The hard truth is that most press releases are written like compliance documents. They’re technically correct, painfully safe, and completely ignorable. Meanwhile, editors and reporters are triaging inboxes at warp speed, looking for a reason to say “yes” without doing extra work.

The good news is that getting noticed is more about being clear than gimmicky. It’s about making your release easier to understand, easier to trust, and easier to turn into a story.

Below are the five moves we lean on when a release actually needs to break through.

1) Lead with the “why now,” not the “what”

Most releases open with a company announcing something. That’s not a story. A story has stakes, a trend, or a problem that just reached a tipping point.

Instead of: “Company X launches Feature Y,” try: “As [industry shift] accelerates, Company X launches Feature Y to solve [pain].” You’re not adding fluff. You’re giving the journalist the headline scaffolding they already need.

A quick way to test this is to ask: if you removed your company name from the first paragraph, would anyone still care? If the answer is “no,” the release is starting in the wrong place.

2) Make the headline do actual work

Reporters don’t read releases top to bottom. They scan. Your headline and subhead are the doorway—most releases never earn the click because the doorway is vague.

A noticed headline usually does at least two of these:

• Names the outcome (what changes for the reader/market)
• Includes the specific angle (category, audience, or constraint)
• Hints at proof (data point, traction, partners, first/only)

If you’re stuck, write three versions and force each one to answer “So what?” Then pick the one that feels slightly uncomfortable because it’s specific. Specific is what gets remembered.

3) Give them the story assets inside the release

A press release that gets picked up quickly is one that removes friction. That means you’re packaging a story in the easiest way to pick up;.

Think of it like you’re building a “journalist kit” without calling it that:

• A clean, punchy first paragraph that can be pasted directly
• One quote that sounds like a human (not a brochure)
• One proof point that demonstrates this is real (numbers, customers, adoption, study, etc.)
• A line that clearly explains who this matters to (and why)

We’ve seen releases die because the quote is empty (“thrilled,” “excited,” “game-changer”) and the proof is missing. Even if the news is legit, the release doesn’t feel legit until it carries something verifiable.

4) Pitch the release like a human, not a distribution service

Distribution can help with footprint, but “noticed” usually comes from the pitch—the first message that lands in someone’s inbox.

The trap is writing a pitch that sounds like you’re requesting a favor. The better approach is writing a pitch that sounds like you’re handing them a story they can run fast.

Here are five subject line patterns we’ve used (and seen work) when the angle is strong:

• Data: “New data: [surprising stat] in [industry]”
• Trend: “Seeing [trend] spike—here’s what we’re launching because of it”
• Local/vertical: “[City/vertical] angle: [what changed]”
• Contrarian: “The thing everyone gets wrong about [topic]”
• Exclusive: “Offering you first look: [what’s new] + customer proof”

Then, keep the email short. Two tight paragraphs beats six fluffy ones. Your goal isn’t to “explain everything.” Your goal is to make them curious enough to open the release and confident enough to reply.

5) Borrow credibility instead of trying to “sound credible”

This is the part founders and marketers hate hearing: you can’t write your way into authority if you haven’t built any external proof.

The releases that get traction tend to have at least one credibility anchor:

• A recognizable publication angle (timely, relevant, specific)
• A credible partner, customer, or expert voice
• A proof point that shows momentum
• A positioning that’s clearly differentiated (not “we’re also doing AI”)

One of our favorite examples of this is a book launch campaign we supported for Michael Bungay Stanier. The goal wasn’t just “get coverage,” but to position him as the go-to expert for workplace relationships—not another generic leadership voice. That meant targeting premium business outlets and placing him in contexts that signal authority (like expert lists), so the credibility compounds long after launch.

That same idea applies to product releases. If you can’t borrow credibility from a partner or major customer yet, borrow it from clarity and proof: the sharpest angle, the cleanest explanation, and one real metric that signals “this is happening.”

One release, one idea

If you try to announce three things, you’ll get coverage for none. Pick the single story you want the market to repeat, then make every paragraph reinforce it.

The post 5 ways to get your press release noticed appeared first on Relevance.

Some studies indicate that images are more effective for click-throughs on posts shared on social media; their on-page effect may be negligible, however — even harmful in some contexts. Further, while some blogs regularly incorporate images, other highly successful blogs like Moz, Crazy Egg, A List Apart, and this one either use images minimally (as illustration, infographics, charts) or not at all.

1. Be relevant

Images should be high-quality and relevant to the post. But quality can be subjective, especially in our Instagram era. Unless artistic license is being taken carefully and with intent, some basics are:

• The subject should be easily identifiable and in sharp focus.
• Good exposure… not over or underexposed.
• Very low noise. Noise, or graininess, can always be added for artistic value.
• Good composition. The subject should either be centered or positioned off-center with a rule of thirds composition. This isn’t required, but it generally makes for a more appealing composition.

2. Avoid generic images

This is a tough one. A well-photographed handshake was probably great the first couple of times it was used, but it’s a passé and boring approach now, and it won’t likely help your post. Look for interesting images that have a much better chance of grabbing your readers. It’s often hard or impossible to avoid generic images altogether, but it’s always best to strive for unique images.

It also helps to look for striking values within a photograph like bold colors, contrast, composition, or even a bold character or theme, provided it suits your post. I look for images that address the post’s title and are thought-provoking.

3. Keep your budget in mind

Regularly producing content can equate to a lot of images and if you’re paying for them, the costs can add up. With stock sites charging per credit, I won’t go above a certain amount per image.

Download images at double your intended resolution for the Retina application

If your blog isn’t Retina-ready, it should be in the future, and you’re going to need to serve images at twice the resolution you’re currently serving them. Also, consider that in your budget.

4. Honor copyrights/usage rights

Be sure to give credit where it’s due. Buying stock photos usually doesn’t require crediting a source, but free images often do. Using unauthorized images can be costly.

5. Format your images well

Whether they’re floated within blocks of text or used block level with text underneath or above, pay attention to formatting. Specify reasonable margins and breathing room with other content and don’t let text butt up against images, which can destroy your visual and interrupt your mojo.

Also make sure the dimensions of your images are scaled appropriately (72dpi, whatever your width x height is). Don’t oversize them for your application; it’s rough on mobile users and those with slow connection speeds. Consider trying lossless compression tools like Yahoo’s Smush. It is for faster loading of images and posts.

