How Visual Aids Grow Your Business

The power of visuals

There are a lot of different learning styles, categorized according to the VARK model: visual, auditory, reading and writing, and kinesthetic (hands-on/tactile). While most people learn best from a combination of styles, 65% of the population identify as visual learners. This isn’t surprising at all when you consider the crazy power of visual aids in creating memories.

1. Help your brain store information longer. How you receive information determines where your brain stores it and how long it stays in the memory vault. According to Dr. Lynell Burmark, CEO at educatebetter.org and author of Visual Literacy: Learn to See, See to Learn, visual aids improve retention:

Words are processed by our short-term memory where we can only retain about seven bits of information (plus or minus 2) […]. Images, on the other hand, go directly into long-term memory where they are indelibly etched.

2. Make it faster and easier to get information across. Visually communicated information is processed 60,000 times faster than text. Your brain views words as individual images that it needs to recognize and interpret, making it less efficient than interpreting data from an image, even if that image is comprised of multiple parts. No wonder it’s so much easier to understand data in a pie chart than a disposition!

3. Improve comprehension capacity. Being able to visualize data or new information improves your ability to absorb, comprehend, and analyze new information. A study found that visual learning aids helped students understand the “components and concepts that are invisible and difficult to integrate into the formation of a mental model.” Simply put, seeing a graph, diagram, or creative image representing a concept makes it easier to understand how every piece of data or factor contributes to the big picture.

4. Make boring topics more interesting. It’s way more fun to learn about something you’re interested in. If the subject matter is more of a drag or new territory, visual learning aids make it easier to absorb the information, which can create a snowball effect to drive motivation.

Good optics

You could talk about the implications of the SECURE Act 2.0 on pre-retirees for a while because you’re passionate about the possibilities it opens for people you are actively trying to help. But is your audience going to stick with you through a 30- or even 15-minute speech about it?

Probably not.

Your clients come to you because these things don’t make them tick or even necessarily make sense to them in the first place. Prospects perk up their ears when you come across as a trustworthy knowledge source who can make the intimidating world of financial planning feel easy. Incorporating visual tools into your marketing is a great way to reinforce your value to existing clients (don’t forget about them!), making them more likely to talk you up to their friends and families. It’s also the perfect way to reach prospects while setting the tone for future potential interactions. “We get this stuff can be confusing and overwhelming. We’re here to help.”

How to fill in the blanks

Digital marketing is a natural platform for visual education tools, but it doesn’t have to stop there. Here are a few ways you can help clients and prospects understand the value of financial planning and what you offer through visuals:

• Your core processes. What can prospects expect from you? That first meeting can be intimidating, but adding a visual representation of each step to your website takes the pressure off. Keep it simple and easy to navigate. This is likely new territory for a prospect, and removing as many barriers as possible can mean the difference between a conversion and getting ghosted.

• Turn jargon into a graph. Why should clients stay in the market during a down year? Instead of reliving your time on the debate team, make a few graphs to illustrate different hypothetical scenarios. Seeing that line graph climb upward sends a more powerful message a lot faster.

• Progress tracking for clients. Colors often have common value associations. Green equals good, red equals trouble spot, and yellow for slow – you get the idea. Using colors to communicate values is an easy and effective way to communicate information. Help your clients visualize their retirement or other life goal progress by color-coding the information (“Good news, you’re on track for the kids’ college funds! Let’s give a little more love to your retirement fund”).

• Marketing visuals to show your value. Are the images on your socials mostly text? There’s a good chance your audience is scrolling on by. Images help prospects see the value in what you offer. Use creative graphs or photos depicting life milestones to communicate the value of working with a financial advisor versus going it alone. Just avoid falling into the infomercial stereotype and keep in line with SEC regulations for social media.

There are a few things to keep in mind when diving into the world of visual aids. Fund companies offer a lot of visuals you can use in meetings, but the downside is that they’re branded for them, not you. Still, they can provide a useful starting point and are much more helpful than none at all.

Whatever you use, make sure it’s appropriate to the material, engaging, and fits your brand guidelines. Poor visuals cause frustration and can make your audience feel isolated and out of the loop. On top of that, if the visuals you post to your social media platforms don’t match your brand colors, fonts, and visual styles, it looks like the information came from someone else, potentially undermining your credibility or professionalism. Read up on my firm’s brand guidelines to make sure everything hits just right.

Drawing a crowd

Congratulations! You just became an advisor who is easy to understand, good at teaching about financial planning, and makes it a lot easier for clients and prospects to have that lightbulb moment. Adding visuals can help you lose the jargon, connect with your audience, and go from finance bro to finance bestie.

If you need a hand conveying your expertise through visuals, my team is always here to help take your client experience to the next level.

Over 10 years of experience in the financial planning industry, a former position as Digital Marketing Coach For The FPA, and being formerly licensed with the series 7 & 63 provides Kalli Fedusenko an insight and understanding into your practice and objectives. She specializes in brand strategy, web content strategy, video content planning, and more. This powerful combination of creativity and strategy makes Kalli the perfect guide to give your brand a voice.

Make your next business development conference or seminar memorable! Kalli has the know-how to speak on marketing and branding principles, the advisory experience to help it make sense, & the flair to make it anything but boring. Get the details here.

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