Business Strategy and Marketing Solutions

Introducing Visual Metaphors-A More Powerful Way To Sell

What would it mean to your business or organization if you could instantly communicate your message in the most powerful way?

This is the promise of the visual metaphor and its ability to:

• Reduce marketing costs
• Increase lead generation
• Reduce sales conversion time

What is a Visual Metaphor?
A visual metaphor is a superior communicating image (design or graphic) that instantly communicates a message or idea. It's telegraphic and understandable. It's the Big Mac of persuasion:

• Memorable
• Attention-getting
• Compelling

Example of a Visual Metaphor
Here's your challenge. You are making a presentation to your marketing and sales team about your ideal customer. You describe your ideal customer-high level business executives- in terms of demographics, psychographics, personas, lifestyles and buying behavior. On top of this, you tell them that they must target their selling and advertising messages to the customers' 450 million-year-old reptilian brain, our evolutionary brain that is the center for decision-making and so called because it is still present in reptiles today. (See How To Open The Sales Door With Neuromarketing.)

Answer: You could use all the above words and the descriptions associated with them, or you could summarize it all with the image in this post with the words "Your target customer." (Does the image work for you? Would you change it? Let me know.)

A Short Background on Metaphors
A metaphor is a literary device (word-related) to aid understanding by connecting something less familiar with something more familiar. For example, we could say that an online database is your new Rolodex. (Similes do the same thing, except they use the words "like" or "as." For example, an online database is like your old Rolodex.) You get the idea.

Visual metaphors use images to connect something less well known or difficult to understand to something better known. They are superior to word metaphors because of the superior ability of visuals to communicate ideas.

Advertising Example
Here's more of an advertising example, courtesy of SalesBrain. The objective of this ad is to communicate the advantage of digital paper vs. traditional paper.

Why Visuals Are So Powerful
According to the folks at SalesBrain, customers' "buy buttons" are located in the old brain or reptilian brain. (This is part of neuromarketing, the application of brain science to marketing. We have three brains-learn more here.)

The reptilian brain is the decision-maker and is influenced by only six stimuli. One of those stimuli is visuals. So, create and use visuals properly to push the "buy button."

Key Takeaway
Shorten the time and distance to your customer's buy button by using visual metaphors. Use visual metaphors in

• Traditional marketing (such as print ads, TV, and sales presentations)
• In digital marketing (websites)
• For inbound marketing (the marketing of attraction)

Have some fun and check out more visual metaphors here.

Do you think visual metaphors can boost your marketing? Connect with me and we'll take a look.

Additional Resources: Neuromarketing: Understanding the "Buy Button" in Your Customer's Brain by Renvoise and Morin.


Mission: To help small and mid-size businesses sell more.