In the ever-evolving landscape of Vegan Marketing, one thing remains constant—visual appeal is key. For Plant-Based Businesses striving to make their mark in a world saturated with choices, the right image can be the secret ingredient to success. In this article, we’ll delve into the reasons why better pictures lead to better marketing results, specifically for vegan enterprises, where tantalizing visuals can transform casual browsers into loyal customers.

The Visual Feast: Why Pictures Matter

1. That photo makes me hungry!

The saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” takes on a whole new meaning in the world of Vegan Marketing. When it comes to food, the visual impact conveys the promise of a delightful Vegan Culinary Experience. High-quality, mouthwatering images have the power to evoke taste and aroma, enticing potential customers to imagine the flavors of that product and want to taste it.

2. Instigating Cravings

Visual Appeal in Vegan Marketing is paramount. Vegan businesses face the challenge of breaking stereotypes associated with plant-based diets. Mouthwatering pictures that highlight the palatability of vegan dishes help dispel the misconception that vegan food is bland or unappealing. By showcasing the deliciousness of plant-based options, businesses can evoke the desire to taste those foods and attract a wider audience. Let us not forget the huge importance of flexitarians in the growth of the vegan market.

3. Mouthwatering Pictures On Social Media

In an era dominated by social media, a visually striking feed is a Vegan Branding strategy’s best friend. Consumers today are scrolling through a sea of content, and eye-catching images stand out in the digital crowd. A scroll-stopping, hunger-inducing picture has the potential to go viral, exponentially expanding a vegan business’s reach.

Behind the Lens: Tips for Vegan Marketing

1. Professional Food Photography

Investing in Professional Food Photography is an investment in your brand’s success. A skilled photographer can capture the essence of your products and dishes, ensuring that each image tells a compelling story. From close-ups that highlight yummy details to beautifully composed shots that evoke a desired experience, professional photos elevate the perceived value of your vegan offerings.

2. Consistent Aesthetic

Building a recognizable brand requires consistency. Choose a visual aesthetic that aligns with your Vegan Branding and maintain it across all marketing channels. Whether it’s the lighting, color palette, or composition, a cohesive look creates a memorable and visually appealing brand presence. Most important: the images must stimulate the desire to taste that vegan product.

3. User-Generated Content: A Risk

You could encourage your customers to share their own pictures of your vegan products. You could also consider running social media contests or offering incentives for customers who share their mouthwatering photos. But… beware user-generated content in Vegan Marketing is a risk: an appetizing photograph of food is not easy to make, and most likely, many of the user-generated photographs will not be appetizing at all. In fact, quite the opposite! Carefully consider the risk that user-generated content may turn out to be counterproductive.

Show your uniqueness

Impactful and inviting images will communicate your unique brand identity and encourage purchases. In the competitive world of Vegan Marketing, where evoking taste is crucial, pictures play a pivotal role in shaping perceptions and driving sales. By harnessing the Appetizing Vegan Imagery and Visual Appeal in Vegan Marketing, plant-based enterprises can create a powerful marketing strategy that not only attracts new customers but keeps them coming back for more. So, remember, the next time you’re crafting your marketing campaign, let your pictures do the talking and arouse an irresistible desire in your customers to taste your plant-based products.

Want to know more about how to arouse in your customers the irresistible desire to taste your plant-based products? Check out the pictures in our gallery and drop us a line. We’ll be happy to help you achieve your desired results.

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The best type of light for photographing your plant-based products depends on the subject matter and the desired mood. What does your vegan brand want to express?

Food lighting to evoke a certain mood

Light can have a big impact on the appearance of photographed food. Soft, diffused light tends to create a warm and inviting atmosphere that is generally more suitable for photographing delicate, gourmet vegan dishes. On the other extreme, harder light tends to be more appropriate for photographing hearty, rustic dishes or plant-based products targeted at a younger audience.

Bright sunlight evokes the outdoors and physical activity and is often associated with products for figure-conscious or athletic people. Evening lighting (such as candlelight) can create a warm, intimate and romantic atmosphere that is well suited for certain types of food and brands. For example, a fine-dining restaurant or a vegan brand that sells luxury chocolate might choose to use evening lighting to create a sense of indulgence and sophistication.

A window light can help to create a more intimate and cozy atmosphere that is well suited for plant-based meals.
Finally, using a slightly warmer color temperature can help to create a comfortable and inviting atmosphere, and that’s why it’s often used in editorial food photography.

Daylight lighting in vegan food photography

Are you using only natural ingredients? Daylight can be a very beneficial type of light because it can help to communicate the genuineness of your ingredients in the final image.
Brands that are looking to create a clean, natural and healthy image often choose this solution for their food photography. For example, a vegan brand that sells organic, farm-to-table products might go for it to highlight the freshness and purity of its plant-based ingredients.

