Infographics are now commonplace in marketing strategies. In fact, 45% of marketers already use this medium, and 38% plan to use it for the first time in 2022.
However, despite their numerous benefits – driving higher engagement on social media, for example – infographics are not used as much as they could be in marketing.
This could be due to a lack of marketing team designers or insufficient capacity to design or promote campaigns with infographics (reserving them for select strategies).
Despite the challenges of creating them, I’m a strong believer that infographics are worth the effort.
Not only will your brand stand out from the norm on feeds, but you will also pass on your brand messaging and values better with the power of design.
Infographics help establish your brand as experts in the field and can improve your visibility in multimedia search, attract high-quality links, and attract new leads.
Check out the 10 infographic benefits below and inspire yourself with examples of infographics done right.
1. Give Proper Dimension To The Size Of Data
Numbers alone don’t carry their weight in plain text.
This infographic by D’Efilippo uses the wartime poppy to represent the death count of wars since the 20th century.
Hosted on a standalone website, the user scrolls down to an interactive infographic, which can zoom into specific time periods to visualize conflicts separately.
This type of design makes a bigger impression on the audience of the data’s actual size and consequences.
Inspiration For Businesses
Businesses can inspire themselves with this Poppy Field to create data-driven, interactive infographics, which allow leads to fully understand the impact of their work.
For example, a factory could design an infographic of its supply chain in a similar vein, either representing its growth throughout history or as data points spread across the world on an interactive map.
By transforming your data into an interactive asset, you increase engagement and aid the learning process with a “hands-on” experience.
2. Engage With Visual Storytelling
In this design, Trobaugh designs a “B2B sandwich” to showcase all the inventions by industries that make your lunch perfect.
By featuring an invention behind each ingredient, the infographic achieves its goal of proving how B2B companies are essential for modern-day items we take for granted.
Inspiration For Businesses
Think of a metaphor/analogy to convey your brand’s benefits.
This way, you make it easier for your reader to understand the topic.
Since a sandwich is such a familiar meal, it acts as a gateway to the rest of the copy, which details the B2B inventions and their origins.
3. Break Down Scientific Data
Data is persuasive by itself, but it drives your point home even better when coupled with illustrations.
In this infographic, 13 data-backed reasons make for a convincing pitch on the effectiveness of this medium.
The icons and copy are crisp, making it shareable and a great example of branding by the studio.
Inspiration For Businesses
Transform lists into infographics whenever possible, as it drives engagement.
This type of content works wonders on social media and can be shared by sales representatives to start conversations with leads.
4. Drive Impact With (Intentional) Complexity
This infographic looks like it came straight from a Where’s Waldo book – and that’s why it’s perfect.
It may be a lot to take in, but it represents the complexity of book publishing, clearly labeling all the steps taken until a book hits the shelves.
By following the arrows in the design, it is easy to make sense of it all – and admire the effort taken by book publishers.
Simplicity is often touted as a best practice for engagement, but sometimes reeling the reader in with unique imagery is exactly what will make your infographic pop out from the mundane on their feed.
So, if you are tackling a complex subject, consider making an intricate infographic that engages your readers from start to finish.
Inspiration For Businesses
Most companies, especially B2B, have a complex production process that would work well in this format.
By showcasing how you make your product, you prove the effort it takes and the value of your service.
5. Teach 101s In A Few Minutes
This infographic features a breakdown of beginners’ most popular programming languages, including SQL, Java, PHP, and C++.
It is a great asset for students and people tapping into this market, with a conclusion to further learning resources.
Inspiration For Businesses
Demonstrate authority by teaching industry newcomers with an easy-to-share infographic.
101 content works in any market, and this infographic is ideal for social media ads, as well as SEO content for awareness stage leads.
6. Pitch Your Product
In this infographic, Tower Electric Bikes demonstrates the safest places to cycle in America with a simple color and scoring scheme.
This way, the brand takes a stand toward bike-friendly city planning, but it also promotes its product as a choice for people who share that belief. It is a clever example of content that promotes a brand through education.
Inspiration For Businesses
Use research to back up your stance and how your product is part of a solution to a social problem.
