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Build a Better Image Week is a handy excuse to review how your business is performing from the customer’s point of view. 87% of customers conduct comparison shopping for every purchase they make, so your public image is important.

The images you use, the strategy you deploy, effectively conveying your multichannel messaging, your branding and keeping your customers satisfied  are five ways to build a better image. This post shares tips and best practices in these 5 key areas.

Image

“I don’t trust words. I trust pictures.” ― Photographer Gilles Peress

We are being quite literal about Build a Better Image Week here, but image selection in marketing and advertising makes quite an impact on your customers. Here are 3 reasons to evaluate your images:

1. Quality images average 84% more views than photo-free content
2. People process visual content 60,000 times faster than text
3. 90% of information delivered to the brain is visual

Tip: Use more photos than words! Most consumers think images are more important than written materials.

Best Practices:

• Use vibrant photos that feature your brand colors whenever possible
• Choose pictures where subjects make eye contact with the camera
• Close-ups are better than action shots (this applies to people and objects like food)
• Feature photos of your target audience
• Make it relevant to both your audience and your company
• Smartphones are fine for every day photos, but not for high quality images for marketing materials
• Make sure you have the legal right to use an image (using what you find on a Google image search likely violates copyright law)

Strategy

"Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat." ― Sun Tzu

Marketing strategy is the big picture concept that guides all marketing and advertising activity governing how your customers and the public view you. There are dozens of marketing strategies, so here are 3 strategies to inspire you:

1. Strategy: Relationship Marketing, which emphasizes building relationships with customers without directly selling your product/services. Tactics to support this strategy include a customer loyalty/rewards program, in-person time with customers via special events and frequent, multichannel two-sided communication.
2. Strategy: Cause Marketing, which focuses on aligning your company with a cause. Causes run the gamut, such as environmental, topical (such as education), political or social issues. Raising money for a scholarship fund, circulating a petition and creating special product packaging to promote the cause are tactics to support cause marketing.
3. Strategy: Content Marketing, which is about creating content that educates your client base about your product/services. Content types include blogs, newsletters and Social Media posts. Content Marketing for a grocer, for example, would be distributing information about nutrition, diet and exercise. For a furniture retailer, Content Marketing would include design and style tips. DIY how-to instructions is good content for a hardware retailer.

Tip: When is the last time you updated your marketing strategy? Make reviewing it an annual process.

Best practices:

• Always keep your audience in mind when selecting and executing your marketing strategy.
• Map your strategy’s tactics to the stages of the buying process (need recognition, information search, product comparison, purchase decision and post-purchase behavior).
• Track and measure how the tactics supporting your strategy so you know if it’s resonating with your target audience.

Multichannel

“More contact means more sharing of information, gossiping, exchanging, engaging—in short, more word of mouth.” ― Author and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk

More word of mouth can help build your company’s image, as long as it is consistent and delivered on the channels that your customers and target customers use. Here’s 3 reasons multichannel messaging is important:

1. 90% of consumers expect the customer experience to be consistent across all channels
2. 11.4 pieces of content is the average number of content pieces customers interact with prior to making a purchase
3. 50% of multi-channel marketers say they “usually” or “always” hit their financial targets

Tip: Deliver consistent multichannel experience to meet customer expectations.

Best practices:

• Make them as identical as possible—use the same logo, wordings, image types, etc.
• Monitor your channels on a regular basis so you can engage and respond in a timely fashion
• Use the channels your target customers are on
• Track and measure how all your channels are performing

Branding

“This above all else: to thine own self be true.” ― Polonius, Act I, Scene 3, Hamlet

Polonius knew the value of authenticity. What makes your brand stand out and how do you share your brand’s DNA? Here’s 3 reasons why this is so critical to building your company’s image:

1. 45% of a brand’s image can be attributed to what it says & how it says it
2. 78% of customers believe that businesses providing custom content are interested in building good relationships
3. 48% of customers are more likely to be loyal to a company during their first experience/purchase

Tip: A brand that is authentic to its company values and customer-centric in its branding inspires loyalty.

Best Practices:

• Be clear about what your brand is—and isn’t, both internally and externally
• Focus on delivering a positive experience across all your communication channels
• Provide value at every customer interaction

Customer Satisfaction

“Perception is reality. If you are perceived to be something, you might as well be it because that’s the truth in people’s minds.” ― Ex NFL Player Steve Young

Customer satisfaction and your company’s image complement each other. Here’s 3 reasons why perception of your brand’s image impact customer satisfaction:

1. 84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation
2. 59% of customers would try a new company for a better service experience
3. 73% of customers say that a friendly customer service representative can make them fall in love with a  company

Tip: Monitor and measure customer satisfaction! Repeat customers, engagement rates and repeat visitors are good KPIs.

Best practices:

• Make your customers feel valued
• Understand your customers’ biggest frustrations and have solutions ready
• Resolve any issues quickly & easily
• Track and measure customer satisfaction