The light direction

In addition to the type of light, the direction of the light can also have an impact on the final image. Brands that want to create a luxurious, sophisticated atmosphere may choose to use soft backlight in their food photography. Backlight emphasizes the depth in the picture and helps create a three-dimensional effect. Moreover, it’s a great way to highlight the textures of the ingredients. Side lighting can also create dimension and texture, while front lighting is not often used because it can result in a more flat and uninteresting image.

The light and props

In food photography, the light can be matched to the props used to create a cohesive and harmonious image. This is because light and props can both play a role in setting the overall mood and atmosphere of the photograph. For example, if the props being used are rustic and earthy (such as a wooden cutting board or a wicker basket), then using a softer, warmer light source (such as a window or a lamp) can help to enhance the natural, down-to-earth vibe of the photograph.

Using a diffused, warm, inviting and homey light might appeal to a target audience that values comfort and familiarity.

On the other hand, if the props are more polished and modern (such as a stainless steel countertop or a glass jar), then using a harder, cooler light source can help to create a more sleek and contemporary look. This light might appeal to a target audience that values novelty and technology.

By carefully selecting both the light and the props to match the desired mood and atmosphere, photographers can create visually appealing and cohesive images that effectively communicate the brand’s message.

Same baked potatoes, different targets

It’s true that the very same baked potato dish can look very different depending on the lighting used, and each version may appeal to a slightly different target audience. This is because light has a powerful impact on the appearance of food, and different types of light can create even opposite moods and atmospheres.

Check the differences between these two images. The food styling is the same, but one has the light of a bright day at the beach and conveys that particular mood. It would be perfect for promoting a plant-based takeaway restaurant open for lunch. The other has a warmer evening light and evokes a candlelight dinner for two in a romantic vegan restaurant.

Still unsure about what is the best light to arouse in your customers the irresistible desire to taste your plant-based products? Just drop us a line. We’ll be delighted to help you achieve the results you want and deserve.

L'articolo Is your vegan brand using the right light? proviene da Vegan Clicks.

How The War In Ukraine Is Impacting Global Food Supply

Among the war’s ripple effects, there is a turning point in global food pricing. Russia and Ukraine together makeup 29% of global wheat exports, 19% of global corn and 80% of exports of sunflower oil. This means that Russia’s attack on Ukraine threatens global food security.
Only time and events will reveal the severity of the consequences, for sure we are going to witness a number of repercussions. And since Russia and Belarus are primary exporters of fertilizers, the conflict poses a risk to food production in other countries too.
The United Nations’ World Food Program has expressed concern over the conflict that might considerably worsen the huger catastrophe humanity is already facing. War, climate change and the economic consequences of Covid 19 are the major causes of food insecurity. The current Ukraine conflict is expected to affect food prices around the world (differently according to the country) and be a game changer.
Since Europe is reliant on imports of corn and sunflower seed for livestock feed, it is quite possible that the price of meat will rise too. Will necessity remind us that it takes almost 100 times as much land to produce a gram of protein from beef or lamb, when compared to peas or tofu?
It is too early to make any predictions. We can, however, analyze other data at our disposal and check the 2022 vegan trends that, during the first two months, matter the most.

The Vegan Market Figures You Need To Know

Plant-based food market is doing phenomenally well. No wonder it attracts the interest of big banks. UBS Investment Bank forecasts the global plant-based meat market to reach USD 51 billion by 2025 and a report from Credit Suisse points to the vegan sector as an excellent investment opportunity. The market for alternatives to meat and dairy products is expected to grow from the current $14 billion reaching $1.4 trillion by 2050.

Research suggests that plant-based products will also witness a surge of manufacturers investments willing to respond to an increase in consumer demand. In fact, 56% of food and drink brand owners and manufacturers interviewed in a new research commissioned by Atura Proteins are most likely to invest their new product development budgets in the development of plant-based products in 2022.
“The veggie boom is in full swing!”, Pro Veg International triumphantly announces on an Instagram post. According with their new Smart Protein Survey, a remarkable 46% of Europeans have already reduced their meat consumption dramatically and nearly 40% of people following an omnivore and flexitarian diet intend to consume less meat in the near future. Three-quarters of flexitarians already eat less meat compared to a year ago.

Veganuary, the global organization encouraging people to try vegan in January and beyond, has this year welcomed more than 629,000 people from 228 countries. And more than a third of people in the UK are now interested in becoming vegan.

Bright future ahead for the plant-based food industry, the trend keeps rising. Reducing meat consumption is unstoppably going mainstream with big players and established brands riding the tide.
Philadelphia’s first plant based variant has just been launched, Pret A Manger has now three permanent Veggie Pret stores in London and the controversial Nestlé vegan KitKat is a reality, just to name a couple of examples.

Based on Bloomberg Intelligence Research analysis, the global plant-based alternatives market could reach $162 billion in the next decade. An ‘explosive growth’ making up 7.7% of the global protein market by 2030.