Optimize your images for search

Do this by using descriptive alt tags — it’s good for both HTML standards and accessibility for the sight-impaired. Companies have been sued for inaccessibility. Name your images appropriately, too, with a good file name (“your-image-description-and-keyword.jpg”). Good naming conventions and alt tags optimize the image for search visibility.

6. Make your images shareable

Consider your post’s shareability and appeal on social media with or without images. Again, media-rich social posts have been known to do wonders for likes and shares, but this can all depend on the images used, along with the post’s context and formatting (ex: big images on Facebook, versus small thumbnails with standard posts).

While evidence supports the appeal of images in blog posts, the best thing to do is experiment using images, no images, smaller and larger variations — all while gauging your analytics.

7. Grabbing those images

As a photographer, I sometimes use my own images. But despite how time-consuming finding just the right image can be, stock sites are plentiful and can save time. A few popular resources include Depositphotos, iStockphoto, and Photopin, a free stock search engine.

What are your experiences using images in your posts? Tell us in the comments—and happy hunting!

This is a guest post from Indianapolis photographer Josh Humble.

The post How to choose the best images for your blog posts appeared first on Relevance.

You’ll have no shortage of challenges in your role as a marketer. You might face content marketing problems ranging from a strategy that targets the wrong audience to a lack of respect for marketing within your organization.

Many of the following content marketing problems we’ll address relate in some way to content, and as content marketers, we’re believers in the power of content that’s aligned to customer needs – the right message delivered at the right time over the right channel.

1. Time is always against us

Many marketers feel the pressure of limited resources, whether in the budget, staffing, or time allotted for projects. And there’s always an emphasis on measuring how tactics affect the bottom line. The result? Many organizations skimp on content creation, neglecting their blog and not taking the time to create helpful pieces that demonstrate thought leadership in their field.

So, the question is how to make the most use of limited resources. Well, you can do this by getting scrappy and mastering the art of content repurposing (and the right content repurposing tools make this much easier). As a starting point, see content repurposing. Believe it or not, you don’t always have to start from scratch; you’ve probably got existing materials that could be turned into blog posts or combined to make white papers. Learn how to maximize your efficiency by taking a cue from NPR’s credo of “Create Once, Publish Everywhere.”

2. No respect, I tell you

Sometimes, a marketing department is like Rodney Dangerfield – not getting enough respect; some executives might view marketing as a black hole for company dollars. These views can come from a variety of reasons, but one of the reasons might be that you’re struggling to increase and prove ROI.

If that’s the case, it’s not enough just to keep your boss or customer happy. You need to improve how you measure the results of your marketing efforts — the right marketing analytics platforms can help by understanding and communicating the specific metrics that matter for your marketing campaign.

3. Unleash the experts

Often, your company or client has many subject matter experts who aren’t necessarily writers. It’s evident to you that it would be beneficial to publish their expertise, but you might not be sure how to accomplish that. There are many ways to encourage non-marketers to contribute, such as clearly articulating your marketing goals, offering incentives for writers, holding blog training sessions, and providing ongoing support. Find ways that work for you, and involve your company’s experts.

4. Tradition

There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it – nothing will kill a great content strategy and drive a passionate marketer insane quicker than being shackled to the status quo. Your company wasn’t built overnight, and neither was Rome. But if Alexander the Great hadn’t been willing to push his army harder than ever before, crossing boundaries and breaking barriers along the way, Rome never would’ve achieved the magnificent height it did. Be bold in your marketing! Try something different; test it. Do something radical like addressing a public relations problem head-on. Admit defeat. Celebrate success. And when somebody tells you “this is the way it’s always been done,” challenge that notion. Rome wasn’t built without taking that first step, and great companies don’t become great by standing still.

Did you find this article helpful? What other content marketing problems would you like to see addressed? Tell us what you think and what you’d like to see more of in the comments below.

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A few years ago, gating was a thoughtful debate. Now it’s often a reflex: ship another PDF, slap on a form, call it lead gen. And, to be fair, sometimes it works. But most of the time, it quietly trades trust for a tiny spike in MQLs, then leaves your team wondering why pipeline didn’t move.

The bigger issue is that your audience isn’t comparing your asset to “nothing.” They’re comparing it to the 12 other guides open in tabs, the LinkedIn post that already summarized the topic, and the competitor who’s giving away something similar with zero friction.

Our rule of thumb is that gating should be a value exchange decision. If you haven’t earned the “ask,” the form becomes the conversion killer, not the conversion lever.

While blanket statements like “never gate content” and “gate all of your content” are rarely accurate and advisable for all businesses, a good deal of thought should be put into the decision to gate any piece of content. Here are four questions to ask yourself before doing so:

1. “Is this content significant enough to warrant a form?”

It’s common to gate top-of-the-funnel content like guides and eBooks that are purely educational and not directly tied to your products and services. However, a mistake that many businesses make is gating TOFU content that is simply not significant enough to warrant a registration form.

It’s somewhat problematic to quantify value based solely on the length of a document or by how much time was put into its creation. For example, infographics take hours to complete and provide a ton of information, but are never gated. One-page cheat sheets and guides are short and concise, but are frequently gated.

At the same time, a one-page document entitled “10 tips for (something in your industry)” may be more appropriate as a blog post rather than a downloadable, whereas a 20-page data study is probably worth giving up a name and email address to access.

Perhaps a better question is “Will the prospect value the content enough in this format to warrant giving their contact information away?” Taking a customer-centric view with regards to the packaging and substance of the content will help you make the best decision.

The following three questions may shed further light on this abstract issue.

2. “What stage of the sales funnel is the content aimed at?”

Every piece of content should be created with a specific stage of the sales funnel in mind. TOFU content like on-page copy and blog posts most likely won’t get gated, but a white paper might. As you move more towards the bottom of the funnel, it becomes more appropriate to gate content – like case studies or spec sheets – since the prospect appears interested in retaining your services. If you can infer intent from a download, and that intent signifies an interested and qualified prospect, gate that content!

3. “What are we going to do with this contact information?”

If you do decide to gate top-of-the-funnel content, you should have a robust lead nurturing program in place in order to take advantage of that lead data. In fact, the volume of gated TOFU content on your website should be directly proportional to the sophistication of your lead nurturing. If your TOFU content varies by topic, it’s prudent to define and map segments to appropriate personas to move leads quickly and effectively through the sales funnel.

