Your infographic flopped because you didn’t do this
There are loads of free infographic creation tools out there where you simply plug in your data and they churn out some sort of visualization. If you need to create an infographic quickly and your KPI is “deliver infographic” and no one cares about the quality, then these tools are great.
However, if your infographic is part of a marketing strategy that is measured on prospect engagement and lead gen, then a plug and play infographic tool isn’t going to cut it. In my opinion, nothing worth doing is that easy.
So, if you’re tasked with creating a quality infographic that people are drawn to and that actually supports your marketing objectives, then here are 8 steps to follow:
1. Set an objective
Don’t do anything in marketing without an objective. At TopLine, we believe in “content with a purpose” which means every piece of content is produced with a clear purpose in mind. Is that purpose to drive visits to your website? To generate followed links to support your SEO strategy? To make a story more appealing to journalists as part of your PR efforts? Maybe you’re doing the infographic to simplify a complex concept that your sales team finds they have to explain repeatedly? Whatever it is, your purpose should guide you throughout the creation phase.
Once you have your purpose, think about how you’re going to distribute the infographic — as the distribution strategy will definitely inform the content and the design.
2. Map your data
Start by looking at all the data sources available to you: does your company have its own data? What publicly available data can you use? How has the data been used before? Will you need to commission research? How might the data be of interest to the target audience? Why would they care about it? What benefit does it bring them? Do you need to use all the data?
Interrogate your data until you genuinely understand it. Have a brainstorm with your team, discuss the data in detail and make sure you’ve got your head around it!
3. Figure out what your audience wants
This isn’t an infographic issue — it’s a wider marketing issue. Your marketing strategy should be built around an understanding of what your target customer wants. And of course this needs to be tied back to your business objectives which is a tricky task.
Once you’ve chosen your wider subject and you know your potential sources of data, refine your hook to make sure you’re creating an infographic that’s going to appeal to the market. Here’s how:
· Speak to people in your target audience and get their opinions / feedback.
· Look on tools like BuzzSumo and Google Trends to see what is trending — what are the most shared topics on a subject.
· Use a keyword research tool to identify what people are searching for around the subject.
Then tie this back to your purpose — how do you match the data you have with what the audience wants and still achieve your purpose? It’s not an easy task, but it’s worth doing thoroughly if you want your infographic to be successful.
4. Tell a story
An infographic isn’t simply a place to vomit out all the data you have. You need to establish what the story is that your data tells and what the point is that you are trying to make with that story.
A list of facts and stats isn’t interesting. You need to have a story or a purpose behind it.
5. Find a visual metaphor
Take something from the real world that can be used to visualise the data you have and create a visual metaphor. That way people will instantly recognise, understand and remember it.
If your data is about school results, make it a report card or a blackboard. If your data is about gambling, use a pack of cards or a roulette table or a slot machine.
The opportunities are endless and you can carry the metaphor throughout the infographic.
6. Create your design brief
It’s not your designer’s job to come up with the concept and understand how to visualise your data. You need to work with the designer to develop a brief that will result in the most creative output.
I recommend sitting down with your designer and explaining to him or her what you are trying to achieve with the infographic; working on metaphors together and honing and organising the content you need to display.
7. Design
Infographic templates are boring. I recommend working with a creative designer who understands how to use design to communicate. The designer won’t just summarise your data on a jpeg and call it an infographic — she’ll use visuals instead of words; graphs or icons instead of numbers. She knows that someone should be able to skim through the image and get the gist without actually having to read it in detail.
8. Promote
Once your infographic is ready, it’s time to start promoting it. This should be relatively easy as you would have considered distribution right at the start.