The booming popularity of plant-based eating couldn’t go unnoticed by the World Health Organization that recently published a review entitled ‘Plant-based diets and their impact on health, sustainability and the environment’
They report interesting data, for instance: “it has been estimated that in 2020 there were 2.4 million deaths worldwide, and approximately €240 million in health-care costs, attributable to excessive red and processed meat consumption”
The research concludes that “considerable evidence supports shifting populations towards healthful plant- based diets that reduce or eliminate intake of animal products and maximize favourable “One Health” impacts on human, animal and environmental health.”

The data are encouraging, but wait: 2022 is going to be another bumpy year. How can we navigate through it and ride its unpredictable waves?
Here 11 vegan trends to watch in 2022 and the visuals needed for successful visual communication:

# 1 The New Normal: Adaptability Is Key

“It is time to face the world’s predictable unpredictability”, states The Economist.
Indeed. Present times can very destabilizing and tumble our habits, careers, relations, finances and more.
Change is rapid and turbulent, many different factors have the potential to cause confusion and instability. The present is unclear, the future uncertain.
How can a brand deal with these complex times?
While you need to be ready to alter your plans with agility (maybe with innovative products, new distribution…), it’s important to stay true to your values and vision.
Why? Because for the public it’s easier to grieve the old normal and embrace change with the help of trustable experiences, products and… brands.

Visuals

People desire to avoid excessive stress. Win your customers’ attention offering something comforting, warm, relaxing, cheerful:

• Intimate atmospheres, cozy moods, reassuring tones.
• Images that show traditional elements, like a table set in a familiar way
• Traditional dishes (even if they are prepared with new ingredients as in trend #9)
• Pictures that suggest connection and quality time.

There is also a desire for escape and images that evoke stylish atmospheres and small self-gratifications can be appreciated (but not always appropriate).

# 2 Age Of Accelerations

Remember 2021 big hypes? Some of them are so last year now and not so relevant after all. Others are increasingly becoming part of our reality, for instance: Metaverse, NFTs, Social Media shopping, AI implementations.
All very exciting and… stressing! Not only technology is developing at a rate faster than we can possibly keep up with, but our very way of doing things need to keep changing. And then there is global warming, social justice, unemployment, supply chain issues, privacy concerns, inflation…
We need to constantly adapt to new scenarios and rules of conduct, we need to keep learning how to use new technology.
All this unsettlement is not without consequences. Since the pandemic started, mental health issues skyrocket. We are craving for stability and things to rely on.

Visuals

As for trend #1, it’s important to propose innovations in a reassuring way. Your new product will benefit from pictures that contain elements familiar to your audience. In other words, try to associate #innovation with something #familiar.

#3 Flexitarians Are The Game Changer

We already knew that almost 90% of the people eating non-meat burgers are not vegetarian or vegan.
Flexitarians (those who go mainly meatless, but occasional eat meat or diary) are still driving the plant-based boom and now desire to diversify their diets with more vegan options, possibly healthier than the over-processed burgers that helped to move away from meat.
Many of them have only switched to their new dietary lifestyle in the last two years. They are curious, open to change, and, as such, need guidance and information about vegan foods.

Visuals

Flexitarians will appreciate your help in navigating their new orientation, but be careful: they are now getting more demanding and the offer has increased. In order to catch their attention, you better use visuals that are very appealing, eye-catching and useful. They want to be inspired with unique and mouth-watering images for their plant-based meals.

#4 Climatarianism: What Actually Is A Climatarian?

Flexitarians are not all the same. For many of them it’s all about health, some want to experience new flavors, others try to keep their personal impact on animal suffering in check. Consumers that are looking to reduce their carbon foot prints and therefore consume less meat are called Climatarians. With the increasingly frequent occurrence of devastating natural phenomena, more and more people are willing to consume less animal products in order to save the planet.

Visuals

Since Climatarians are mainly motivated by ecological reasons, address them with colors that evoke nature. You might also want to underline the eco-friendliness of your products using props like a wooden table, hand-made earthenware dishes and so on. Please don’t try to make your products look sustainable if they aren’t. That’s greenwashing.

#5 The Rise Of Reducetarians

In the Whole Foods Market’s latest Trends Council Report, Reductionism has been identified as a trend to watch for 2022 and Waitrose, in its 20221/2022 Food & Drink Report, points out that many consumers are looking to reduce the number of days in which they eat meat during the week: veggie for five days and omnivorous for the two remaining days.
But what is the difference between Flexitarian and Reducetarian? While flexitarians are primarily plant-based oriented and occasionally include animal products, reducetarians gradually reduce their consumption of these animal products with respect to their own diet.
In other words, reducetarians tend to like meat, otherwise they’d go vegan. They limit animal products in their diet because they know it’s good for their health, the animals and the planet.

Visuals

Reducetarians seem to be the ones that appreciate the most products that look and taste like animal products.
Show them images that remind them typical meat-eaters dishes and you’ll make them curious. The picture of a rare steak of lab grown meat that would certainly not appeal a vegan, might look appetizing to a reducetarian.

