3 Reasons GIFs Have a Place in Your Marketing

Okay, before we start, is it tomato or tomahto? Potato or potahto. Is it GIF or JIF? The creator of the format called Graphics Interchange Format, Steve Wilhite, says “jif” like the peanut butter. I’ve always said GIF with a hard “g.” The battle over how it’s pronounced is documented very well in a NY Times article “Battle Over ‘GIF’ Pronunciation Erupts” … but I’ll still say GIF. The GIF format created in 1987 was popular due to its wide support across browsers and email clients. And in the early days, the animated GIF was one of the primary ways to add movement to a Web page. We’ve all seen them. Flashing letters. Hokey cartoons. The dancing baby. Today, these are distractions and lack a certain classiness. Kind of like using WordArt. My advice: Don’t do this today. Now that doesn’t mean you can’t use an animated GIF, it just means you need to use them in a more sophisticated way and with an appropriate animation. An animation that will enhance your message, not distract from it. Here are three reasons to consider the use of an animated GIF in your marketing messages: 1. Instructions/Training In this example, software company Macaw uses this GIF to demonstrate one of the features in its software. This is an excellent way to show a feature without forcing someone to watch a video or have to scroll through three to four static pictures. It quickly shows functionality. You can use this type of animated GIF in an e-newsletter, too. Imagine showing a feature for a new version of software as Sprout Social has done below. It’s a case where the animation enhances the message. 2. Subtle Sense of Reality Headscape, a digital media company in the UK, has a very subtle animation on its home page featuring an office scene (I highly suggest checking the site out via the link, since the image above is static and not animated ... we weren't able to capture the GIF). Notice the subtle movements of the pen and the person sipping coffee. I find these wonderful surprises. Taking this one step further, you can create a cinemagraph, an animated GIF usually made from high-end photographs. The next two examples show how you can enhance a photo with either dramatic movement in the case of the Tokyo GIF or the more subtle Taxi Reflection. In both cases the animation enhances the viewing experience in an elegant way. [caption id="attachment_56569" align="aligncenter" width="520"] Cinemagraph courtesy of reddit user eatrob[/caption] [caption id="attachment_56560" align="aligncenter" width="520"] Cinemagraph courtesy of Ann Street Studio. This studio produces wonderfully subtle cinemagraphs.[/caption] 3. Enhance an Offer You can use animated GIFs in fun ways to enhance an offer. The GIF can physically highlight the offer or simply bring attention to it. This is one of my favorite animated GIFs. It reminds me of direct mail pieces that use removable stickers of different sizes to select the offer you want. The Banana Republic email physically shows you a larger box as the discount gets larger. In this email from J. Jills, the sweeping effect enhances the offer without being too cute. And finally, Rent the Runway has fun with sequins in an email to highlight its Valentines Day countdown, as well as bring attention to the call to action. GIFs and Emails I should note here that not all email applications can read animated GIFs — my favorite company Microsoft comes to mind. An animated GIF in some applications will only read the first frame of an animated GIF. With that in mind, you’ll need to create your GIF with the complete message as frame No. 1. The Bottom Line Animated GIFs can be wonderfully helpful and enhance you message. But not done well they can make your products or offers look silly or hokey. And there’s a fine line here that needs to be watched. Animated GIFs may not be suitable to all products or services. And most importantly the idea or concept behind the animation must enhance your message — not just a clever technique you’ve been dying to try.

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3 Reasons GIFs Have a Place in Your Marketing

Patrick Fultz

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Patrick Fultz