Visual content promotion is an essential source for engagement in the advanced digital age. An important component for competing on the web, visual content is the most ideal method to set your business apart from the crowd. The question is, how would you make your content the best when a group of businesses, just like yours are pushing to do likewise?
The winning mantra here is quality and consistency. If you don’t put the work in, and battle to be seen, you won’t be. Advertisers understand this, and put in numerous hours in the background to get things going. However, having the right visual marketing gear up your sleeve – for image creation and streamlining and editing, free-picture sources and image monetization – can truly offer assistance.
Image-creation tools
Canva — A product whose best-known evangelist is marketing legend Guy Kawasaki, Canva is a simple but incredibly effective design tool. Create various styles and types of graphics with a few clicks of your mouse. Best of all, it is free and you don’t have to download anything to use it. This is the best known tool on this list, and one that you have to try for yourself.
PicMonkey — Not well versed in Photoshop? You can get the same effects using PicMonkey, a fantastic online picture-editing software. Edit the photo, touch up the image, add filters, add it to designs or create a collage. You have dozens of features at your fingertips. PicMonkey even has a huge collection of fonts to use, so you can do it all in one place.
Loupe — Shape collages are a great visual tool. With Loupe, you can show off hundreds of images that relate to your brand, campaign or event in a dynamic way. Imagine showing off the photos you took at a recent conference in an interactive heart that allows users to see everything by skimming over it. You can also make cards, or an image-search game. All it takes is a bit of creativity to make this tool really work for you.
DataHero — Thinking of creating a case study or presentation? Don’t forget the visuals! Data is much more enticing if it is being presented in an easily digestible way. People like to see the numbers, not read them. Charts and graphs are the key, and DataHero lets you make them easily. Take your cloud or spreadsheets and convert them into stunning visuals that are fully customizable. You can create and share unlimited charts for free, or take advantage of their premium features.
Evernote Skitch — Everyone has heard of Evernote, the data snippet tool. But not everyone has used some of its additional services, such as the awesome Evernote Skitch. With Skitch, you can annotate and sketch out ideas, points and facts on anything. It connects things visually, and encourages visual forms of communication on an Internet which is becoming increasingly reliant on format. The point is to use fewer words, and instead show what you want to get across.
Optimization and editing tools
JPEGmini — Sometimes you need to shrink an image, but you don’t want to compromise the quality of the original. While graphic designers may be well versed in this skill, laymen won’t be. And, even if they are, they may appreciate a more simple means of doing it. JPEGmini, a service offered by Beamr, condenses your photos into high-quality, smaller versions. You can reduce the size by up to 80 percent without losing visual integrity.
Social Media Resizer — Different social media sites have different image-size requirements. Chasing them down, then editing them in different formats through an editor is incredibly annoying. Social Media Resizer lets you automatically create different sizes for different platforms within minutes. It will seriously cut down on your profile-building time, and let you change all of your accounts with a new image, fast, with no hassle.
Free image sources
IM Creator Free — Need a quick but attractive and functional website or landing page? IM Creator Free will help you create one, using a fluid all-in-one process that doesn’t involve a lot of fuss. Just choose your template, customize, and publish. Check out different categories that best fit your needs. This tool even has a fully branded option with its pro white-label accounts. So, even if you need a professional grade site, IM Creator Free has you covered.
There are many more sources of free images listed here. Also,Webhosting Geeks offers a good tutorial on which images you can use and how to credit them properly.
Do you have any tools to add to the list? Let us know in the Comments section below!
