5 Ways to Drive More Traffic and Sales with Photo Marketing

In today's competitive, information-based economy, Internet marketers must increasingly think "outside the box" to stand out. Therefore, as you seek to establish your online presence, do not underestimate the power of photo marketing, i.e. the use of images, graphics and other visual elements to further your marketing goals.

Thanks to the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, you have the potential to use photo marketing to enhance your profile.In a matter of moments, you can capture photos, add appropriate filtering messages, and make these images go viral by sharing them on your favorite global platforms.

Why should you embrace photo marketing for business and social media marketing purposes? Here are five ways to drive traffic to increase sales by adding more visual elements to your marketing.

1. Stand Out on Social Media

While text-based communication (such as email marketing) is often ignored in an “information overloaded” world, photos strike an immediate and powerful chord with people. All it takes is a quick glance from a follower to trigger comments, likes and additional shares with their followers.
Using photos to gain followers and grow brand recognition has worked remarkably well for celebrities, be they entertainers, athletes or politicians. However, you don't have to be a celebrity to implement photo marketing strategies.

It is often the key to better social engagement.

2. Tap Into an Existing Audience on Social Media
Today, there are well over two billion camera phones in circulation worldwide. This has accelerated the growth of image content and fueled the emergence of photo-centric social networks: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr and many others.The popularity of these networks underlies the reasons to get in on the act by following a simple formula: find, create, upload, share and engage.
3. Improve Search Engine Optimization with Images
A majority of website visitors prefer to contact businesses that show up with a meaningful, high-quality image during local searches. The reasons are simple:

• Images grab your attention and give the business more credibility.
• Photos of your business and to lesser extent business logos are powerful stimuli.
• Images motivate you to contact them about their products and services.

Images also give you another opportunity to get ranked with and found in the search engines.

4. Increase Article (and Other Content) Views

There is a good correlation between photo marketing and article marketing, i.e. the use of articles to drive traffic to your blog, websites etc. for specific purposes. Using images in articles is useful in many niches, but not surprisingly, some niches will benefit more than others.
Some popular areas for combining photos with article marketing include:

• News and Current Events.
• Political Events.
• Sports and Entertainment.
• Food-related niche blogs (e.g. cooking, restaurants, nutrition, etc.)

Of course, you really can use photos no matter what market you are in, as long as it's relevant to the content you are using it with.Tip: Make sure your photos are relevant to the article and use search-optimized keywords for captioning.

5. Use Images for E-commerce Marketing

When it comes to e-commerce, pictures are indeed worth a thousand words. Websites like Amazon.com and eBay owe a large part of their phenomenal success to visuals that pull in prospects and buyers across the business spectrum.
In most retail surveys, consumers claim that they are more influenced by images (and image quality) than other factors like ratings and reviews, specific product information and detailed descriptions.  Apparently, photos on e-commerce sites make the best first impressions.
Photo marketing is at the vanguard of what business insiders have dubbed a “Visual  Content Culture”. If you are a “bricks and mortar” business owner looking to establish an online presence for the first time, photo marketing is for you.

If you are opening an online store, then consider high-definition HD images to draw in more attention and sales. Overall, to get better response rates, add photos to complement your current text and links updates. They work!