4. “Is this contact available elsewhere without a form?”

A great way to alienate potential leads is to present them with a gated piece of content only to discover that they have either seen this information elsewhere or discovered it later on without having to fill out a form. Research the content of your competitors to make sure they aren’t giving away the same content without a form, or worse, if you’re gating content on one of your own channels while making it available without a form on another owned channel.

Whatever decision you make for your downloadable, it’s important to ask yourself these questions during the content creation process itself in order to ensure that the final product gets created for the exact purpose it was intended. Go forth and gate with confidence (or not)!

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True thought leadership in the digital space also involves committing to an audience. For B2B companies, that means being available when people look for you, offering plausible solutions to their problems, and always being willing to engage. That can be a tall order for a B2B company, but the best brands have learned to merge their desire to stay innovative with the need to attract and keep business. The traditional B2B model involves commerce transactions between businesses, but influence and ideas can be commodities that are just as valuable. The following brands have B2B thought leadership down to a science—in a literal sense, in some cases.

IBM

This multinational tech corporation does a little bit of everything, but it’s so successful in part because the company stays ahead of the competition. IBM’s content marketing campaigns—covering everything from computers to biotech—illustrate how this company uses innovation to crush its competition. Consider the making of the world’s smallest movie, A Boy And His Atom.

At first glance, this is just a fun video about making a film using the smallest particles in the universe, but it’s also a demonstration of the advanced and game-changing technology and equipment IBM has developed. Public and private universities and research institutions, hospitals, and medical centers are IBM’s target audience groups—and with something this catchy and intriguing, it’s a safe bet that they’re listening.

Netflix

Netflix has been in a heated battle with Amazon to nab exclusive streaming rights to several films and TV shows. And Amazon has won—at least when it comes to entertainment giant Viacom. But Netflix has managed to win a different round by making Hollywood their target audience, and a partner against big, bad cable and telecom companies.

With hit shows like House of Cards and the new series Orange Is the New Black, Netflix is killing two birds with one stone: it’s giving millions of customers a way to enjoy groundbreaking entertainment while providing Hollywood a new outlet for projects that may not otherwise see the light of day. This is how Netflix is becoming the king of original digital entertainment content. So while Amazon gobbles up Viacom’s catalog, Netflix is taking this opportunity to shape the future of entertainment—both the way it’s consumed and created.

TED

TED is a brand built on B2B thought leadership. The nonprofit organization’s talks and conferences represent the world’s most relevant and influential thinkers, and the ideas distributed through videos and blog posts impact a widening range of industries and disciplines. Inbound marketing evangelist Seth Godin and gaming researcher Jane McGonigal are just two of many TED talkers who are prominent voices in their fields and shaping the way their industries do business.

The organization’s traditional audience is the general public, but its target audience comprises decision-makers across business, education, technology, and other industries. Now TED is now branching out to create conferences centered on a range of subjects and locations; 2014’s TEDMED is serving as the brand’s first conference dedicated to one discipline. This is how TED influences industries and audiences in ways most brands only dream of.

Each of these three brands functions as a thought leader by touching its target audience in a relevant way. They share a commitment to engage, try new things, and branch out after they’ve mastered an aspect of their business. Thought leadership for B2B brands doesn’t have to mean creating a certain amount of content or following a predetermined marketing plan—but it does need to yield results that help businesses run more smoothly.

The post 3 examples of brands that mastered B2B thought leadership appeared first on Relevance.

No wonder Facebook and YouTube are the most popular social networks worldwide. Instagram, Tumblr, and Pinterest are also catching up. Visual elements like images and videos dominate these social media channels — and managing them well requires the right scheduling stack (see our picks for the best social media scheduling tools), with some of them getting viral.

All-text-without-visuals is a thing of the past—visuals reign in content marketing nowadays. For your campaigns to stay relevant to the times and your audience’s ever-changing needs, beef them up with the right mix of text and visuals.

What our client team is seeing today – August, 2026

From our vantage point today, the center of gravity in visual content marketing has moved to short-form, vertical, AI-assisted video that is anchored in human stories and repurposed across channels. If you’re looking for ways to get more mileage from your visual assets, check out our review of the best content repurposing tools.

Here’s what that looks like in practice from our current campaigns and audits:

• Short-form vertical video is becoming the default “hero” format – Across B2C and a growing share of B2B campaigns we manage, short-form vertical videos (typically 15–60 seconds) are now the primary drivers of reach and engagement, with static images and text-only posts playing more of a supporting role. This mirrors industry data showing that 30–60 second videos are the most effective length for the majority of video marketers and that video is widely viewed as delivering strong ROI.

• Carousels and mixed-media posts are the workhorses for depth and saves – We consistently see image carousels and posts that mix short clips, screenshots, and simple diagrams outperform single images on saves and shares, especially on Instagram and LinkedIn. These formats act like “mini slide decks” in the feed: they educate quickly, are easy to swipe, and give users a reason to come back to the post.

• Visual systems are outperforming one-off “pretty posts.” – The brands getting compounding returns aren’t just posting random high-quality visuals—they’re operating from clear visual systems: repeatable templates for hooks, subtitles, product views, and social proof. A consistent visual language makes it much easier to scale creative variations and keep performance stable as algorithms change.

• Video is now baked into search and demand capture, not just awareness – We’re seeing more conversions and assisted conversions coming from video that’s embedded in landing pages, product pages, and help content—not just from social feeds. This tracks with research showing that video boosts understanding, brand awareness, traffic, and lead generation for most marketers using it.

• Generative AI is moving into the stack—but “AI-only” content underperforms – In our workflows, AI is most effective when it accelerates production — and the same principle applies to SEO, where the best AI SEO tools augment rather than replace human strategy. AI is most effective when it accelerates production (e.g., concepting hooks, generating b-roll, cleaning up captions) while humans still own the story, script, and on-camera presence. This lines up with wider surveys showing that AI use in marketing is now mainstream, but that both consumers and regulators are wary of misleading or opaque AI-generated content. As a result, we lean heavily on disclosures, brand-safe prompts, and human faces to keep content feeling authentic.

