You need to be using visuals in your marketing. Period. Still need convincing? Go read this post and come back. We’ll wait. Okay, convinced? Great. But now you’re probably saying to yourself, “But my business isn’t visual! I’m an insurance agent/doctor/lawyer/widget manufacturer! Even if I wanted to, there’s nothing to show people.”

I had exactly this conversation with my friend Pamela Reilly a week ago. Pamela owns a natural wellness practice and blogs prolifically. “I talk a lot about disease. No one wants to see pictures of that,” she said with a sigh.

On one level, she’s right. No one wants to see pictures of rashes or oozing sores. But there are so many other things a business like Pamela’s could take pictures of and use to spice up Facebook updates and blog posts. Here are a few we brainstormed right there in the restaurant:

• Pamela often recommends special diets for her patients. Take pictures of the ingredients or finished dishes.
• When suggesting supplements or other treatments, take pictures of the bottles of the various herbs, tinctures and other materials.
• While the blog posts might discuss disease, every disease is being lived by a person. With the client’s written permission, take pictures of happy, smiling clients. Let them be an example to others of how they can live a healthy, normal life even with diabetes or some other ailment.
• Pamela does step-by-step guides on how to create products like lotion and hand sanitizer. Take how-to photos of every step of the process to illustrate.

These are suggestions we came up in just a few minutes of conversation—the possibilities are really endless. The best part? None of these have to be expensive or fancy. With just a cell phone camera and a few items Pamela already has laying around, she can implement a visual content strategy that can be repurposed on her blog, Facebook, email newsletters and other marketing material.

Don’t talk yourself out of having a visual content strategy. Don’t convince yourself you don’t need one or there’s nothing interesting about what you do. There is. And with just a little creative thinking and a decent cell phone camera, you can be on your way to boosting your online marketing strategy.

Want more tips? Come see my presentation on creating a visual content strategy at Blog Indiana.