By Jacqueline Bourke, Senior Director, Creative, EMEA at iStock

Small businesses often have limited budgets, making it challenging to find and choose high-quality creative content for their marketing and advertising, while the fast-paced nature of visual marketing trends can overwhelm brands trying to compete with larger companies.

However, by having a cost-effective strategy, engaging with customers and community, and staying true to their brand DNA, SMBs can still create highly effective advertising and marketing material that resonates with their target audience.

Research from iStock’s creative insights platform VisualGPS shows that creating engaging advertising creative is one of the top five skills SMBs globally are most interested in learning to grow their business.

But as a small business that is getting to grips with how visuals can be used in marketing and advertising, you might be asking yourself – where do I get started?

The power of personalisation

 Firstly, SMBs need to know their audience, their brand values and purpose. For example, encouraging customers to share their experiences around the product or service, and turning blog posts into videos and infographics can make a big difference in developing engaging visual marketing on a budget.

For SMBs operating in sectors like retail and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), iStock’s research indicates that Brits are most likely to be moved to action through a mix of videos, images and infographics.

Video is king

Video content is increasingly favoured across all demographics, while brands that tailor visuals to their target audience’s interests typically have higher customer engagement.

iStock’s VisualGPS data shows that short-form video content (such as reels and stories) is the most engaging format for consumers to learn and get inspired, with 64% of Brits consuming short-form videos on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube for this purpose.

Videos are great for product demonstrations, storytelling and customer testimonials in particular. The costs can be high for professional production, but tools like smartphones and editing apps, or iStock’s ready to go videos, can reduce these costs significantly. But it’s important not to neglect video quality, as using low-quality content can reflect poorly on the brand.

Test and learn with AI

Text-to-image generative AI is a powerful tool, and SMBs can use gen AI tools alongside pre-shot stock imagery and video, and user-generated content, as a cost-effective way to create marketing assets. Such images are ideal for social media posts, blogs and websites.

While UK consumers are open to AI-generated content in advertising, they do expect businesses to be transparent in their AI use. iStock’s research notes that 86% of Brits believe AI generated content should be clearly labelled. If you do decide to use AI tools for content generation, to protect you from legal risk make sure that you are using a tool that is commercially safe, meaning it has been trained on content that was licensed and does not include any trademarks or personal likenesses.

The importance of intentionality

 According to VisualGPS, 97% of Brits state that ‘authentic’ visual storytelling is key in establishing brand trust. This means creating content that is real, truthful and original to connect with consumers.

To achieve this, it’s important for SMBs to know their audience, know their brand values and know their intent.

If you’re telling stories of real people, consider how those of different ages, genders, and ethnicities are shown in your advertising and marketing. Use high-quality, pre-shot visuals that have been created by or include the people you are trying to represent.

Measuring content performance

According to iStock research, British SMB owners cite profitability and finding new customers as the biggest challenge for growing their business. Therefore, it’s important to measure content performance to understand where you can get the best engagement.

Use Google Analytics to see if your content has resulted in a spike in website or blog traffic and track how many likes and shares your video or infographic posts on social media are generating.

Other metrics worth measuring include the time on page, measuring how long users spend viewing content with specific visuals, as well as the conversion rate, which is the percentage of viewers who complete a desired action (e.g. a sign-up or purchase) after seeing the visual content.

Measuring the performance of visual content can help SMBs make data-driven decisions about which types of visuals are most effective in achieving their marketing and advertising goals.