• Authenticity and trust now function as design requirements. – Our most resilient campaigns build visual trust into the creative: clear labeling when AI tools are used, behind-the-scenes footage, real customers on camera, and minimal “too perfect to be true” AI imagery. This direction is reinforced by studies showing that a significant share of consumers question a brand’s authenticity when they see AI-generated content and are broadly worried about deceptive or AI-manipulated media.

In short: from our experience, the brands winning in 2025 are treating visual content as a system—anchored in short-form video, supported by carousels and long-form assets, and carefully balanced between AI-enabled efficiency and very human storytelling.

What top experts are saying

Our team’s view lines up closely with what many of the most respected voices in content and video marketing are highlighting right now.

• Video as the default, high-ROI content format – Wyzowl’s long-running State of Video Marketing data shows that video remains a core channel for brands, with the vast majority of marketers reporting good ROI from video and using it to increase brand awareness, traffic, leads, and understanding of their products. Short-form video, in particular, continues to see strong growth and is now a primary investment area for many marketers.

• Engagement and community as the real edge – Social media strategist Mari Smith is often quoted as saying, “Content is king… but community is queen, and she rules the house.” Her point is that it’s not enough to publish polished videos and graphics; visual content has to spark real conversation, replies, and DMs. That’s consistent with what we see from experts across the social space: formats like Reels, TikToks, and Shorts work best when they are designed for interaction, not just impressions.

• The play button as a built-in call to action – Michael Litt, co-founder and CEO at Vidyard, famously noted that “The play button is the most compelling call-to-action on the web.” Video strategists often use this idea to argue that if you can replace a static hero image or thumbnail with a strong, on-brand video (or at least a video-style preview), you’ll typically see higher engagement, longer time on page, and better conversion.

• Content marketing as a conversation, not a broadcast – Doug Kessler, co-founder of Velocity Partners, draws a clear line between old-school promotion and modern content: “Traditional marketing talks at people. Content marketing talks with them.” Applied to visual content, this translates into interactive formats (polls, questions in Stories, comments-friendly hooks) and two-way storytelling instead of one-sided brand monologues.

• Story-first visuals, not visuals for their own sake – Ann Handley consistently emphasizes that “Great marketing starts with great stories. Be unique, inspire, and connect.” In recent conversations about video and YouTube, she’s argued that the same principles that make great written content—clarity, empathy, and strong narrative—should guide scriptwriting and visual structure. Many thought leaders now frame video as an amplifier of written and strategic assets, not a separate silo.

• AI as a powerful but sensitive ingredient in visual content – Industry reports and academic work on generative AI in marketing stress two themes: AI can dramatically speed up visual production and testing, but careless use can damage brand equity if visuals feel off-brand, generic, or deceptive. Consumer and ethics surveys echo this, showing that while AI is widely used by marketers, many people remain uncomfortable with AI-generated ads and want clear transparency when AI is involved.

All top marketers should have a visual content strategy

Let’s define first what it means to integrate visuals into a content marketing strategy.

In visual content marketing, you use images, videos, infographics, memes, or other types of visual content (may be accompanied by informative or inspirational text) for your marketing campaigns. Visuals come in an appealing, engaging format to entice people to visit your website, know your brand better, or buy your product or service.

Content marketing becomes successful with the use of well-designed visuals. According to PR Daily, visual content gets viewed 94% times more than content without any visuals.

Marketers see the valuable impact of visual content on growing their business. In the 2018 Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs study, B2C marketers chose pre-produced videos (45%) and illustrations or photos (29%) as among the most effective content marketing types for meeting their company’s specific goals.

In the future, visual content will still be the bread and butter of both B2C and B2B content marketing campaigns. Marketers plan to use more pre-recorded videos (77%), images (68%), and live videos (63%), according to a 2018 Social Media Examiner report.

4 benefits of a visual content strategy

If your peers in the digital marketing industry can do it, so can you. Here are four specific ways a visual content strategy can help you achieve your business objectives.

It will raise brand awareness

According to the Social Science Research Network, 65% of people are visual learners – they can retain information better with images, videos, and other visuals than with written words. That’s why UX planning must be a critical element of content marketing strategy.

Additionally, the Wyzowl’s State of Video Marketing 2018 survey found that 83% of consumers who have watched a branded video would consider sharing it with their friends. More shares mean more visibility for your brand.

Want your audience to remember your brand? Use visual content to increase your brand recognition and recall. For one, you can put a watermark of your brand logo in all the visual assets you use online. When an image gets viral, people can easily associate that with your brand.

Check your company website or e-commerce site, as well as your landing pages. Are they just static? Make your brand easier to remember by updating them with compelling photos, videos, and other visuals. Just don’t overdo it.

It will increase website traffic

By 2021, videos will account for 82% of all consumer Internet traffic worldwide, based on the latest forecast by the Cisco Visual Networking Index.

Video production costs a lot of money, but it’s a necessary investment to attract more people to your website. If you hesitate to make videos a part of your content marketing strategy due to budget concerns, consider how much your business will lose in terms of website traffic. Videos have been the rage these days—embrace it.

It will engage customers through visual storytelling

Adding visuals to written content makes your content marketing campaigns more interesting and keeps your audience engaged. Rather than having long blocks of text, for instance, several images that break them up makes your content easier for people to skim and digest.

According to BuzzSumo data, Facebook posts with images had 2.3 times more engagement than those without. Meanwhile, including images to Twitter updates resulted in 150% more retweets than plain text updates.

Visual content also helps you to keep your site visitors on your landing page. This raises the click-through rates to other parts of your website and the visitor’s engagement with your brand.

Why do people prefer to engage with visual content? With just an image that resonates with your audience, you can elicit joy, sadness, shock, fear or anger. That’s how powerful visual storytelling is.

It will improve conversion rates

Ultimately, higher brand awareness, site traffic, and customer engagement from a successful visual content marketing strategy can all lead to increased lead generation and sales.

Video content, for example, is a key driver in the buyer’s journey. The 2018 Wyzowl Video Marketing Statistics Report notes that video has become “a decisive factor” that convinces consumers to purchase or download a product or piece of software.

The report found that a brand’s video influences 81% of viewers to buy a product or service. Also, 95% of people learn more about a product or service by watching an explainer video.

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Visual content marketing versus content writing

Visual content creation and content writing aren’t mutually exclusive. Together with content planning and promotion, these critical parts make up the content marketing process.

