Benefits of Using Infographics in Your Marketing Strategy

According to the experts at MIT, about 90% of all information that is sent to the brain is visual in nature. This makes sense given the fact that human beings, at their core, have always been and will always be visual learners. It’s far less effective to tell someone something and expect them to remember it, as opposed to showing it to them when paired with some type of relevant image. The latter will always stick with them in a way that the former never will – which is the main reason why having a strong visual element to your marketing strategy is essential.

But in this era of information overload that we’re now living in, it isn’t enough to just be visual. People are being bombarded with information during every second of every day, to the point where much of it becomes noise almost immediately. Even if you disregard the countless marketing messages that people are exposed to, they still have hundreds of thousands of shows and movies to watch on streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. Millions of songs to listen to on Apple Music or Spotify. Web pages to browse, books to read, people to engage with – all of this makes executing any type of successful marketing strategy an uphill battle.

Consider the fact that according to another study, about 99% of all sensory information that someone experiences is filtered out by the brain almost immediately. It’s not that people don’t want to hear what you have to say – it’s just that you need to say it in a way that they’re naturally receptive to.

Infographics turn all of these statistics from the liability you currently see them as to the asset they truly are.

Not only are Infographics a perfect way to make that meaningful connection at just the right moment, but they also bring with them a wide range of different benefits that you literally cannot afford to ignore.

The Power of Infographics: Facts and Figures

Truly, the beauty of the Infographic format is in its simplicity. Rarely will you ever find a better opportunity to take an idea – even a large, complicated and high level one – and distill it down to its bare essentials in a way that practically anybody can understand.

Again, this isn’t just because “people would rather look at the pictures.” It’s because you’re presenting those ideas in a way the brain is naturally receptive to. Not only does this make for a more engaging experience, but it’s also one your readers are willing to reward you for.

Consider the following statistics:

• One study revealed that posts that include images – meaning visual collateral like Infographics – tend to receive levels of engagement that are literally 650% higher than text-only posts.
• Another study indicated that using Infographics alone can increase web traffic by as much as 12% in a lot of cases.
• On average, Infographics are both liked and shared on various social media websites about three times more than any other type of content.
• Finally, according to one far-reaching survey, about 37% of marketers say that visual collateral like Infographics are these single most essential form of content they create for their business.

So not only are you looking at a sure-fire way to increase engagement, but you’re also doing so by way of a technique that makes it more likely that people will amplify your message as well. If you were looking for one clear cut reason to start using more Infographics as a part of your larger marketing strategy, let it be that one.

The Additional Major Benefits of Infographics

Another one of the major benefits of using Infographics as a core part of your marketing strategy comes by way of how they can help prop up and empower some of the other types of collateral you’re creating.

For the sake of example, let’s say that you’ve spent hours with your favorite presentation software tool like Visme (which I founded) and have come up with a terrific-but-very-long document. It’s filled with facts and figures and provides an incredible overview of an inherently complicated topic… and now you’re afraid that it may be too long for its own good. It might be one of those documents that is so lengthy that you’re worried people will actually make it to the end, and now you’re worried about what to do.

Thankfully, the solution is simple: load up your Infographic maker and create a companion document that tells the same basic “story” in a totally different way. Pull out some of those core facts and figures and use the Infographic format to visualize them. What you’re ultimately doing is taking the same big idea but breaking it down into a series of smaller, more manageable chunks, thus giving your audience even more choices when it comes to consumption.

That Infographic can then be a great way to “tease” the longer document, giving someone just a taste of what is in store for them to get them excited about reading it. It can also be a great way for someone to get all of the same information without actually devoting that much time to the presentation in the first place. They still get all the core info, but they’re just getting it on their own terms. It could even be used as a support document that someone could refer back to in the future after going through your presentation from top to bottom. They know there are some facts they want to reference but don’t have the time to wade through dozens of pages to find it – so they can just turn to the Infographic instead.

Suddenly, you’ve taken one idea and turned it into two pieces of incredible collateral that are sure to resonate with your target audience.

None of this is to say that facts and figures alone are enough to help you create compelling Infographics. You should still be using a service like Respona to research all of the important topics in your industry that your audience members actually care about, making sure that your messaging is aligned with their interests in the first place. Without an inherently fascinating “story” at the heart of it all, the best visual design format in the world isn’t going to be able to help you.

But assuming that you’ve taken care of that part and are focusing on the right topics, the Infographic format can be a powerful way to bring your messaging (and your brand) to a whole new audience in a fresh and unique way. It’s a format that has been popular for many years and in the fast-paced world we’re now living in, that’s one trend that shows absolutely no signs of slowing down anytime soon.