Conferences & Technology

Visual Content Creation Tools To Elevate Your Marketing

By: Leslie Belknap

According to the Salesforce 2015 State of Marketing Report, the most pressing challenge for B2C marketers is keeping up with the constantly evolving marketing technologies. As a B2B marketing professional, I also experience this complicated challenge.

I am especially interested in new technology and tools that can help me captivate the 65 percent of humans who are visual learners, as well as the non-visual learners who still prefer to look at pretty things instead of black text on a white screen.

Considering the human population’s overwhelming preference for visual content, it makes sense to invest time and energy to keep up with the joneses when it comes to visual content creation for business initiatives. Thus, I recently went searching again for new tools that can help me up my visual content game.

* Yes, I am lucky to work with a team of extremely talented professional designers, who design some of the best presentations in the world, however I still occasionally need to create my own visual content because the internet never sleeps and the demand for visual content is constant.

Some of the visual content creation tools I recently discovered are beginner-friendly, some are for slightly more advanced creators, some are new, and others have been around for awhile.

Basically, there’s something for everyone here.

Check out my list below to discover new tools for your visual content marketing toolbox.

1. Pablo by Buffer

Because visual content and social media marketing go hand-in-hand, the Buffer team was wise to add Pablo, an image creation feature, to their social media scheduling tool.

The Buffer team loaded Pablo with a small collection of stock photos and quotes that users can utilize when they don’t know where to start, or they need some inspiration to get started.

Pablo is easy to use because only a few aspects of your design can be adjusted, such as the image, the font size, and the placement of text. This limitation of functionality is helpful because when too many design elements can be adjusted, time can quickly slip away from you as you make edit after edit in search of the seemingly elusive perfect image.

I created the image below in less than 1-minute by using the quote generator and a free stock image.

See Pablo in action by watching the video below!

2. Piktochart

I have been using the Piktochart competitor, Canva, happily for months and highly recommend Canva, however I am also pleased to finally add Piktochart to my toolbox to expand my options for ready-to-go design templates that will work well for social media posts or content marketing projects.

Both Piktochart and Canva are beginner-friendly design tools that are free-to-use, with some upgrade options available for a relatively small fee. Piktochart’s paid features start at $15 per month. Canva’s advanced options are available on a pay-as-you-go model, with most upgrades costing $1.

The image below was created in a few minutes by making some small edits to a Piktochart template.

3. Word Swag App

Create visual content with amazing text layouts that would normally take minutes – or even hours in Photoshop – with just a tap when you use the Word Swag app – available for download for $3.99 in the iTunes store.

See samples from Word Swag users below.

4. Instaquote App

For non-designers, the secret to creating a collection of diverse visuals is a diverse collection of tools. Since each beginner-friendly visual creation tool guides users towards a certain style of visual, the more tools you have, the more variety you will have in your visuals.

That is why I recommend Instaquote, and easy-to-use app that makes creating visuals on your phone a fast, painless process. Instaquote isn’t my personal favorite tool, but it still has a lot to offer, so I suggest giving it a whirl in the spirit of diversifying your options for visual creation. With Instaquote, you can use preloaded background and font combinations or you can mix it up by creating your own pairings.

If you upgrade to the $2.99 Pro version of Instaquote, you can access even more backgrounds and fonts, as well as remove the Instaquote logo that is shown on visuals created in the free version, as shown below.

When downloading Word Swag and/or Instaquote in the App Store, scroll down to see similar apps that simplify the process of combining typography and photography in a creative way.

5. DSCO by VSCO

DSCO by VSCO is more than just a fun name; it is a free GIF-making app designed for iOS 8.4+. Capture, edit, and share animated GIFs using this simple, yet solid tool.

To see how people are using this great tool to connect with the world online, follow the hashtag #JoinTheDSCO.

Download now — https://t.co/aGrhmVA5TO #JoinTheDSCO pic.twitter.com/q2MedneMHn

— VSCO (@vsco) October 29, 2015

6. OlloClip

If you’re an ambitious visual content artist and you shoot your own photos and videos, you should check out OlloClip‘s growing line of ground-breaking tools and accessories for the mobile photographer. Your photos and videos will be transformed by these small, but powerful lenses.

Watch the video below to learn about the OlloClip 4-in-1 accessory that has four advanced-optic lenses. The pocket-sized tool now works on both front and rear-facing cameras so you can let your photos and selfies run wild.

Conclusion:

I hope you enjoyed my short list of visual content creation tools. I know these are just a small slice of the pie when it comes to delightful visual content creation tools so let me know what else should be on the list. I’d love to know what you’re using to make your message stand out from the crowd of content. Tweet me at @Ethos3 or @LeslieBelknap