Are you currently using infographics as part of your online marketing strategy?
If not, you’re potentially missing out on one of the most effective ways to visually communicate and engage with your customers and prospects.
In this article, we’re going to look at how infographics can support your marketing efforts, provide an overview of some infographic best practices, and introduce some tools that can help you get started.
What are infographics, and why are they useful?
When it comes to online browsing behaviour, user attention spans are decreasing.
It’s actually estimated that on average, you only have eight seconds to capture the attention of visitors to your website. So it’s important to think about ways to engage your audience quickly. And one of these ways is to find visual alternatives for big blocks of text.
Now don’t get me wrong, there’s always going to be a place for long form content (you’re reading this, right?). But it’s important not to over-rely on it, and there are certain topics where it might be more appropriate to deliver content in a more visual format.
We’ve already touched on the importance of online video in a previous article, which can be great for capturing attention, building an emotional connection and telling a story.
But when you want to communicate statistics, knowledge, or visualise a process or timeline, an infographic might be a better solution.
In a nutshell, infographics are a way to present complex information quickly and clearly — using a combination of images, graphics, diagrams, charts and text. They can be a great tool for transforming lengthy or complicated information into an engaging format that is easy to digest and understand.
And what’s best is that infographics can be incredibly versatile, and can be used to communicate a wide variety of information:
Statistics
Let’s say you’ve conducted a recent customer survey, or have some business performance data that you want to share.
An infographic that presents your data with a series of graphs and charts can be an engaging way to communicate your findings.
If you’re curious about how to visually represent things like surveys, there’s a great article over at Venngage.
Information and Facts
If there’s a particular topic that you want to explain to your audience, an infographic provides an ideal way to communicate it in easily digestible visual chunks.
Tea or coffee lover? Check out this infographic that compares the two.
Fascinated by the UK capital? Infographics don’t have to be complex — take a look at this infographic about London.
Timelines
Infographics are also ideal for visualising a chronological sequence of events — maybe the milestones of your business since you launched, or the history of your industry through the decades.
If you’re looking for examples of timeline infographics, there’s some good inspiration over at Freepik.
Processes
Possibly best described as a highly visual flow chart, a process infographic can take someone through the process of ordering on your website, or even explain your entire manufacturing process from start to finish.
What are the benefits of infographics for marketing?
So what makes infographics such a great tool for marketing?
They have a variety of practical benefits, including:
Improved engagement
We all know that visual content is more engaging than plain text, but it might surprise you to learn that infographics are 30 times more likely to be read.
Improved knowledge retention
Studies have shown that infographics can improve knowledge retention and learning by as much as 400% compared to text articles. So they can really increase the memorability of your marketing messages!
Establishing authority
A well researched and well presented infographic can do wonders for positioning your business as an authority in your industry.
Shareability
A nicely designed infographic that presents valuable information in an engaging way can be highly shareable, especially if you take the right steps to make it easy for your audience to share it — like including social sharing buttons.
Enhanced SEO
Infographics can also help your ongoing SEO efforts, if you post them on your site and other websites share or link back to them as a valuable source of content.
What are some best practices for creating infographics?
Like anything in marketing, there are no guarantees or magic formulas for creating an engaging infographic that goes viral and generates dozens of valuable backlinks.
But there are certain best practices you can follow to give you the best chance of success.
Research thoroughly
Before you jump straight into designing your infographic, it’s important to spend time gathering accurate and relevant data.
Make sure any sources you use are credible and up-to-date — the foundation of a great infographic is solid, trustworthy information!
Come up with ideas for visuals
Once you have your data, think about how best to present it.
What’s the main message or story you want to convey? I often find it helpful to sketch out rough ideas or create a mind map to visualise the flow of information.
Plan your layout
Decide on a logical sequence for your data.
Whether it’s top-to-bottom, left-to-right, or moving from the centre outwards, ensure there’s a clear path for the eye to follow.
Keep it simple
You’ve pulled together loads of interesting facts, stats and nuggets of information during your research stage.
I know how tempting it can be to try and include all of it into your infographic.
But less is often more. Focus on the key points and avoid clutter. An overloaded infographic can be overwhelming and counterproductive.
Use consistent colours and fonts
Stick to a consistent colour palette and font family — ideally ones that align with your brand guidelines (if you have them!)
This not only makes the infographic visually pleasing but also ensures that it’s easy to read and understand, and can help people better associate it with your brand.
Include a Call to Action
At the end of your infographic, guide your viewers on what to do next.
Whether it’s visiting your website, sharing the infographic on social media, or reading a related article, a clear CTA can increase engagement and help you guide people to the action you want them to take.
Are there any online tools that can help create infographics?
Are you sold on the benefits of infographics yet?
If you’re starting to think of ideas as you’re reading through this article, you’ll be pleased to know that there are plenty of tools out there that can help you create engaging, visually appealing infographics.
Visme is one of the better known tools for creating infographics, and also has tools to help you create presentations, videos and different charts and graphs. They boast a client list that includes brands like IBM, Zurich and Unilever — so you’ll be in good company! If you sign up for an annual plan, it’s really not that bad in terms of price — working out about $12.25 per month for the pro plan. If you prefer the flexibility of a rolling monthly subscription though, prices shoot up quite considerably to $29 per month.
Another popular tool is Venngage which has a wide variety of infographic templates for you to take inspiration from and customise to your needs. They also have an impressive client list (Google, Airbnb) and have paid plans starting from $19/month.
Piktochart is another useful tool, with more than 230 infographic templates, and for those who prefer simplicity — it’s worth checking out Easel.ly in your search for the perfect tool.
Looking for some support and guidance for your infographic?
If you don’t have the time to get to grips with some of the tools I’ve mentioned above, and you’d prefer to work with someone to create your infographics for you — you’re in the right place.
From conducting the initial research to putting together compelling visuals, Bright Cat can help you at every stage of your infographic creation process.
So if it’s something you’re interested in, just drop me an email and we can get the ball rolling!
