quote or comment you can add to an image that applies. On Social Media you can let rip and bring out your personality much more. You can use them to motivate, inspire and offer help in the way of tips.
Hi Sue!
I’m so glad visual content enthuses you too! You’ll definitely get more engagement using images.
It makes me so happy that you agree on posting images and quotes to expand on your blog post in social media.
Thanks for visiting!
Lillian
Well, there’s good news and some bad news here… The good news is you gave a wonderful overview for visual content marketing. You did a great job!
The bad news? You’ve just reminded me that I have to set up a Twitter “Thank You” that’s meaningful and represents my brand, my “visual” signature if you will. More to do, oh my!
Thank you Lillian for another great post! 🙂
Deborah
Hi Deborah!
haha That’s not bad news at all! That’s good news. Think about all your followers and how happy they’ll be.
I’m so glad you like this post!
Take care,
Lillian
I am very new to blogging and all the posts I have posted as of now have pictures and videos included. I love Visual content a lot and I believe visual content is by far the best way to convey a message to everyone easily and effectively. This post of you has given me more information of visual content marketing.
Hi Gurunath,
Welcome to my blog! It’s nice to see a new face.
I’m so glad to hear you use visual content on your blog. I’ll be sure to visit you!
Take care,
Lillian
Hello Lillian, what a great post, I loved all your tips my friend! I have never really given a Logo much thought but I have really been putting together a lot of images using ME!
And I have been getting a lot more engagement from this as well. Always a work in progress HUH?
Thanks for sharing and do have an Amazing Day
Chery :))
Oh my goodness Chery! I almost didn’t get to see your comment as it was in my SPAM folder. That would’ve been a shame!
Thanks so much for stopping by. Your face is actually better than a logo. I’m sure you get a lot of engagement with your contagious smile.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Lillian
Hey there creative woman you … 🙂
WOW.. look what you have created! A FANTASTIC blog! You are so right! Your blog is the place where people will get a “feel” for who you are … and get to know you the best .. to build that KLT factore which is so important. Congratulations to you for all you have accomplished in such a short time …
Well hello there creative woman!
I’m so happy you came to visit my blog and that you like it!
Thanks so much!
Lillian 🙂
Hi Lillian,
I saw this pop up in my Twitter feed and really enjoyed your straightforward approach to visual marketing. I’ve been working on a new tool this year called RELAY that is a totally new approach to visual content creation. As a virtual assistant, I’d value your opinion and hopefully it will prove to be a huge time saving tool for virtual assistants everywhere. 🙂
Craig Carpenter
relaythat.com
Hey there Craig,
I saw the announcement of RELAY that and I signed up for it however I haven’t had a chance to play with it yet. Congrats on the visual creation tool!
I’ll definitely take some time to check it out.
Thanks for stopping by!
Take care,
Lillian
You can certainly build trust with warm and friendly images, Lillian.
You do a wonderful job of that on your blog, and have certainly built credibility as a Canva expert.
Having seen all your work over a period of time, I’d certainly trust you as a person to turn to for design and image work. That’s what branding with images can do for your business. And the great thing about images is that people just see them… no need to read, interpret or try to figure out. They just see it and the brand goes straight to the brain, as you say. It’s a fast track to gaining confidence.
Thanks for the interesting post, nice images, and excellent septic service hookup!
Hey David,
Thanks for your kind words!
It is quite amazing how branding works along with how our brain works. By the way, the septic system is working awesome and I think I know way more than I want to know about it now. It’s been an education to say the least! haha
Take care,
Lillian
Great information! It so important to understand brand in logo, blog and social – realize that you need to be uniform and mass produced that brand across your media! I have many posts on the same topic and agree that each of these topics could go on forever to really get into your business online
Hi George,
I’m so glad you like this article and know the importance of building trust with visual marketing.
Thanks for stopping by,
Lillian
There are many ways to start a blog. Choose a blogging platform, a domain name, and hosting option. Design your blog using a simple theme, modify your blog to get your desired look and feel, select the best plugins for your blog, write compelling content that adds value to readers.