#6 Transparency, Please! We Are Gen Z

In 2019 Millennials (born 1981-1996) were the top consumers of plant-based meat alternatives. Because of the hype of so many new products, they were inclined to turn a blind eye to the over-processed foods and if they were sustainable or not. Now, Generation Z (born 1997-2012) is starting to come into adulthood, they are 32% of the global population.
Their orientation toward sustainability, social justice and ethics is strong and food is their top spending priority (nutritional values are, of course, important to them).
69% of Gen Zers globally say they’d be willing to pay more for a brand or product if they knew it was supporting an issue they care about.
82% of them consider social responsibility very important and ponder the ethical standards of those who produce what they eat. In fact, they can be skeptical of brands if their actions are not showing that they are operating in society’s best interest.
Nearly 9 in 10 Gen Zers believe that it’s important that they do something to fight climate change. If your products are helping them to do so, you will benefit from their purchasing power.
Caring about the impact of one’s choices is not limited to Gen Z. According with McKinsey research, 3 in 5 consumers say that sustainability is of concern in their purchases. “Not clear if people put that principle into action when they purchase, but the attitude is genuine.”

Visuals

Are your manufacturing facilities sustainable? Are your ingredients locally sourced? Do you use organic ingredients? Are you supporting any good cause? Show it in pictures, they want to know!

#7 Teach Me

Since the plant-based sector is growing so rapidly, the ones that turned their attention just recently to vegan food would appreciate some help (remember our 2021 #1 trend?).
About 50% of them feel they need more information about plant-based food products. They want to know about nutritional values, recipes, ways to cook certain ingredients and more. They look for these information on search engines, they visit health and nutrition-society websites looking for food options that are healthier and more ethical.
According with the survey published by ProVeg International as part of the Smart Protein Project, 43% are likely or very likely to look for such information visiting food-company websites. Help them vary and spice up their menus with your suggestions.

Visuals

Practical tips that help them navigate their new food orientation will be greatly appreciated. Share visually appealing recipes, guidelines, suggestions and meal plans. Inspire them showing them what they could experience choosing your products.

#8 Desire For Connection

Already in 2018, a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation pointed out that more than two in ten reported loneliness or social isolation in the U.K. and the U.S., double the share in Japan. The pandemic has intensified our isolation and made us more vulnerable to sadness: it’s a loneliness epidemic.The 2020 Cigna Loneliness Research Report notes that 61% of those surveyed felt lonely.
Now, compared to last year we have a better chance of meeting, but always with caution. After months on end when we couldn’t see anyone, we’re valuing those who truly matter to us – and cherishing the time we spend with them.
52% of people surveyed for the Waitrose 2021-2022 Food & Drink Report say that the past 19 months have made them more appreciative of friends and family. A third of those surveyed said they’re having smaller gatherings than before. People tend to feel that life is too short therefore quality is preferred over quantity.
We are now the most connected and probably the loneliest we have ever been. We desire to connect more and social networks pay a big role in that. Three quarters of 18-24 years old looked at TikTok and Instagram for food inspiration during lockdown. What is the viral potential of your vegan brand pics?

Visuals

Barbecues, picnics and everything outdoors are trending now because are safer. When presenting your products, show a homely, friendly, welcoming atmosphere. Show the comfort of a shared meal. Food is strongly connected to conviviality and our sense of community (remember our 2021 trend #4?)
Sometimes a warm light is enough to suggest the relaxed and pleasant atmosphere of a private dining.
Don’t forget the importance of social media, the magic hashtag is #HOMECHEF (4.3 billion views on TikTok)

#9 Fancy Breakfast

Despite the health emergency is slowly decreasing, we shouldn’t expect a return to 2019 behaviors. Work-from-home, for instance, is here to stay.
That means we can be more flexible with our time and also indulge in rewarding self-gratification. Breakfast has become a greater focal point in our lives and, as Speciality Food Magazine points out, “with fewer commutes to work, families have more time together at the breakfast table. It’s the mealtime equivalent of a family group hug before the day begins.”
A renewed interest for breakfast was already emerging before the pandemic. It was an informal and pleasant way to meet early in the morning in bars and discuss work projects in front of a slice of cake.
Now it’s different, we are talking of intimate and gratifying breakfasts while cocooning in our homes. Remember the “hyper-nesting” described by Faith Popcorn in 1981? Yes, the past two years made us re-discover the comfort of staying in our cocoons.
People aged 18-34 are the group most likely to stay in more, in a sign that the Homebody Economy isn’t confined to the older generations. According with the Waitrose 2021-2022 Food & Drink Report 41% of us enjoy spending time at home more than they used to and 53% of us agree food is more important to them than it was pre-pandemic.
And this is how the various age groups agree with the statement: “Although lockdown is over, I plan to go out less”

• 58% of 18- 34-year-olds agree
• 49% of 35- 44-year-olds agree
• 46% of 45- 54-year-olds agree
• 45% of over-55s agree

Visuals

Show that tempting, delicious breakfast! Your customers want to start their days with something uplifting: a slice of cake, herbal teas, smoothies, chocolate cookies, fruit, puddings, muffins… a rich breakfast must look gluttonous and mouth-watering. Since Gen Zers and Millennials are numerical important, remember what they like!

