The Visual Content Creation Tools Your Audience will Love

August 29, 2018 • Aerio Staff

Content marketing comes in many shapes and sizes, but written text is slowly losing its spot at the industry forefront.

According to the Content Marketing Institute, visual content is growing, with 51% of marketers now prioritizing the creation of visual content in marketing materials. Furthermore, a study conducted by Brain Rules indicates that seeing really is believing: while only 10% of a social media text post can be recalled three days later, 65% of a social post that is accompanied by compelling images will be remembered by readers after 72 hours.

However, creating visual content that resonates requires a little more than heading outside with a point-and-shoot. These visual content creation tools can help you create stunning images and videos that make a mark, improving the caliber and quality of what you have to offer.

Canva

A simple drag-and-drop design platform, Canva makes it easy to create professional-quality graphics on a budget. With 8,000 templates, over one million photographs available for $1 each, and countless graphics and fonts, it's possible to make social media images, infographics, posters, and more in a few easy clicks. Users can also upload their own images for a completely personalized final product.

Canva is an appealing tool due to its easy learning curve and user-friendly controls, allowing marketers to create content from scratch without existing design skills. The following free and paid versions are available, providing flexibility for any budget:

The Canva Free version offers two folders for organization with 1 GB of storage and collaboration between up to 10 team members.
Canva for Work , which runs $12.95 a month, features unlimited folders and storage, collaboration for up to 50 team members, and more custom features.
Canva for Enterprise , which requires a custom quote, incorporates all Canva for Work features as well as advanced analytics, a dedicated account manager, and enforcement of brand standards.

Unsplash

Unsplash is a stock photography website that boasts over 500,000 photos taken by 70,000 photographers. Celebrated as a pioneer of the copyright-free photography model, Unsplash makes images available without the need to seek legal permission.

It's free to join Unsplash, and all images are free to download thanks to the referral relationship they have with their parent company, Crew. Although the images vary in quality and professionalism, they're all available for commercial and non-commercial use in any project, article, publication, and/or advertisement. After download, you are free to utilize the content creation tools of your choice to edit or alter images as you see fit.

Adobe Spark

A product of renowned editing enterprise Adobe, Adobe Spark is an app-based platform for storytelling and graphic design. Downloadable to iOS devices and available online, Adobe Spark is made up of three distinct parts: Spark Page, Spark Post, and Spark Video.

Spark Page is a creative tool for web stories, like travel journals, photo albums, and more, mixing text and imagery in innovative ways.
Spark Post is a graphic design suite that leverages the abilities of Photoshop and InDesign.
Spark Video is a video editor that helps users create animated videos and presentations using text, graphics, images, icons, and pre-existing clips.

Adobe Spark is available in a limited free version that allows for most major functionality in Spark Page, Spark Post and Spark Video. There is also a $9.99 per month Individual subscription that offers improved branding and support functions, and a $19.99 per month team subscription designed for corporate use.

Piktochart

Infographics are a big draw in visual content, but constructing compelling images is often easier said than done. With Piktochart, however, it's simple to assemble creative, impactful infographics without any professional design experience.

A cloud-based design suite, Piktochart offers an intuitive editor, ready-to-use graphics and images, a full inventory of fonts, and comprehensive creative capabilities. With a few clicks, you can create graphics that are ready to publish on your social media profiles or website, providing unlimited possibilities.

Piktochart is available in four subscription models:

The Free Lifetime Account offers unlimited designs, access to images and icons, and download privileges.
The Lite Plan costs $15 a month and provides access to all 600 templates, large file uploads, and high quality downloads.
The Pro Plan costs $29 a month and gives users 400MB of storage for their own photos, as well as PDF downloads, branding capabilities, and the ability to remove the Piktomark watermark.
The Pro Team Plan costs $39.99 a month and is for enterprise use, boasting many of the same features as the Pro plan in addition to custom color schemes.

Content marketing is a big part of running a successful business, and the right content creation apps can make or break your campaigns. Even if you don't have professional design experience, the web-based tools available can still make a difference, providing a fast, effective way to turn concepts into high-quality images. From social media to web design, these visual content development platforms can take your images, video clips, and infographics to the next level.