Awhile back, I blogged about some tips for ensuring that your infographics are great. The folks at the Wall Street Journal surely followed my advice and used all eight of them when they won Gold for Data Visualization in the annual Kantar Information is Beautiful Awards 2015. (OK, they may have known about these tips even before I blogged about them.)
Their infographic showed the decline in the number of people in the U.S. suffering from infectious diseases by state, over the course of 70 years. So, not a real "marketing" focus! However, I encourage you to browse the site to see some truly amazing ways to present information visually.
The Art of Attraction
As you check out the “dataviz” (as it’s often referred to) on the Kantar site, or anywhere that you can find cool infographics, keep in mind why it’s worth your time as a marketer to create some of your own. Infographics are:
- Eye-catching. A good infographic will stop a viewer in their tracks and draw them in like nothing else. Shapes, colors, images… it’s a feast for the eyes that’s hard to resist.
- Scannable. The whole point of an infographic is to convey, often complex, topics quickly and efficiently. With the hectic pace of modern life, people love to have information presented to them in an easily digestible format.
- Memorable. Studies show that images are far easier to recall than words—even words in the form of well-crafted sentences. And it certainly pains me to say that, as I fancy myself a writer and truly value powerful prose!
- Shareable. Infographics can easily be shared with links to your website or as image files. If yours is especially compelling, perhaps it will achieve the content holy grail of “going viral.”
- Engaging. Infographics tend to be a great medium for communicating in a relaxed, even playful, manner. And if you can get your prospect to grin, or better yet chuckle, you’re one step closer to turning them into a customer.
- Impressive. A high-quality infographic with well-researched information can help position you as an expert in your field.
So, if you are using infographics effectively, keep it up! Maybe one of yours will be honored with a Kantar Information is Beautiful Award one day. If infographics are not yet part of your marketing repertoire, we’d be glad to assist you as you start to experiment with communicating more visually.