#10 Give Me More Diversity

With Covid19 limiting international travel, the desire to explore exotic recipes at home is increasing. According with the New York Times, in 2022, regional foods from India will get a lot of attention, with deep dives into dishes from Gujarat, Kerala, Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and the Awadh area.
Not only that, Michelin-starred chefs started offering vegan menus in their posh restaurants around the world and plant-based meal kits are gaining attention with delivery services like AllPlants and its chef-made vegan meals ready to heat and eat in minutes.
Ghost kitchens and virtual restaurants are on the rise too, they offer a variety of vegan options. Keep an eye on VDC Culinary and their innovative franchising, they provide restaurants everything needed to build multiple concepts out of one kitchen and create a more profitable delivery business. Celebrities menus are one of the available options. In other words, a restaurant can focus on executing food orders while the app brings new orders in. The very same kitchen can prepare food the TikTok Kitchen or other virtual restaurants. They do not have a vegan virtual restaurant yet (here waiting for 100% Vegan competitors!)
New ingredients and new tastes are making their way into supermarkets too. Over the past year there has been a +59% increase in new plant-based products.
One interesting ingredient is mycoprotein, a sustainable protein source made from a natural fungus called Fusarium Venenatum, that can replicate meat in texture and taste.

Visuals

Show more variety to win consumers! Put in your pictures the ethnic cuisine and the related ambience you know your customers desire. Present your novelties with inspiring recipe pictures making sure to remember trend #2 and including reassuring and familiar elements in the image.

#11 Familiar Food

In this chaotic world we crave for stability (see trend #1) and look for what helps us feel safer. That’s why during the pandemic consumers felt the desire for nostalgic food products and childhood favorites regained popularity.
As we know (see trend #3), Flexitarians are driving the plant-based boom and tend to favor ingredients they are fairly familiar with (read: non-vegan foods too).
That’s why, according with the Good Food Institute, instead of asking consumers to give up the foods they love, “we can create meat, eggs, and dairy more sustainably and efficiently by making them from plants, cultivating them directly from cells, or producing them by fermentation.”
Plant-based beef, poultry, tuna, salmon, mozzarella or sliced cheese are in demand. They are “transition foods”, designed to meet a very large target audience.
In 2020 we witnessed a turning point with the rise of vegan burgers. In 2021, plant-based chicken boomed and vegan fish started becoming popular (also helped by the seafood industry documentary Seaspriracy).
For instance, Good Catch Foods nostalgic fish sticks won the title of Peta 2021 company of the year.
In 2022 we’ll see more plant-based fish, like Aqua mushroom-based seafood and many other vegan brands that mimic sea food.
(btw, Proveg is giving away a free plant-based seafood ebook full of easy to prepare recipes)

Visuals

As already described in trend #5, pictures conceived to target flexitarians will also benefit from meat-eaters aesthetics (what, this is not meat?). Don’t forget that many vegans have absolutely no inclination to seek food that looks, smells and tastes like meat, but still want familiar food. In a picture, the use of traditional elements (like traditional dishes as indicated in trend #1) will result appealing to both targets.

Did you like this article? Feel free to share it on social media and also read what Vegan Clicks has to offer.
Feel free to drop us a line if you want to translate these trends into successful visual communication.

L'articolo 11 Ways To Ride 2022 Vegan Trends With Winning Visuals proviene da Vegan Clicks.

Your company sells spring onion tofu spread. Do you really want to show just the packaging or a tartine? How about suggesting instead a squash, carrot and orange soup with a delicious swirl of your product?
Let’s create a special atmosphere, evoke the pleasure of sitting down at that table, delighting in the colors and exquisite aromas. Make your audience perceive those flavors and the innovative combinations, the quality of the experience…

Captivating images

In the past, adding a little green leaf somewhere in the logo or on the packaging was enough to be remembered by health food stores customers. Today, with the rising demand for vegan options and the incredible expansion of the plant-based food market, that’s not the case anymore. Nowadays supermarkets have big vegan sections and even the fast-food industry is trying hard to win over customers who avoid animal-derived ingredients.

To meet the booming popularity of veganism, the market now offers a growing range of products that appeal to flexitarians too.
Being able to conquer the attention of your potential customers in the blink of an eye is more crucial than ever now. Your visuals need to effectively communicate your brand’s values and leave an impression.

