Images help tell a story, show empathy, and help drive action. Growth marketers who use the right visuals in marketing content, landing pages, emails, and ads will see the results. Creating and modifying images can be clunky without the right tools.
Create your own illustrations by mixing and matching image elements made by artists across the globe.
Hit the "Randomize" button and you will get an illustration that puts random elements together for a unique illustration. Great when you are just brainstorming or stuck.
You can't combine different elements from different artist's collections. For example, if you like the face from "Cool Kids" but the body from "Open Peeps", you can't put these together. You need to stay within the same collection.
Use a stock vector illustration and recolor in Adobe Illustrator it to make it unique to your brand.
1. Open your vector file in Illustrator.
2. Select the image (or elements of the image) that you want to recolor.
3. Select in the Menu bar Edit / Edit Colors / Recolor Artwork...
4. In the color wheel, change the color by using your mouse to move the color handles around/up and down the wheel.
For more control over the recoloring, you can hit the "Advanced Options..." button and manually change each color that appears in the illustration.
Growth marketers want images to drive action not just look pretty. Visuals on landing pages, emails, ads, direct mail, websites, and content need to get response. You don't need to be an expert in design find the image that works for your marketing. Here are some guidelines:
The image should be relevant to your message. The visual you use should tie into what you are communicating. If a relevant image is paired with content, people retain 65% of the information 3 days later.
Ever notice how most landing pages look exactly the same? Many marketers use standard templates, and use the images that come with those templates. Find something unique to capture attention.
Images that are engaging can boost response. People are drawn towards pictures of people - and are especially drawn to the model's eyes. Marketers have found that people will follow a model's gaze. So perhaps instead of head on portrait shots, try with the gaze looking at your message.
Here's an example...
Visuals should be there for a reason. If you can't explain the value your image is adding to the design, remove or replace it.
Make it about your customer, not about you. Images should be focused on what is in it for the customer - not hero images of the founder, for example.
If you are designing digital content, make sure your images are mobile friendly. Over half of global web traffic comes from mobile devices.
Most importantly, test! No matter how great you think an image is in your design, it needs to get results. In case you missed the past Scrappy MarTech issue on landing pages, here's the article on "How to A/B Test Your Landing Page."
There is so much fun you can have with images in your marketing designs. It's amazing the power that design tools have. I was able to take a stock illustration of a dog and turn her into something unique for this newsletter. Her name is Scrappy.
If you have any images or designs that you are particularly proud of, I'd love to see them.
Happy Scrappy Marketing!
Michele Hsu
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