Nevertheless, it helps to know the differences between the two types of content, so you can better strategize your campaigns.

Visual content gets your message across faster

The human brain processes visuals in its visual cortex, a less busy and faster part that’s separate from the busier section that processes words. This is why it’s faster and easier to understand, for instance, a cooking instruction through a video rather than text.

Visuals are easier to remember

Images, videos, and other visuals are processed in the brain’s long-term memory, while words are processed in the short-term memory. When people read text-based information, only 10% to 20% of it gets retained. Add a picture to a written information, and people will recall 65% of it.

Creating visuals is harder than content writing, but not as hard as you think it is

It takes a specialized skill set to produce a stunning infographic or educational video. But even if you’re not a designer, you can still create great visuals. A lot of online visual content marketing tools can help you easily edit images, create memes, and animated GIFs, convert PowerPoint slides to video files, and more.

They’re suitable for different business-customer relationships

Should you use more text or more visuals in your content marketing campaigns? It depends on whether you’re marketing to consumers or to other businesses.

B2C marketers prefer visual content over textual content. The 2018 B2C Content Marketing Report shows that most B2C marketers use pre-produced videos (76%), illustrations or photos (67%), and infographics (59%).

On the other hand, B2B marketers use text-based content more than their B2C counterparts do. According to the 2018 B2B report, B2B marketers use case studies (73%) and ebooks or white papers (71%). Additionally, most B2B marketers said ebooks or white papers (62%) and case studies (47%) were the most effective content marketing type.

Moreover, blogging is more important to B2B (36%) than B2C (22%) marketing, found a recent study by the Social Media Examiner. Meanwhile, more B2C marketers (36%) see the importance of visual content than B2B marketers (25%).

Final Thoughts

Compelling visuals or written words are great on their own. But when you use them both, you can expect greater results.

Do you focus more on visuals or text in your content marketing campaigns? Which one works better for your business? Share your thoughts!

How we wrote this playbook

As a growth marketing, SEO, and PR agency, we built this 2025 visual content marketing playbook by combining what we see every day in live campaigns with fresh, third-party research. Our team reviewed performance across social (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn), search, and owned channels, focusing on metrics like reach, watch time, saves, click-through rate, and assisted conversions for formats such as short-form video, carousels, long-form YouTube, webinars, and static image posts.

To pressure-test those in-platform learnings, we benchmarked them against current industry data. We dug into multi-year video marketing trend reports from Wyzowl and other video analytics summaries to understand how marketers globally are using video, what lengths perform best, and how they’re measuring ROI. We also looked at recent round-ups of content and social media statistics from sources like HubSpot, Forbes Advisor, and other trend reports that track short-form video adoption, TikTok and Reels investment, and how visual formats are impacting sales and lead generation.

Because 2025 visual content is inseparable from AI, we further reviewed current research on generative AI in marketing, including academic and industry work on brand imagery, authenticity, and consumer trust. That included guidance on generative AI and brand visuals, ethical marketing surveys on how comfortable people are with AI in ads, and consumer studies on AI-generated media and authenticity. These resources helped us draw a line between “efficient” AI-assisted production and the kind of over-automated content that can erode brand trust.

Finally, we cross-referenced our own observations with what leading content and video marketing experts are saying today. We reviewed recent interviews, talks, and articles featuring voices like Ann Handley, Mari Smith, Doug Kessler, Michael Litt, and others, along with updated video-trend summaries from platforms and analytics providers such as Tubular Labs and Vidyard. The result is a playbook that reflects both our first-hand client work and the broader direction of the industry going into 2025

The post Visual content marketing playbook for 2026 appeared first on Relevance.

“The Mistake That Costs Brands Real Money, You’ll Be Fine”

We still see companies treating web writing like a commodity — spinning up dozens of blog posts a month from freelance marketplaces, then wondering why conversion rates stay flat. In fact, website content is still treated as a commodity by too many teams – something that can simply be outsourced at a large quantity and slapped onto a website, netting vast and positive search results. Why else are content marketplaces and article spinning software still so pervasive?

It is obvious to anyone with some knowledge about digital marketing that content and copy are not the same thing. At Relevance, we learned this lesson after working with 1,000+ brands. Content marketing and copywriting serve fundamentally different jobs. When we onboard a new client, one of the first things we audit is whether their site pages are doing the right work — are informational articles trying too hard to sell? Are landing pages burying the CTA under walls of educational text?

Getting this distinction right shapes what you publish, who writes it, and how you measure success. Here is how we think about it.

How we define web copy vs. web content at Relevance

When we brief our writers, we split every assignment into one of two buckets. Web copy is language engineered to move a reader toward a specific action. Web copy content has a single aim – of driving people to click through, sign up, fill out an online form, register or make a purchase. It acts as a guiding light — helping visitors navigate your site and find exactly the information they came looking for.

The web copy must be enticing enough to grab the attention of visitors to your website quickly and make sure that they stick around. The content must sell your brand to them. It obviously means that the core function of a web copy is to sell.

Web content, on the other hand, is everything on your site that exists to inform, educate, and build trust. Think of it as the material that earns a visitor’s respect before they are ready to buy. We produce a lot of this for clients — guides, thought leadership, research roundups — and the goal is never to close a deal on the spot. It is to make the brand the obvious choice when the buyer is ready.

The key difference: content builds the relationship, copy closes it. Web pages simply provide insights and create value for your business. High-quality and informative web pages can help you gain the respect and loyalty of your customers and achieve your goal of building long-term relationships with your targeted audience.

Web content also includes content in other forms apart from the written word. Well-crafted web content will also have images, videos, and podcasts to support the text form and make the whole page more attractive, impactful, and valuable. If it is information posted to provide your audience with the data they are looking for, then such information can be categorized as web content. It follows that information-sharing is a prelude to educating your audience and gaining their trust.

At the same time, it also helps you create a bond with your targeted audience that can help you sell your products and/or services. Web content can help your organization earn profit in the long term although it must be borne in mind that selling, promoting, and creating sales opportunities are not the intended end goals of web content.