Your customers’ perception of your brand is determined by both the quality of what you sell and the available information about it and your company.
Every day consumers may interact with different contexts in which your brand is mentioned. Some environments are under your direct control (website, social media, customer support, salespeople, advertising, newsletters, press releases…) others aren’t (news, reviews, rumors, gossip…).

All this information contributes to shaping your brand reputation and creating opinions and feelings among potential customers. Although you can’t have 100% control over how your brand is perceived, you can certainly do a lot to cultivate a certain image in consumers’ minds. How do you want your brand to be perceived?

How to shape your Brand Visual Identity

Whether consumers recognize your uniqueness or not and how they differentiate you from your competitors depends on a number of factors, including:

• the values associated with your products and services (for instance: sustainability and animal rights)
• the market positioning and price of your products and services
• the tone of the communication (authoritative, funny…)
• the visual elements

Are you aiming to conquer the market populated by kale & spirulina smoothie lovers who wear yoga clothing and eat with chopsticks detox-Buddha-bowls? Or maybe you want to seduce trendy flexitarians always on the go and hungry for plant-based burgers?
In order to generate coherent communication, you need to have a very clear idea of your brand mission, vision, target audience, personality, and values.

An easy way to proceed is to make a list of keywords that suit these points. Would you describe your brand with expressions like classic, timeless, and linked to tradition? Cool, innovative, and trendy? Healthy, organic, and natural? You can also list keywords that would not be appropriate to use. Once you have listed those definitions, it’s time to translate them into visual content.

If, for instance, your vegan products are designed primarily for a target audience of sport enthusiasts and your mission is to make vegan energy bars readily available, then outdoor lifestyle images might work best. If your brand is focused on the pleasure of conviviality, a cluttered table that expresses the richness and the fun of a shared meal will do. Are you trying to conquer diet-conscious customers? A minimalist look might be appropriate…

Remember: customers interested in vegan products are not all the same! You have flexitarians that just turned their attention to plant-based food, ethical foodies, vegan fashionistas, plant-based fitness enthusiasts and many other tribes.
Your images should all be consistent with the values of the company (for example: healthy, organic and natural) and can be inflected in slightly different ways depending on your target audience.

More ideas to develop your Visual Identity

A fun and effective approach to defining the most appropriate image for your vegan brand is to create a Mood Board. A Mood Board is a collection of visual content on a specific theme. Let’s say you want to plan the launch of a new vegan burger.

You could start collecting images of different kinds of burger, an interesting search (even if it might not end up being what’s most useful). Then try looking for any image that expresses the mood or situation you want to evoke: landscapes or environments, objects, artwork, movie scenes, fashion photos, portraits, and anything that resonates with what you have in mind. You can use snapshots, press clippings, illustrations, etc. You can also add color palettes and typography.

Now that you have all that chaos in front of you, start making order. It works a bit like a brainstorming, just with images. First you gather lots of content, then you select what you find most interesting, you create groups of images, you remove what doesn’t seem to fit and – little by little – the style you are looking for will appear before your eyes. You’ll be able to combine the set of images that best expresses the atmosphere you want into a collage. That collage will also be a reference for all contributors.

Another interesting practice is to analyze what your competitors do and then compare it with what you had in mind: does your visual content set you far enough apart?

Why Visual Identity is important

Today’s culture is heavily visually oriented and that’s why all the visual elements of your brand identity can significantly influence consumer response.

The visual identity includes:

• the logo
• the color palette
• the typography
• imagery, graphic styles, and shapes (i.e., rounded shapes evoke different feelings than angular shapes)
• the photography styles

When these visual representations are consistent across website, social media, ads, product packaging, newsletter design… it’s easier for the consumer to identify and remember the brand. For this reason, most companies have a Brand Style Guide that lists the various elements and is used as a reference.
In your style guide you can also include mood boards.

Vegan food photography that converts

We all know that visual content acts faster than text alone. Scientists have found that the human brain can achieve the remarkable feat of processing an image seen for just 13 milliseconds. But that’s not all. If we hear some information, three days later we are likely to remember only 10% of it. However, if a picture is paired with that same information, three days later we’ll retain 65% of it. Would you like your brand to be remembered or not? And, most importantly, how would you like it to be remembered?

You might have a pretty logo, use really cool colors and fonts, but if your photography doesn’t make a great first impression, you’re missing out.
When you select images, be very critical and ask yourself: “How does this photo make me feel when I look at it?”. An inviting food picture that makes your mouth water will most certainly arouse a desire to taste that dish even among those who don’t know much about your products. That’s exactly what you want.

Use photography as your most powerful tool to impress your potential customers! The quality of your photos subliminally communicates the quality of what you are selling. Pictures that truly stand out will make your products or services stand out. You want to make your potential clients hungry with really tempting pictures.

Authenticity counts (a lot!)

