Bridging the Gap Between Communication and Visual Engagement in Business

Communications are crucial across the business, whether internally with employees or externally with customers or clients. As humans, we often respond best to visuals and that’s why it’s useful for businesses to bridge the gap for the purpose of engagement.

In general, marketers would agree that visuals within communications are important, with one survey finding over 50% of marketers found visual content to be an essential part of a marketing strategy.

How do you bridge the gap between communication and visual engagement? In this guide, we’ll explore how visuals are used for successful engagement and ways your business can do this better.

How visuals are used for success in business

As humans, we engage the most with visuals and as a business, improving communication through visuals is helpful. With that being said, here are a few ways in which visuals are used for success in business.

• Customer engagement - Using visuals like infographics, explainer videos and interactive elements on company websites helps provide valuable information in a visually engaging way.
• Marketing and branding - Making use of high-quality product images, videos, and visual elements across all platforms helps to make a brand recognizable, building trust with customers.
• Social media impact - With eye-catching visuals, it helps a business to stand out on social media which continues to grow in popularity for the shared spotlight.
• Internal communications - Using flowcharts, mind maps, and visual diagrams helps to keep your workforce’s attention and helps improve clarity in what’s being discussed.

Tips to bridge the gap between communication and visual engagement

How are businesses able to bridge the gap between communication and visual engagement? There are common practices and tools worth having in your tool kit as a business to improve the relationship between the two.

1. Explore the power of AI video generation tools for video content

Artificial intelligence is certainly a growing technology that has been met with a lot of skepticism despite its potential for businesses and individuals alike.

The creation of content can be time-consuming for businesses and those responsible for marketing the business successfully.

AI video generation tools are just one of the ways that this technology is used to help lighten the workload on your social media team. While it might not be the sole creation of your video content in general, it is a great way to help provide dynamic visuals when communicating with your target audience.

2. Improve accessibility across platforms to make communication more inclusive

Accessibility is crucial to be inclusive as a business and it’s something that should be readily available across all your platforms.

By having visuals that are accessible to individuals with disabilities, you’re helping to maintain that communication with all of your customers and any potential leads.

From appropriate color contrast and alternative text descriptions on your website imagery, there’s a lot that you’re able to do in order to make your communications and visuals more accessible. When it comes to visual design specifically, here are a few ways to make your communications accessible to everyone.

• Represent a range of people within your visuals from gender to ethnicity.
• Make text readable so that those with visual impairments can engage with the content.
• Add captions and subtitles to video content.

It’s worth reaching out to the general public when it comes to asking what accessible features might be missing from your website or social feeds in general.

3. Use visual storytelling for personal and professional branding

A well-told brand story is much more effective than an endless list of information handed over to either employee or customer. This means using images and videos to tell the story of your business and its people.

And while doing this on a company level is important, leaders and even employees adopting the same approach is often a win-win situation. For professionals looking to enhance their personal branding, they should ask themselves:

• When last did I edit my resume to showcase my new skills and personal brand voice? Doing so, even when you’re not looking for a new job, can help you realign with how you want to be seen in the professional world.
• Does my LinkedIn profile visually represent me, or is it just a static list of job titles? Again, this is a great way to get familiar with who you are as a professional and where your career is headed.
• If I were invited to speak at an industry event, would I have a polished personal brand that aligns with my expertise? Just as companies refine their branding to stay relevant, professionals should ensure their materials effectively tell their stories.

4. Digitize in-person communications to stay on trend with technology

The way businesses operate has changed since the pandemic. From hybrid working to going fully remote, the landscape of business working environments has certainly become more diverse.

Digitizing in-person communications is a great way to keep relevant and on-trend with the technologies that are being utilized by businesses both old and new. For example, employing digital displays in common areas of the business premises is great for sharing updates, important announcements, and company achievements.

This helps provide visual comms to employees in larger organizations, as well as guests and clients who come into the building.

5. Keep stakeholders and executives engaged and informed with visual presentations

Your stakeholders and C-suite executives are often the ones who pull the strings when it comes to how the business runs, so it’s essential to keep them happy.

A great way to keep up communications with these individuals is by transforming how you provide data and important financial insight into engaging visuals.

Visuals are crucial when it comes to presentations because even stakeholders will get bored fast. In fact, research by a Finnish scientist found that most people lose interest in a presentation after ten minutes.

That’s why it’s useful to keep your presentations short but highly engaging through the visual content you have displayed alongside the information you’re sharing.

The importance of communication in business

In order to bridge the gap between communication and the visuals you create, it’s essential you have good comms in place to begin with. Here are a few reasons why it’s crucial to have efficient communications for your organization.

• Helps improve teamwork and collaborative efforts - When you promote communication within your business, it will only help to improve teamwork and collaborative efforts between your employees. This allows them to work together more efficiently to meet the common and individual goals that are set.
• Enhances employee engagement - Employee engagement is important within any business, and how good your comms are will determine how engaged your workforce is. One survey highlighted that 85% of employees are most motivated when internal communications are effective. The more you focus on good communication within a business, the more productive your employees are likely to become.
• Improves customer satisfaction - What business doesn’t want to satisfy its customers? In what is mainly a customer-centric business market, communication matters to your customers too. Regular engagement and messages that are relevant to the target audience help deliver more satisfied customers overall.
• Helps with conflict resolution - Open communications are helpful in providing full transparency for all those engaging with one another. That can help to prevent conflicts and address problems quickly to avoid damaging working relationships and the productivity of work.