Web content can help businesses attract new customers from diverse markets to their business through a process of creating posts that are informative, interesting, and valuable. Content that provides answers to the most pressing queries that some potential buyers and customers might have can do wonders to your traffic. At the same time, consistency is the key factor. Be consistent in delivering valuable and highly informative content to your readers and visitors and you can be sure that your business will take huge positive strides in the right direction.

What We Tell Every New Client

While it may seem like mere semantics, there is a stark difference between website content and website copy. Let’s take a closer look at what is web content.

The statement ‘Content is King’ may appear clichéd but the simple truth is that content is at the core of any marketing strategy. Web content is the key reason why your visitors view the pages you have developed and share them with others using social media, website links, and other modes. Web content can be in the form of website text, images, audio files, videos, and more.

Website Content:

• News
• Press Releases
• Video Transcripts
• Product Descriptions (manufacturer)
• Executive Summary

Contrast that with website copy, which should tell a story, explain a concept, and persuade readers to action. Whereas content (while necessary) is boilerplate and mechanical, a copy is built for conversion.

A closer view of web copy is needed to fully understand the differentiating factors.

The web copy must be conceived and designed to reassure the visitor about your product or service and convince them to take a specific action such as subscribing to your newsletter or buying one of your products/services. It is crucial to develop a copy that provides vital information that your potential buyers are looking for. The web copy creates exposure for your brand by using the right text.

Website Copy:

• On-Page Text
• Blog Posts
• Social Media Updates
• Product Descriptions (original)
• Advanced Content (white papers, eBooks, guides)

As such, marketers should espouse copy over the content. Effective copywriting requires thorough research and thoughtful editing, conducted by a subject-matter expert and a professional writer. It won’t be fast or cheap but will pay dividends.

How Copy and Content Map to the Funnel (What We See in Practice)

Once you separate copy from content, you will notice they map neatly onto the inbound marketing funnel. In our experience, web copy does the heavy lifting at the top of the funnel — generating leads and driving action — while web content builds the trust and authority that carry a prospect through to a buying decision. We have seen clients double their lead-to-close rate simply by putting the right type of writing on the right page.

Don’t flip your funnel! The biggest mistake we see? Brands greeting first-time visitors with dry, boilerplate material instead of sharp copy that earns attention. Every page on your site should have a clear job description, and the writing style should match that job.

At Relevance, we build content strategies that assign the right voice to the right stage of the buyer journey. The payoff is faster conversions, lower acquisition costs, and content that compounds in value over time.

If your site feels like it is working hard but not converting, the copy-versus-content mix might be the problem. Book a call with our team and we will audit it for free.

The post Web Content vs. Web Copy: Why We Treat Them Differently (And You Should Too) appeared first on Relevance.

Getting a small business website can be one of the biggest challenges that small business owners have to face. The task becomes even more difficult as the options are unlimited and the costs can swing from one end of the scale to another without you being able to make any logic out of it. The focus of a professional website designer must be to create a website that can drive more meaningful and relevant traffic to your business, generate more leads and minimize the problems that users across the spectrum might run into while navigating through the website for various reasons.

It is apparent that you are focused on building a small business website because in 2019 a business without a website is inconceivable. You must keep your larger goals and objectives in mind as you move ahead, step by step, towards creating a larger entity.

The 10 tips listed below will help your small business website get noticed and generate the desired impact.

1. Clutter-Free:

A small business website design should be simple yet captivating. Too much information or a complicated design can overwhelm the viewer. An uncluttered design also sends across the message of professionalism. Allow your website to breathe and your users to have a pleasant viewing experience.

2. Google should be able to find your site easily:

An uncluttered site, clear content, proper URLs, sitemap, and relevant keywords will allow search engines like Google to index your small business website with ease. Website design for small businesses should include at least basic SEO. It is important to find a good SEO-friendly platform to build and maintain your Website and you can do that easily with a little help from a Website Advisor.

3. Website Design Should be Mobile friendly:

After Google’s announcement of the mobile-first index, it would be almost suicidal not to have your small business website responsive. This merely means that your site will adapt and rearrange when viewed on mobile devices. But that in itself will not make your website mobile-friendly. You will need to ensure that your website provides a user-friendly experience across all devices.

4. Inbound Leads:

One of the most important functions of any small business website is to focus on the inbound leads and capture as many as possible. Usually before purchasing a product people like to do initial research and comparison, and may not be ready to buy immediately. This time should be utilized in acquiring their e-mail addresses so that you can keep them informed and gauge when they are ready to purchase. However, you should avoid being too persistent as this could annoy a potential customer.

5. Contact details are easily visible:

This may seem like the most obvious thing to do but small business website design companies tend to overlook this factor at times. Your phone number and e-mail address should be displayed prominently on the website and, if possible, at the top and bottom of every page. Create a ‘CONTACT’ page at the end which includes not just the contact numbers but email address, physical address of the company, and a map, along with directions to and hours of operation of your company.

6. Branding should be professional:

Avoid any frivolity on your small business website and focus on giving it a professional look that is consistent with your brand. Use colors that are prominent in your brand logo. Hire a website design company like Globalgraphics, if required, to give your website a professional look. Choose one or two fonts and ensure that they are used consistently throughout the website. The graphics and the images that you use should also be in sync and complement the website.

7. Website Design should be simple and unique:

Whether you are designing your website on your own or hiring a small business website design company, your goal should be to create a website that reflects your brand. The first impression is the most important and will either attract or repel viewers. If you use any run-of-the-mill template and your website resembles thousands of others on the net, you will never be able to create an impact on the viewer’s mind. The homepage of any website is what will clinch the deal for you so ensure that this becomes the anchor for your entire site and is impressive enough to catch the viewer’s attention.

Nothing can be more discouraging to a visitor than a visibly bad website design. Visitors look forward to a smooth navigation process that can take them from Point A to Point B seamlessly without having to deal with visual or other obstacles. Also, clutter can a huge downer for your website and is guaranteed to drive visitors away from your competitors. A simple, user-friendly, and clean website design without any unnecessary frills and embellishments is the way to go.

8. Products and services should be showcased well:

Several small business web designs are unable to showcase their products effectively or show too many products and services on one page and clutter it. Remember that you only have the luxury of a few seconds to win or lose a potential customer. So make sure that the first impression is professional. If you are a company selling products online then the product photos, images, and descriptions should be crisp and appropriate. If you have a great website design but your products have not been displayed well, your customers will think twice before buying from you.

