GIF Marketing | How brands are using UX marketing to grow their business

Taking the marketing game up a notch is every business’s prime focus post-launch. With this decade being a complete game-changer in the business ideas and innovation space, brand marketing has also continually expanded.

Today, if you have a business idea, it takes less than a day to set it up online. But what after that? The need for potential customers to know about your product or service cannot be scorned. From memes to videos to testimonials to what not, brands today are doing everything to grow into a multi-million dollar entity. And all thanks to a solid focus on UX Marketing, they are indeed achieving so. 

Fast forward all interactive marketing means to GIFs- undoubtedly the most conversational marketing pieces. Hilarious to inspirational, GIFs act as the most interactive Marcom in today’s hyper-digital consumer landscape. If right now, you’d send me a hilarious text over WhatsApp, I wouldn’t just ‘LOL’ at it. I’d rather look for a GIF that specifically tells you how hard I actually laughed.

While it may appear to be a new concept, GIFs have been in existence for more than three decades now; and in the 90s, were considered the ‘flesh & blood’ of a website. And brands today are very smartly putting their creative minds to work and bring out the most creative and interactive marketing material. 

Here are 5 ways brands are using GIF Marketing to grow their business:

1. X-Box One Controller launched E3 Demo with a GIF : Product Demo
As much as videos may make people buy more, there’s not always a budget in hand to produce a high def video. And pictures only offer a single dimension perspective. GIFs can successfully counter these deficiencies – a short video at absolutely no effort as compared to making a basic video.

Irrespective if it is a new product, a company announcement,  or a loyalty service program, GIFs can be easily used as information of your latest offerings. Given their ‘loop’ format, they work best to drill the message in the consumer minds. 

2. Converse uses GIFs in Email Marketing:
According to Campaign Monitor, the average email open rate for 2019 was a meager 14.10%. So let’s be real- consumers are bored with email Marcom. Static email campaigns are boring! GIFs make them more interactive and work as a surefire out of the box way in delivering the message efficiently; more impact in less time.  This ultimately leads subscribers to take action that favors your brand. 

Almost all email client software supports GIFs. So instead of adding static images, you might as well embed a GIF in your newsletter. It certainly will make your marketing campaign more exciting.

3. Dell uses GIFs for engaging CTA 

One of the most crucial components for inbound lead generation is a ‘Call to Action.’ It is only therefore imperative that the CTA be interactive and engaging enough to hold the target audience. Big brands like Dell have added GIFs to their webpage, bringing complete emphasis to the CTA, whilst holding absolute attention of the audience. 

Moreover, GIFs serve as an additional means to communicate through explainer articles, drawing focus directly to important features- creating a further solid call to action. GIFs are appealing and a not so desperate attempt to hold users’ attention by making them sit through an entire video. 

DogFish Head’s top-notch series of GIFs, showcasing how it’s new strawberry-and-honey-flavored Tweason’ ale is produced whilst looking all cool, creates a powerful trust in its consumers. 

Dell saw 103% better conversions with their first GIF campaign.

4. Homepage Interaction with Parallax on Tookan Tracker

The homepage is your customer’s first stop, and thus an excellent place to include GIFs. It’ll serve as a great way to delight your visitors with a lively website. However, be careful about going overboard with it. GIFs are relatively a heavier file size, compared to PNG files; too many will significantly increase the page load time. Parallax effects are a subtle form of GIF. We added them to our Tookan Tracker landing page too.

5. Google uses GIFs to respond to Social Media

Alongside all the ways you can use GIFs to market your brand, the internet and social media culture of delighting and engaging your audience is just an add-on you cannot miss. Don’t hesitate to go just a little overboard with GIFs for your social handles. Despite not being professional in the strictest sense, GIFs gauge a lot of virality on social media- also further gaining a little jazz. They help initiate humor based interactions, further forging healthy relationships. 

While a picture is worth a thousand words, Giphy’s CEO Alex Chung said. “the average GIF contains sixty frames, then they’re capable of conveying 60,000 words – the same as the average novel.” So irrespective if it is a stock GIF or an in-house creative, as long as it resonates with your brand identity, you’re all good! 

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