Ever thought about using GIFs for business? If not, now might be a good time!
GIFs aren’t new, they’ve been around for more than 3 decades now, but their popularity has been on a rise for the last few years.
You’re probably thinking about animated kittens and viral “meme GIFs”, but there’s a lot more to it . Using them for entertainment is intuitive but using them for business, on the other hand, is not something you would see everyday.
Companies are going the GIF marketing route. Look at this one by Dell, for example. The use of GIFs in the company’s email campaign for XPS 12 Convertible Ultrabook helped the campaign yield a 109% profit.
It isn’t just Dell, but Litmus, Sprout Social and Google have all tried using GIFs and have seen wonderful results from it.
In no particular order of importance, here are the reasons why GIFs garner more engagement (and why so many companies are going for GIFs now):
GIFs don’t require the audience to think too much to understand them, which is something the audiences like.
This is one of the primary reasons why a lot of brands go for GIFs, like VMware here, gives viewers all relevant information without overwhelming them.
GIFs lie in a sweet spot between images and videos and are easy to consume, which makes them an ideal option for bite-sized storytelling. Look at how Cisco used a GIF for getting the users intrigued.
The crisp message and the breathtaking visuals weave a story which helps you understand how challenging the roads in Alaska are.
Who doesn’t like GIFs? They have a universal appeal and are really ‘in’ right now. Almost everything you can say via text or images can be said with the help of GIFs, which makes it more engaging.
As an animated video production company, we understand that videos can get really expensive and might not suit everyone company’s financial plans.
Images, on the other hand, are very economical. As we already mentioned GIFs lie in the sweet spot between images and videos. This makes them highly affordable.
Without investing much, you can get some great ROI from GIFs.
Social Media? Check. Email? Check. Blog? Check. GIFs can be across almost all platforms on the internet.
What’s more is that they’re mobile-friendly, so you can just insert the GIF and leave worries about cross-device performance behind. Look at this GIF by Neoxero.
GIFs make you think outside the box and are quite an interesting way to promote products and services, and for educating audiences.
They allow you get really creative and just wow your audience. Look at this creative GIF Nintendo and Vans teamed up to make. 
These factors combined make GIFs highly engaging—and good for sales. Let’s talk about how GIFs can help you increase sales.
As we discussed earlier, GIFs are engaging and can be used to spice up email campaigns. Since almost every email client software supports them, you don’t have to worry about whether the receiver of the email would be able to view those GIFs or not.
People regularly come across emails which are full of text and adding GIFs in eblasts (email blasts) makes those emails more exciting, which can drive up conversions. Look at this GIF Litmus used for their email marketing campaign.
Animated GIFs can act as good CTAs. Since they’re always in motion, you tend to notice them quickly, which would ensure that more people notice it and take action, eventually increasing overall sales. Look at this GIF Nickelodeon made.
Social media marketing GIFs help you have a better presence on social media channels which adds up to the overall sales.
They have shown great results for a lot of B2C campaigns. But that doesn’t mean that it won’t work for B2B campaigns. Look at how well this GIF worked out for IBM!
Using GIF banners in blogs make them interesting right from the beginning. In fact, people are more likely to read blogs with GIF banners than those with normal banners. That is something we’ve noticed in our blogs as well.
Finally, animated GIF advertising can drive more sales. These animated GIF ads work well on almost all platforms and have a good ROI since they don’t cost much.
When text doesn't suffice, and video is an overkill, GIFs save the day. Let us help you find the right one for your business!
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