9. Quick Site load time:

Viewers get impatient if a site takes too much time to load. Ensure that your small business website design has the right server infrastructure and bandwidth to support it. A graphically intense design could eat into your loading time and put off prospective customers. Site load time can also be improved by picking up good hosts.

10. Website Design Content:

Last but not least is the relevance of content on your small business website. This plays a major role in getting indexed by search engines. The more qualitative and quantitative your content, the easier it is for search engines to find and index your site. Poor or irrelevant content is also a game-changer when it comes to attracting or putting off viewers. Headlines are where you need to pay extra attention as this will decide the difference between a visitor leaving your site or continuing further to browse the rest.

Research shows that there are more mobile users than desktop users now and that’s why it is imperative to have a business website that loads faster and without any frustrating glitches. Google also expects businesses to take care of this critical feature and is using page speed as a key ranking element. According to experts, a small business website must load completely in not less than three seconds to pass the efficiency test. The Google Page Speed Tool is a simple way of measuring page loading time.

The lack of a dedicated and updated small business website can impact your business. Without a website, you may not only fall behind your competition but may also miss the opportunity to connect and engage with prospective customers. Before purchasing a product or service, customers would like to know and see more about your company, and the perfect platform to showcase this is a professional website. The above-mentioned tips will help you when designing a website for your small business.

Apart from these 10 tips, you can consider a few more to add more power and efficiency to the performance of your website.

11. Indexing Your Website:

Search engines such as Google, Bing, and others look for specific elements for ranking websites. These include the structure and quality of content, keywords, usage, URLs, sitemaps, and others. It is important to have some SEO features on the website to attract the attention of these search engines and get your deserving ranking. It can be a good idea to look at Google Webmaster Guidelines to know what you should do to optimize your website.

The post 10 Website Design Tips for Small Business Websites appeared first on Relevance.

In this article, we’ll discuss several growth marketing ideas that you can use to boost your business along with examples of companies that have successfully implemented these strategies.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the visibility of a website in search engine results pages like Google’s. This is accomplished through techniques such as keyword research, meta tags, and link building. SEO is an extremely powerful way to drive traffic to your website and grow your business. While this is a long-term strategy that requires a lot of effort and dedication, the payoff can be significant. 

In 2023 every business needs a website, and SEO is the way to get it in front of the right people. Improving your website’s ranking in search engine results pages can increase visibility, drive more traffic, and ultimately grow your business. There are a variety of businesses that really benefit from SEO, but to see who’s really coming out on top, just take a look at who’s sitting in Google’s number one spot. 

Onsite Content

An SEO strategy is essential for modern businesses, but it’s not really worth much without quality onsite content. Audiences can’t search for content that doesn’t exist, so without it, you’re practically invisible online. Put simply, your content signals to search engines and your audience that you know what you’re talking about. When prioritizing onsite content, you want to make sure your business’s website has relevant material. Types of content may include blogs, infographics, and/or videos, but you have to choose what’s best for your business. 

Leveraging your online content allows your business to showcase your expertise, which can help you earn your audience’s trust and gently move them through your sales funnel. Canva is a popular design tool, and they are killing it when it comes to onsite content. They offer users thousands of design tutorials through their design school. It teaches people how to use their product while also showcasing  the features their service has to offer.

Digital PR

Digital PR is a powerful tool to help businesses build their online reputation and brand authority. With time, it can help you become a reputable industry leader. When done successfully, a digital PR campaign will result in brand mentions and backlinks from sites with quality domains, which increases a brand’s authority both in the eyes of search engines and human readers.

Any current industry leader is most likely benefiting from digital PR. Think about businesses positively mentioned on sites like The New York Times, Forbes, or Entrepreneur. Once those mentions are obtained, it heightens a company’s level of authority. So much so, it’s common practice to see “as featured in” sections on their website. Those sections speak to a level of authority and convince your audience by providing social proof. Strengthening the relationship your business has with the public is important, and digital PR does just that.

Influencer Marketing

Almost everyone is familiar with who influencers are and how they contribute to the marketing space. But to define for those who don’t know, influencer marketing describes a partnership with individuals who have a large social media presence to promote their products or services. Partnering with these individuals can be an effective way to reach a large and engaged audience that is likely to be interested in your products.

With this marketing strategy, you’re able to leverage influencer connections to promote your business. An example of a company that has had great success partnering with influencers is Fashion Nova. They’ve partnered with celebrities like Cardi B and Amber Rose to promote their brand on Instagram. The company made a million dollars on the first day that Cardi B’s line dropped — and that’s largely due to her dedicated fan base. 

Referral Marketing

Referral marketing encourages existing customers to refer their friends and family to your business. To incentivise these referrals, companies often offer rewards and additional perks to these existing customers. This can be an effective way to acquire new customers at a lower cost than traditional marketing methods.

Dropbox is a great example of a company who benefited from referral marketing. They grew their user base by offering more storage space to users who refer their friends to the service. Their company grew 3900% (not a typo!) in just 15 months. That’s wild, but it speaks to how capitalizing on your customer’s connections can really benefit your business.

Mobile Optimization

Optimizing your website, products, and services for use on mobile devices is crucial if you want to grow your business. According to Think with Google, “Almost half (46%) of consumers prefer to use their smartphone to complete the entire process from researching to buying.” This means that having a mobile-friendly website and making sure your products and services are easily accessible on smartphones is crucial to reach customers. Through optimization, you can increase visibility, drive more traffic, and ultimately grow your business.

Personalization

Personalization has become more and more important over the years as audiences expect to be treated as individuals rather than statistics — and rightfully so. However, it can make some marketing efforts more difficult. Personalization as a marketing strategy tailors messages and experiences to individual users based on their behavior and preferences. This can be a powerful way to increase customer engagement and retention.

Netflix is known for its personalized recommendations, which have been successful in keeping users engaged with the platform. According to the company, over 75% of the content that users watch on Netflix comes from its recommendation system. This highlights how effective personalization can be, especially as it keeps users engaged.

A/B Testing

A/B testing is the process of testing two or more variations of a marketing campaign, website, or product feature to see which performs better. This allows you to make data-driven decisions about which changes will have the biggest impact on your business.

