Whether it’s to attract customers or generate interest from VCs and other investors, startups need to get in front of as many potential stakeholders as possible. However, with the explosion of social media and increasingly-shrinking attention spans of target audiences, it’s harder than ever to make your brand stand out from the noise.

One approach is to develop marketing strategies that take advantage of visuals. Consider this: when people hear something, they remember only 10 percent of it three days later. But, if a relevant image is coupled with the same info, they retain 65 percent of that information after three days. That’s a huge difference.

How do make sure you’re showing instead of just telling? Consider these three visuals to enhance your marketing message:

1. Share a Customer Story with Video

There are few assets more valuable to marketers than a solid customer case study or testimonial. Not only do case studies (or, use cases) highlight the value of a business, product or service, but they also serve as an excellent way to communicate with new or prospective customers. While case studies can take many forms, telling them in video format brings a human element to the story, making it more relatable. Video-based case studies are easily digestible and can also be useful when pitching press. As video traffic is expected to represent more than 80 percent of internet traffic by 2020, they make great social media content as well.

2. Break Down Data in an Infographic 

If part of your overall marketing strategy includes media relations (and it should), your team is regularly seeking out ways to get a story in front of target media. And, what’s considered gold to most media? Data. Whether a major research report or a short list of key findings, data adds a layer of brand credibility and is a quick way to get on a press contact’s good side.

One way to communicate data, particularly a complicated set, is to lay it out visually in the form of an infographic. Whether a full blown infographic, or bite-sized images specific to key data points, telling a data story with visuals makes it easier to understand and bring numbers to life in a more compelling way. Not only can infographics be shared with media contacts to include in a story, but they also make eye-catching social media posts and visual fodder for email newsletters.

3. Explain Your Product Using Motion Graphics

Perhaps your startup offers a SaaS product or mobile app that is hard to explain with words alone. Why ask your target audience to read about your product when you can communicate it visually via motion graphics? By visually explaining a complicated subject matter, you can more efficiently connect the dots for their audience.

Think about this way — would you rather have to read through a couple of paragraphs about a tech product you’re wanting to buy, likely full of jargon and words you don’t understand? Or, would you like to simply press ‘play’ and spend 30 seconds of your day watching an explainer video that walks you through a real-world use case scenario? A video of this nature can easily be used in a digital ad campaign, at a trade show or presentation where you need to communicate the same message to more than one person in a short amount of time.

Visuals — like videos, infographics and motion graphics — aren’t just helpful pieces of collateral on their own, they can also be used across marketing, sales and other business efforts. When considering what visuals are best for your brand, make sure to keep in mind how else they can be used and how your audience likes to learn, as doing so will ensure you have the right pieces in place to drive your business forward.

About the Author

Taylor Harruff is a director of accounts at BLASTmedia, a national B2B technology PR agency specializing in media relations, content creation and thought leadership.