How do I explain to my boss that visual content is important?

Here at the Beutler Ink blog, a number of our posts are going to focus on topics related to our business, organized as if part of an ongoing FAQ. The first up is about visual content, written by our Art Director, Robyn Baker. —Ed. First off, my heart goes out to all of you fighting the good fight. Standing up for good design and pushing to get your company’s name out there can be a steep, uphill battle. If you’re wounded from that battle, up against superiors who don’t want to spend the money (or the time) to produce visual content, here are a few crutches for you to lean on.

Specifically, here are two arguments you can use if pressed to answer this question:

Opportunities for Exposure

With so many people glued to the screen of their cell phone, tablet, or computer, putting out interesting content of any kind is important for getting your audience's attention. And putting out content with visual appeal increases your odds of getting noticed.

Better still, by designing that content for a variety of social media platforms, you will have a greater chance that people see your work, understand your message and, most importantly, identify with it.

We All Like Pretty Things

So basic, but so true. We recognize when something is well crafted, and if your content is visually compelling or clever, people will take notice. When they take notice, they take the time to listen to what that graphic has to say.

This is true in all realms of design and advertising. We like what looks good, and if the package is pretty enough, we’ll buy into the product, or the message. If the package is uniquely pretty enough, you’ll stand out as a brand for people to connect with.

My favorite example of this is spawned from an argument about the importance of package design. Justin Gignac, on a quest to win a bet that he could sell anything if it were packaged nicely enough, managed to sell people garbage. No, not BS, actual garbage from the streets of NYC.