When people view your product as beneficial to the “greater picture,” it aids your Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) goals and boosts brand awareness.
7. Tap Into Pop Culture
Digit promoted this infographic with the “cost of a good time” according to four songs from different genres (rap, pop, rock, and country) to showcase how spending differs based on lifestyle.
With pop references, Digit demonstrates the value of money and the differing cost of a “good time” (from $323 to over 1 billion) in four popular songs – a perfect way to promote a budgeting and investment app.
Inspiration For Businesses
Make your products relatable by linking them to pop culture references or trends. This sparks familiarity and makes your infographic more engaging.
Just be careful not to tap into Gen Z pop culture without doing your homework or risk a “fellow kids” meme.
8. Show How Stuff Works From The Inside
Most people don’t have a clue about what happens under a car hood, so why not show how it works in an infographic?
This animated design breaks down a car engine into its parts, explaining how the oil, fuel, pistons, and more get the vehicle moving.
It even has a short section at the end explaining hybrid cars.
Inspiration For Businesses
Show how your products work “under the hood” and drive engagement by teaching the complexity behind your processes.
This harks back to benefit #4 on this list, but unlike the intricate book publishing graphic, the complexity of a motor is transformed into easy-to-understand animations.
9. Make A Report Digestible
To showcase the most important findings of their report with 3000 business and IT leaders, data management platform Veeam designed this infographic with easy-to-view data and quirky illustrations.
Presenting the key findings this way, with a link at the bottom for the full report, makes it more shareable on social media and a lead magnet to reel in attention towards this industry-defining research.
Without the infographic, Veeam would not have this palatable gateway to what would otherwise be dry (yet crucial) data.
Inspiration For Businesses
Pair your quarterly/yearly business reports with infographics to make them shareable on social media.
This boosts engagement since social media channels prioritize images over plain text. It also “pitches” the data to entice the reader to download the full report for the whole story.
10. Inspire And Call To Action
PlanGrid designed this infographic showcasing how mobile apps drive productivity in an attempt to digitize the construction industry.
The graphic follows this format:
- The problem (the productivity slump in the last 57 years).
- The solution (range of uses for mobile apps).
- Social proof (stats of technology-based construction companies).
This schema inspires action, with a well-known format by the public and a call to action at the end to visit PlanGrid’s website for mobile business apps.
Inspiration For Businesses
Follow this “problem, solution, social proof” format in an infographic of your own to pitch your products and make leads aware of their problems.
The social proof at the end seals the deal, proving that your products are trustworthy with data or testimonials.
This is a great infographic for nurturing cadences, as it can warm up a lead toward your offerings, and even provide an opportunity for a quick sales call.
Final Takeaways
Based on these 10 examples, each with its own key benefit, here are my takeaways for businesses wishing to include infographics in their content strategy:
Complex Topics Are Ideal For Infographics
Are you working on a complex topic that would take pages of copy to explain fully?
An infographic can facilitate comprehension, utilizing images to guide the reader through the data to understand better.
Whenever you write content and notice that it is becoming complex, consider contacting the design team with a brief.
It’ll make the topic easier to grasp.
Don’t Create The “Same Old” Designs
Many designs here, such as examples #4 and #8, make clever use of imagery to reel in attention and guide the reader through the content.
If your goal with infographics is to boost engagement, the best way is to go beyond the regular and publish creatives that stand out from the competition.
Create Long-Form Infographics
Most infographics on this list aren’t afraid to go long-form, diving as deep as needed to pass on their message.
Don’t worry about engagement drops because of long content; if the design is good and the information is insightful, it will hook the reader to the end.
Take example #3, with the 13 scientific reasons why infographics are engaging.
None of the data goes against in-depth content, and the infographic itself is an example of an engaging, long-form asset.
Explore Themes Your Audience Can Identify With
Finally, pop culture, metaphors, and trends are ingredients that make your infographic more engaging.
These topics are ice breakers, as they hook your audience with something they know before presenting the unknown.
So, whenever possible, try to explore popular topics in your infographics.
Just be careful to maintain a brand image when doing so, and pick trends carefully.
More resources:
Featured Image: Unitone Vector/Shutterstock