10 mind-blowing statistics every food business needs to know (and how you can use them to your advantage)
A lot of food & drink businesses struggle to appreciate the importance of food photography initially. It’s an additional demand on a limited marketing budget and you can just do it in-house with your phone anyway, right..?
In this blog post, I’ve shared 10 mind-blowing statistics to demonstrate just how important food photography is in your business and why you should be outsourcing in order to establish a successful and impactful marketing strategy.
Are you looking for a food photographer?
Hit the button below to see some of my work and to get in touch.
On retaining information
1. We only remember 10% of what we read. Add an image and we retain 65% of that information.
That’s an impressive statistic for any business looking to stand out online and is a pretty compelling reason to use food photography in your marketing.
What’s more, humans process images 60,000 times faster than text, making your imagery the most engaging way to communicate with your audience.
2. The average web user reads only 20-28% of the words on the page and 81% of people only skim the content they read.
Based on this concept, images shared throughout an article can act as the ‘stopping’ points for the scroll, meaning that while your readers might not retain all the information shared, they’ll definitely take in an image or two on their way.
3. The average human attention span is only 8 seconds. Guys. That’s less than a goldfish.
What strikes me most about this statistic is not our likeness to a goldfish, but instead the rather harsh reminder of where you should be spending your time and money when it comes to marketing.
If you have only 8 seconds to capture the attention of a potential buyer, it’s undeniably better to funnel your efforts into creating engaging imagery than engaging text, especially with stat number 1 in mind.
With the right image, it only takes a second or two to get that customer to emotionally invest, and that means you’ve got 6 seconds left to play with!
On social media users
4. 83% of Instagram users discover new products on the platform.
If the last stat wasn’t reason enough to focus on your visual marketing strategy, this one should be.
Instagram has become an online marketplace, giving users the opportunity to shop as they scroll.
Optimising your Instagram account with engaging imagery that’s unique to your brand, will increase the chances of users discovering your products and lead them to buy directly through the platform.
5. More than half the global Instagram population is under the age of 35, with the biggest user group in the UK being 25-34 year olds, followed by 18-24 year olds.
What this tells me, is that your Instagram content HAS to be hitting the mark every time. Because people are after a lot more from brands these days – they want meaningful connection, they want to know the values of your brand and they want to know where and how you are making a positive change in the world.
It’s not enough to have a great tasting product anymore.
You have to have a clear and consistent message and your images need to communicate this to your audience too.
6. 73% of D2C brands say creating more engaging content is their top priority.
Knowing the demands of a younger market, it’s good to see this significant industry shift.
Brands are stepping away from generic sales messaging and instead focusing on the messaging that connects in a meaningful way with their audiences and establishes a more long-term purchase relationship, with an increased repeat purchase rate.
On visual content
7. Marketers predict that up to 80% of businesses will more heavily rely on visual content in the coming years.
Visual content is on the rise, which is a good thing.
It means more and more marketing teams are tapping into the power of using visuals to tell a story and to communicate product information to their audience.
What this also means though, is that competition is on the rise.
The more businesses sharing visual content, the more your imagery has to stand out against them, increasing the need to use high quality, intentional images with every post you share.
8. Posts that include images produce 650% higher engagement than text only and you can generate up to 94% more views on your post with an image.
If for some reason you still weren’t convinced by the power of visual content, this one should be a bit of a smack in the face.
650 is a ridiculous percentage.
So, if you aren’t sharing images with every post across your platforms, now is the time to start.
9. Stock images are the most commonly used in visual marketing BUT only 13% of marketers said this helped them reach their targets. 40% said original graphics and imagery were the most helpful.
The learning from this stat is pretty clear to me. While you’re keen to be sharing original and engaging imagery that reflects your brand identity, you’re finding that your only option is to source stock imagery due to lack of available time. Does this sound like you?
Outsourcing this will not only free up your time, but will also uplevel the quality of the imagery you’re able to share and make you stand out in comparison to those continuing to share generic, stock photos.
10. 44% of brands are taking between 2-10 hours a week to organise their social content, with 11% saying more than 20 hours!
What’s more, 44% also said they struggle with sourcing and creating content consistently and yet 49% know that visual content is essential to their marketing strategy.
This is the story with so many of my clients when they first get in touch, looking for a way to outsource their content creation so they can free up their own time, connect better with their audience and drive more sales with the images they share.
Yes food photography is an investment, but it’s an investment that will save you time, guarantee consistency, increase your sales and take away the stress of organising social content. What’s not to love?
So there you have it: 10 mind-blowing statistics you need to know as a food based business owner and how you can use them to your advantage.
If these stats have got you thinking about your own visual marketing strategy then I would love to hear from you. Get in touch here and let’s see how we can use your imagery to your advantage in your business.
Are you looking for a food photographer?
Hit the button below to see some of my work and to get in touch.