Why infographics are a must for your B2B marketing strategy

Although there has been some recent debate on whether the use of infographics has been overdone or not, our experience tells us that companies which choose to use infographics within their marketing and PR campaigns attain higher search visibility and engagement rates than those that don't.

We live in a time of information overload. This is definitely the case when it comes to data-heavy B2B content, much of which is important for clients, but because data alone can be dry, unengaging, or tough to understand, it often goes ignored.

According to designer Thomas Porostocky, "infographics help to illuminate a lot of these ideas in a way that is more understandable. Making them stand out is the hard part, but if you present them in a way that's a little more engaging, a little more elegant, it really helps bring all this stuff to life", he says.

Data first, visuals later

Every infographic project begins with heaps of raw data. It's no secret that we register visual and bite-sized chunks of information a lot better than long-winded information overloads so, in order to dig through the information, Porostocky suggests we begin by asking: "What am I trying to explain? What am I trying to show? What's the big idea? What is the interesting kernel that we're trying to communicate?" This will help to strip the gathered data down to what is really needed.

If there's no story, then who cares?

Storytelling is king and it's especially important for data visualisation and the creation of infographics. If there's no story, it's simply dry, raw data. It's important to work out what the story is and then find the most suitable way of getting it across. When the story is notable and communicates the data in a crisp and fresh way, people will want to read it and share it. So get your story straight from the start - as this is what will make your infographic stand out.

Going that extra design mile 

Marketing is all about the willingness to go beyond and add that little something extra to set you apart from your competitors. Your infographics are no exception.

Isometric angles, tilting, or even 3D design elements where suitable all help to gain interest. The idea is to show things in a more engaging way than a flat report would, so adding a little bit of depth or visual interest will draw the readers in a tiny bit more.

When created correctly, infographics can be strong visual representations of your brand and its key messages. They should be designed to fit your company's marketing strategy and use elements such as company colours and icons.

Show me the money

As a business owner or marketing director, you want to be able to see true value from your marketing and PR campaigns.

Infographics are highly shareable and can be leveraged across multiple social media platforms to distribute them to a wide audience.  They work well on all the platforms, but we find they're particularly popular on Google+.  The best ones can quickly go viral.

By linking your infographics back to your web page, you can create a rich source of website traffic as well as positive and more subtle brand awareness.  You will also get good backlinks to your website, which help with your sites ranking in the search engines.

The good news is that all of this performance is really simple to track and analyse. You can use embedded Analytics to calculate page views, clicks, and time spent viewing the infographics you have put out.

Summing this all up, infographics are more than a trendy way to visualize data. They're an important part of a content strategy and should feature strongly within it.

The Marketing Eye specialises in offering tailored marketing solutions to a range of financial and professional services clients. If you'd like help with conceiving and designing an infographic for your business, please contact us.