So, you have been considering producing the pictures but you are now thinking of using stock images instead. The pictures do not specifically show your products but they are cheap.
But cheap in cost often means cheap in effect.
Stock pictures can help when you are starting out and be of some use later in exceptional cases. But… do you really want to use images that can be found on hundreds of other websites and pretend they represent your product?
Ethical consumers want you to be real, showing them stock pictures can lead to mistrust. Not the most desirable outcome.
You need to have your own, unique imagery that reflects your brand and shows how delicious your products are.

A clearly defined visual identity not only makes your brand immediately recognizable, it also conveys what’s important to share with the public. So your images might need to show that your vegan products are made with natural, organic ingredients, that they’re cruelty-free, or that they’re sustainably sourced. Pictures of different recipes will encourage your vegan customers to prepare your products in different ways and maybe even inspire their non-vegan friends. Remember: vegan brands are not only selling food, they are somehow supporting a cause (even when they don’t mean to). Many of your customers really appreciate brands that are associated with pertinent causes.

When your Brand Visual Identity is not authentic, out-of-date, or unequipped to appeal to your target audience, it’s vital to refresh it and find a new visual approach.
The pictures with which your brand presents itself to the world have a lot to do with the success of your business. If your products are good, make sure they have unique, inviting and memorable pictures to let the world know.

Need help producing new mouth-watering pictures?
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FAQs

In marketing it’s easy to get confused because a lot of similar terms are used. Check out this Visual Brand Identity glossary.

What is Brand Identity?

Brand Identity is everything that sets you apart from your competitors and makes your brand the unique entity it is (and shows what it’s not).
The traits and behaviors that define your brand include the strengths of your company, what you do and why you do it, the emotions evoked, the values pursued and the overall brand personality.
An impactful Brand Identity is a coherent one and helps build customer loyalty and trust. In other words, it provides a well-defined and consistent customer experience that fulfills the company promises.
Your Brand Identity is visually expressed through your Visual Identity.

Why is your Brand Identity important?

A strong Brand Identity lets your customers know right away who you are and what can be expected from you. It’s a warranty that your products are of high quality or maybe cool or really sustainable. A strong Brand Identity for a vegan brand means, among other things, that customers will buy its products without reading the label because they trust that all ingredients are vegan and healthy.

What is a Brand?

A brand is the sum of all intangible elements that help people identify a company or a set of products or services.
Much more than a logo or a familiar label, a Brand is a recognizable business, a particular marketing concept, a feeling evoked in the customers.
Well-known brands normally build their Brand Reputation creating a consistent Brand Experience across different media.

What is Visual Identity?

Visual Identity is your brand look. Its main components are:

• logo
• color palette
• typography
• images

All illustrations, graphics, photography and various visual inputs associated with your brand contribute to creating the Visual Identity.
It’s often referred to as Visual Brand Identity because it visually expresses your brand values and gives consistency to the style that characterizes your website, packaging, advertising and more…. In short: Brand Identity means “what”, Visual Identity means “how it looks”.

Why is Visual Identity important?

A strong visual identity allows your brand to differentiate from your competitors and portrays the desired image to your consumers.

What is Brand Image?

Brand Image is the way customers perceive the brand. Not to be confused with Brand Identity, which indicates the way the brand wants to be perceived or the sum of elements and characteristics expressed through the Visual Brand Identity.

What is Visual Strategy?

Visual Strategy establishes the appropriate styles and ways to achieve specific marketing goals using visual language. It also establishes guidelines to follow for using visual elements in a coherent and consistent way while styling your brand.

What is Visual Marketing?

Visual Marketing is the use of anything that appeals to the eye in order to market your products and services.
Adopting Visual Communication, Visual Marketing helps the audience to get your message quicker and more precisely. With text only, the same message would be more difficult to grasp.

What is Visual Content Marketing?

Visual Content Marketing is the use of Visual Content to attract, entertain and/or educate your target audience.
The elements employed appeal primarily to the sense of sight and oftentimes contain information that is useful to your potential customer.

What is Visual Content?

Visual content is primarily image-based information that may include: illustrations, photos, GIFs, videos, embedded social media posts, infographics, pull quote graphics, or data and statistics.

What is Visual Communication?

Visual Communication is the use of Visual Content and (possibly) a Visual Strategy to express your Brand Identity and create a Visual Brand Identity.

What is Brand Experience?

Brand experience is the sum of sensations, emotions and associations that are evoked and develop interacting with your Brand.

What is Brand Recognition?

Brand Recognition is the extent to which consumers identify and recognize a specific brand just by looking at elements like a product packaging or an ad.
There are various stages of Brand Recognition:

• Brand Recognition
• Brand Preference
• Brand Loyalty

Before reaching Brand Recognition, there is a phase of Brand Non-Recognition that means the public is not able to recognize the uniqueness of your brand.

What is Brand Reputation?

Brand reputation is how trusted a brand is, its credibility, authoritativeness, and prestige. Brand Reputation can be significantly influenced by news coverage, reviews, and social media comments.

What is the difference between Brand Image and Brand Reputation?

