Which of your five senses is the strongest? If you said vision, you are right. Our vision is indeed our strongest sense. We are highly visual creatures. Our two eyes give us stereoscopic, binocular vision that is able to detect movement, shape and pattern in extremely subtle ways. Because of this we use visual clues to communicate a wide variety of information, all without saying a word. At every moment of every day our eyes are scanning our environment, looking for information about opportunities and danger. We did this millions of years ago and it helped us to survive. We continue to do it today for the very same reason.

A smart marketer knows this fact and uses it to his or her advantage. If your customer base is made up of visual creatures with a highly developed sense of sight, you’d be a fool not to do the same. This is why graphics are an important part of any marketing plan that involves repurposed content. Let’s take a closer look at why.

As we’ve just mentioned, we are visual beings. Over 50% of our brain is devoted to processing visual information. 70% of all of our sensory receptors are contained in the eye. This means we are excellent at processing and remembering pictures. In fact, it only takes the average person one-tenth of a second to understand the content in a picture. It would take that same person over thirty seconds to read a description about the content in that same picture.

As a result, we are living in the middle of a graphical revolution. Since 1990, there has been a 400% increase in the graphic content contained in books. On the internet, the revolution is even more amazing. Since 2007, the graphic content on the web has increased by a whopping 9900%. This means that the people who you are trying to communicate with are an increasingly visual population. They are used to getting their information in a graphic format. In fact, they expect it. So, if you fail to give them what they expect, you can expect them to ignore your marketing efforts in droves.

Luckily there’s an easy solution to this problem. When you repurpose your existing content it’s extremely easy to add graphics and pictures to give your new repurposed content the visual flair that your audience demands. So, the next time your repurposing your content, remember the graphics!