5 Tips for Increasing the Value of Your Visual Content

Digital images, whether still photography or video, are one of the most important marketing assets your business owns. It is the visual images on your website, in your brochures and all your marketing materials and venues that make the first connection with your target audience. Those images will either attract further interest or allow your audience to pass their attention to something new. They will also communicate subliminal messages about who you are and what type of services you provide, all within a millisecond of time. What messages are being communicating through your images? Do they say modern, efficient and friendly? Or do they say out-of-date and impersonal? Here are 5 ways to increase the value of your visual content and make it communicate your message accurately.

1. Audit your visual library. The first and biggest step in improving the value and impact of your visual images is to simple determine what you have and what you are missing. How old are your images? Are some of them no longer relevant to the services you provide? Have you remodeled portions of your facilities since your last photo shoot? Have you updated equipment, but not added documentation to your image library? Do you have your best images formatted for both internet and print collateral? Is your visual content organized in a way that images and videos are easy to find and access?
2. Update your visual content. If you are like most facilities, you do a remodel or some type of interior refurbishing every 5 to 8 years. You know that it is important to present a fresh, up-to-date image to your clients. The same is true of your visual images. They need to be updated at least as often as you update your physical facilities. Each time changes are made within your facilities a line item should be included on the project timeline for scheduling visual content creation to reflect these updates and changes.
3. Maintain consistency. When updating your visual content, consider the importance of consistency. Pairing old images with new images of a different quality is obviously not a wise choice. At the same time, using a variety of different professionals to provide your images can create a similar problem. The quality and approach will not remain consistent between providers, which will make it difficult to pair photos together. Using the same professional, one familiar with working with your type of facilities, for each location and each different type of image shoot, will assure you of maintaining quality and consistency in your visual content library.
4. Review Your Marketing Collateral. A regular review of both print and online materials for accuracy of content should take place annually. Are you using out-dated images or videos? What needs to be changed to more reflect current realities. A website that hasn't been updated to reflect current changes and staff is an immediate flag to savvy Internet browsers. It communicates a lack of attention to detail, not the message any business wants to give, but especially a business that is in the caregiving or hospitality industry.
5. Organization and Access. If you can't find it, you can't use it. More time is wasted in looking for the appropriate image than most managers realize. It all comes down to having a catalogue system for visual content that is easy for everyone to understand and navigate. When personnel from different locations all need access to the content, time can be lost waiting for images to be located and transferred from one person to another. Secure online access from all locations eliminates this problem and also provides offsite backup at the same time.

It is our experience working with multi-facility organizations in the long-term care and hospitality industries that has made us keenly aware of the issues they deal with related to maintaining a relevant and efficient visual library. At VAMS, we've put together solutions that address every one of these five issues. We will audit your existing visual content for relevancy and consistency. We can then provide updated visual content for each and every facility while maintaining consistency in quality and artistic approach. We'll make sure you have images formatted for both print and digital media and that they are catalogued accordingly. Finally, you will end up with a visual content library that is organized in an easy to understand format and accessible through our secure online management system.

Your visual content is extremely valuable. We encourage you to let us show you how we can increase the value even more.