Tools to Rules - Cover Your Visual Assets

Published on Feb 10, 2016

In today’s mobile and social media climate, strong visuals paired with succinct and well-crafted copy are critical to effective storytelling. In this session, you’ll learn the basics of visual literacy with a brief introduction to color, typography and the importance of visual communications in the digital media landscape. You’ll get an introduction to Canva, a free online tool for creating visual content. You’ll also:

Receive a demonstration on how visual content can be used on various social media platforms to maximize message exposure and impact. Learn to identify basic typographic styles and their respective associations. Gain a working knowledge of Canva software in order to create visual content for press releases and a variety of digital platforms. Session Materials

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Tools to Rules

Cover Your Visual Assets 
Photo by m-s-y

Untitled Slide

Agenda

  • Opportunity
  • Situation
  • Tools
  • Tips

Opportunity

The Media
Photo by stevebeard73

Journalists are asking for visuals - images, videos, and infographics.

Visuals drive more content views, and adding multiple media assets to your content generates even better results.

Photo by qthomasbower

Top performing press releases contain strong visuals

Why not go for almost 100% improvement?

FACEBOOK POSTS CONTAINING PHOTOS ACCOUNTED FOR 87% OF ALL NETWORK INTERACTIONS.

Photo by niallkennedy

TWEETS WITH IMAGES RECEIVE 150% MORE RETWEETS THAN THOSE WITHOUT.

Photo by id-iom

Instagram Most Engaging Filters

  • Mayfair
  • Inkwell
  • Amaro
  • Walden
  • Lo-Fi
Photo by aslakr

Situation

What's Happening?

More Competition

It's getting crowded in the newsfeed

Journalists say PHOTOS are the most important multimedia feature in an online newsroom.

Photo by kennymatic

The majority of marketers plan to increase their use and production of original visual content.

Visualize Your Story!

Photo by kevin dooley

How?

  • Custom Imagery
  • Infographics
  • Slides
  • SM Messages
  • Blogs
Photo by kevin dooley

Tools

Canva and more

Untitled Slide

"Canva makes great design more accessible."
- Forbes

The Story

  • Australian start-up
  • 2013 launched
  • 6M users
  • Hollywood and Silicon Valley investments

Untitled Slide

Types of Canva Accounts

Free and Paid 

What Can You Design?

  • Business Cards, Letterheads
  • Profile and Cover Images
  • Social Messages
  • Resumes
  • Infographics
  • Book Covers

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

10+ Tips & Tools

1. Design Tools

PicMonkey, Canva, Pixlr, Easel.ly, WordSwag and more
Photo by Phil Roeder

2. Infographics

Info.gram, Canva, Visual.ly, Piktochart1
Photo by sneeu

2. Infographics

Info.gram, Canva, Visual.ly, Piktochart1
Photo by sneeu

3. Add CTA to Images

Call To Action
Photo by włodi

4. Responsive Design

Your images should be mobile-friendly 
Photo by ChrisGoldNY

5. Create a Slideshow

Embed and save as video 
Photo by waferbaby

6. Visual Storytelling

A picture is worth 1,000 words (or shares!)
Photo by kennymatic

Images Behind the Scenes

#BTS images and/or audio
Photo by Bob Bekian

7. Video

Communicate Key Messaging - 3, 2, 1, action!
Photo by fractalznet

Explainer Videos

8. GIFs

Make it interactive! Tool-to-Use: Giphy 
Photo by kevin dooley

9. Add Visual Assets

to your Press Release
Photo by Steve Rhodes

10. Know When To Design

and when to outsource :)
Photo by martinak15

11. Haiku Deck

Buh-Bye Power Point
Photo by Wesley Fryer

12. Buddhify App

Visualize Creativity. #Whitespace. Clear the Mind Clutter.
Photo by albill

Takeaways

  • Think about a visual PR strategy to tell your brand story
  • Consider Canva for DIY design
  • Check out other visual tools to add to your PR arsenal
  • Optimize
  • Never stop learning

Follow @Canva for Tips

Photo by thewikiman

Follow @GuyKawasaki

Give him a "CANVAngelist" Shout Out! 
Photo by Robert Scoble

Get Your Gift!

Give it a try. 
Photo by SurprisePally

Sources

Thank you! :)

Follow Me @LisaBuyer 
Photo by eldh

Lisa Buyer

Haiku Deck Pro User