Brand Reputation mainly indicates the general confidence consumers have in your brand and is essential for building loyalty. Brand Image refers more to the way consumers perceive how relevant and unique your brand and its style are.

What is a Brand Style Guide?

A Brand Style Guide is a rulebook that sets down the guidelines to represent your brand. Its content can be extremely specific and list how your logo can be used (or not used), the appropriate color palettes, typography direction and so on.
When it comes to photography, normally the styles that fit your Brand Identity are described. In order to make the look and feel of the images clear, photo examples or Mood Boards can be used.

What is a Mood Board?

A Mood Board is a collection of visual content on a specific theme to visually describe the desired atmosphere and its impact. It’s a sort of a collage that summarizes a style or concept. When a Mood Board is used to explain a certain feeling, normally one page is sufficient. If the Mood Board is used to prepare a campaign or the style of a new line of products or a complex photoshoot, then several sections can be required.

What is Vegan Clicks?

Vegan Clicks is a boutique food photography service that will help you give potential customers the irresistible urge to taste your vegan dish.
Find out more reading this page and the services page. Find the answers to your questions in the FAQs section.
Or just write to us.

L'articolo Winning Vegan Visual Brand Identity proviene da Vegan Clicks.

Wouldn’t you like to attract new customers that understand the values of your brand in a blink of an eye? Easy: put what you believe in into pictures!
A picture is worth a thousand words, which is both good and bad news. If your products and services are excellent, but their visual presentation is poor… your potential customers might not feel the desire to give them a try.
In other words: the quality of your images subliminally communicates the quality of your products.

Eye-catching, mouth-watering images will communicate that your products are appetizing and attract new customers.
Of course, what you sell must then fulfill your side of the bargain, i.e., meet your customers’ needs and desires. After all, you are selling solutions to their pain-points, rather than products.

Values that matter to your audience

Let’s say your brand values are focused on lowering meat consumption, so you provide succulent vegan burgers that appeal a wide audience. Potential customers that share your same values will be happy to support your business.

Remember that ethical consumers are keen to share what matters to them, including information on their favorite brands. News illustrating how veganism can be fun, healthy, and totally satisfying (not restrictive as some think) is likely to spread quickly on the net. Happy customers can become your best brand advocates and promoters of what you offer, creating a self-sustaining loop.

The 4 steps to improve your vegan business starting with visual communication

Using quality visual communication is a fast way to make an impact on your desired target.
In short you:

• Attract the right customers by creating meaningful content and visuals tailored to them;
• Engage them by proposing your solutions to their pain points;
• Empower them by making their lives better with your products;
• Watch them sharing your visuals and news on how happy they are about what you have to offer.

Use captivating visual communication to connect

The relation with your potential customers oftentimes starts with memorable images that grab their attention. And if your content is sharable, they will share it with their tribe — just think about how many Facebook and Instagram posts are about food!
Keep in mind that social media have played an important role in the growing popularity of veganism. Impactful and relevant pictures are one of the best ways to connect with these networks.
Plant-based fitness enthusiasts might be sensitive to images that are slightly different from the ones that attract vegan gourmands, that’s why it’s important for you to plan your visual communication carefully.

Meet your audience where their needs and desires are

Find out what most matters to your audience, fulfill their desires, and keep the relationship going. You can share ideas about new ways to prepare your products and mouth-watering recipes, communicating much of this visually with appetite-whetting pictures. You can give them solutions to the challenge of cooking new delicious dishes and ideas for new and different occasions for enjoying them. You can suggest novel approaches and ways to seduce the palate of their meat-eating friends.
The key here is to create appealing content that people want to share. Vegans like to show how delicious vegan food is.

Why your visual content is incredibly important

Social media has become a major source of inspiration, answers, news, and information. Any trend popular among young people is going to be featured prominently on social media and an impactful image has a higher probability of being shared and seen. Put simply: if your images suck, no one will share them. If your images are appealing and inviting, there is a good chance that they will create organic social media traffic. Good images enjoy high retweet rates and Facebook shares.
But, of course, you don’t want to have good images just to be popular on social media, you want pictures that can define your brand identity and represent the quality of your products.

Visual content marketing works

When you publish visual content on your website that is appealing and relevant, you help get your message across to your visitors in a flash. As we all know, we process visuals much faster than texts (think about traffic signs) and that’s why effective visuals are essential to boosting engagement on a website. The response is immediate and demands no effort.

Images are universal and can convey lots of information. On top of that, images with appropriate optimization and ALT tags will rank better on search engines and generate free inbound traffic.

Websites that publish more content have more search-indexed pages and therefore a higher chance to attract visitors organically.
Are you wondering what could be done to improve your visual communication? This is what Vegan Clicks is all about. Please check out the How I Work and the FAQ sections and… get ready to show your awesomeness in pictures!

L'articolo Vegan Visual Content Strategy Explained proviene da Vegan Clicks.