If you’re familiar with the meal kit delivery service HelloFresh, they provide a nice example of A/B testing with their menu display update. When they redesigned their menu to create a seamless user experience while also promoting upselling opportunities, they compared their original design to the update. They found the final version contributed to a 7% increase in upselling, proving the second variation performed better.

Remarketing

Remarketing is a strategy in which advertisements are targeted to users who have previously interacted with your business. This can be a powerful way to increase sales and customer retention. Studies show that retargeting can increase conversion rates by as much as 150%. It also helps re-engage the 98% of visitors who leave a website without making a purchase.

Amazon’s retargeting ads, which show products that a user previously viewed on the website, have been very effective in driving sales. Just think about how your social media pages look after you’ve been scrolling on their product page. Those great finds sitting in your cart almost immediately end up on your newsfeed. If you’re not remarketing already, it’s an idea worth considering.

Deciding What Strategies Are Right For Your Business

It’s important to note that a single method may not necessarily drive the growth of your business. It is important to use a combination of multiple strategies and methods to achieve the best results possible. But you may also find some strategies aren’t worth the resources they will cost your company.

Growth marketing will look different for every business because not all approaches will help you reach particular goals. Continuously testing and refining your approach can help you identify what works best for your unique audience. The above-discussed growth marketing ideas are just a starting point, and you should continuously experiment with new strategies to find what works best for your business.

The post Growth Marketing Ideas: Boost Your Business with These Proven Strategies appeared first on Relevance.

At the top of the marketing funnel, you should prioritize attracting high-quality traffic. This is really where you build awareness. Within the middle of the funnel is where you want to build trust. Your audience will evaluate you and your product or service. The bottom of the funnel is where mutual value is created and your audience will make a purchase or follow through with another call to action. Some approaches add additional steps prioritizing retention or referral, which we agree is extremely important.

It’s important to consider whether you’d like to focus on top of the funnel organic traffic or bottom of the funnel converting traffic to drive growth. You need to decide which approach would work best based on your organization. Occasionally, this varies depending on industry. It will also vary based on your established growth marketing goals.

Should You Prioritize the Top or Bottom of the Funnel?

To help you make this decision, it’s important to understand the differences between top of funnel and bottom of funnel traffic and how each can impact your growth marketing goals.

Top of funnel traffic refers to the early stage in the customer journey. This stage is where potential customers are starting to become aware of your brand and are considering engaging with you. This traffic is typically generated through awareness campaigns, such as content marketing and social media.

Bottom of funnel traffic refers to the later stage in the customer journey. Here, potential customers are actively considering making a purchase or taking some other desired action. This traffic is typically generated through conversion campaigns, such as email marketing, retargeting, and paid search ads.

For both, SEO and content can play a role in helping you show up for important terms in either top or bottom of the funnel. You just need to decide which to focus on first.

So, How Do You Decide? 

In all honesty, this decision about what to prioritize varies across industries, and your overall marking approach is a big factor as well. Here are a few factors to consider:

Your business goals and objectives:

When making any strategy decisions, you need to ask yourself what you’re trying to achieve with your marketing efforts. If your goal is to drive brand awareness and reach a larger audience, focusing on TOF traffic may be the way to go. This is a common top priority for new businesses that need to get their name out there. 

Keep in mind TOF traffic is typically gained by targeting search terms that are broad with high search volumes. When you start ranking well for those terms you’ll see your site’s traffic go up, which means more potential for leads. If you don’t have strong conversion paths set up, this may not do you much good, though.

Say your goal is to drive sales or conversions, then BOF traffic may be more appropriate. If you’re in the fourth sales quarter and numbers are down, prioritizing conversions would probably be the best use of your time. Focusing on customers who already know and trust your company can be an easy way to boost sales, but it’s important to retain a personalized connection with your customer base to successfully utilize this approach. 

And opposite of TOF, BOF traffic is typically lower search volumes, but more quality searchers. You may not see that satisfying spike in traffic, but will ideally see an increase in conversions if you have strong paths and CTAs.

Your target audience: 

Second, ask yourself who you are trying to reach with your marketing efforts. Understanding your target audience’s needs, wants, and behaviors can help you determine the most effective way to engage with them. 

If your target audience is primarily made up of first-time buyers or those who are unfamiliar with your brand, focusing on TOF traffic may be the best approach. A witty social media campaign or partnering with a fun influencer can get your business in front of new eyes. 

If your target audience is made up of repeat customers or those who are already familiar with your brand, BOF traffic could be more effective. This could look like sending out a personalized email marketing campaign to previous customers. You might even send them a promo code or coupon to thank them for their previous purchases and encourage a repeat sale.

Your marketing budget: 

How much money do you have to allocate toward your marketing efforts? TOF traffic tends to be more expensive than BOF traffic, as it requires a longer-term investment in content creation and SEO strategy. 

BOF traffic, on the other hand, can be less expensive because you know your audience and how to reach them. It also allows for a more immediate approach, like email marking discussed early. An additional benefit that comes with this approach is that email is an owned media, so you’ll be using resources like time and energy rather than chipping away at your budget.

Your marketing resources:

Before making too many plans, it’s important to take inventory. Do you have the time, talent, and resources needed in order to execute a TOF or BOF marketing strategy? If you have a small team or limited resources, it may be more feasible to focus on only one side of the marketing funnel. This may mean creating quality content that doesn’t need much follow through. Or instead, you really prioritize making past customers feel special.

On the other hand, if you have a larger team and more resources at your disposal, then you’ll probably be able to focus on both TOF and BOF traffic. And to be honest, combining both strategies at the same time yields additional benefits. However, you have to determine if it’s worth the cost for your business. Not all organizations can prioritize both, and in some cases stretching yourself too thin can cause more harm than good. Marketing requires balance.

In the End, It’s Up to You

Using both approaches can be particularly effective to help grow your business. However, not all budgets or team configurations allow for that approach. Focusing on TOF traffic helps build your brand and reach a wider audience, while BOF tactics convert those potential customers into paying customers. 

These strategies can help you drive both awareness and conversions, leading to sustainable growth for your business. However, the ultimate decision of whether to focus on TOF or BOF is up to you. If you’re really unsure, it may be time to consider a growth marketing agency. By considering these factors, you can determine the best approach for achieving your growth marketing goals.

The post How to Decide What Growth Marketing Traffic Goals to Focus On appeared first on Relevance.