Let’s face it. Most people would rather look at colorful pictures that depict information than read through a lot of blah-blah-blah. Many companies provide infographics as part of their content for lead generation, and that tactic has worked well for them.
There needs to be a match, though, so that the preferred customer base will be intrigued by the information presented. Topic, content, and style – all of that matters. Why use an infographic? Here’s why. People are more inclined to remember information when it is delivered in the form of a graphic. Let’s look at the steps to create an infographic.
Sketch It Out First
The design starts with a sketch and a plan. What main points do you want to make? Which type of infographic will work the best with your message? What text do you want to include with the graphic? By planning it first, the rest of creation process will fall into place more quickly.
Remember that most of the message should be captured in the graphic with the text emphasizing various parts of it. Avoid writing too much. Also stray from having too much in the graphic itself. People need to have a good sense of the gist of it with one long glance. Part of your plan should be a one-sentence description of what you plan to illustrate.
As for me, my plan was to create a graphic to describe an important decision that I needed to make: What was I going to have for lunch?
Create It Next
Once you have your plan in place, decide which kind of graphics would help you get to the point. Do you want to include a photograph showing a new product? Are you planning to share statistics that showcase how much and how many? Do you need to create a timeline to illustrate the start and finish of a project? Here’s good news! You can find free templates on the Internet that will help you create your graphic in PowerPoint. Easy-peasy.
Once you start the creation of your infographic, have fun with it. Play with the colors in the background. Decide what colors emphasize the text. How large will the text be, and what words will be emphasized – in bold, in color, in italics? Make it easy to read and eye-catching. Remember again to resist the temptation to include too many words. It’s an INFO[rmation] + GRAPHIC – so make the graphic tell most of the story.
As for me, my plan was to create a flowchart to detail how I came to that important decision: what I would have for lunch? I would use green and red to illustrate yes and no and a splash of color to give it eye-appeal.
Then Test It
You’ll want to see how your infographic looks through someone else’s eyes. Email it to see how it looks as an opened attachment. Forward the graphic by text to see how it looks on a smartphone. Post it on your website to see how easy it is to read. Ask others for comments. Ask them questions. How could you tweak it? Make the necessary changes.
As for me, no one in the office was really interested in how I got to my decision about my lunch choices, but they did point to the clock. I better hurry up if I wanted to be included in the lunch order. So, instead, I decided I’d include my infographic at the end of this blog to see what you thought of it.
By the way, as it turned out, I opted for the soup and the pretzel bread – and was that a wise decision!
As for wise decisions, we have something that can take your online marketing up a notch. Online Sales Pro is a powerful software platform that will turn your online traffic into leads for your business. Depending on your business goals, you can use Online Sales Pro to generate leads and build an email list. A subscription with OSP includes both the web and mobile app. Now THAT sounds even better than lunch!
