How To Make Infographics And Get New Business

by Sujan Patel, When I Work

Creating visual content is not only a great way to create more variation in the type of content that you create; it can also help users engage with your content at a faster rate. According to Wishpond, “90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual. Visuals are processed 60,000X faster in the brain than text.”

With images ‘soaking in’ faster than text in many instances, creating infographics to get new leads and customers is a great way to visually display and share information without being overwhelming. Here are some ideas of great content that can be effectively conveyed as an infographic.

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Announce New Study/Survey Results

If your company regularly conducts exclusive studies on data or surveys from real target audience members, sometimes the findings can be difficult to explain right off the bat. 

An infographic can display key findings in a way that makes it instantly impactful, thus sharing your findings but also driving a specific point home for the reader.  This point may range from a need for something your business offers, or the emphasis of more involvement in a specific area of their industry.  

For instance, Stone Temple Consulting, which specializes in digital marketing services, could release a series of infographics using the data from their exclusive studies on everything from tweet content (which was their last large study) to search algorithm changes. Because their studies already include some graphs, it would be a natural transition to also create an original infographic of the findings as well for their audience to share on social media and elsewhere.

Showcasing these findings in a visual format can help prove the need for your services or products (which is also discussed in more detail below). For instance, an infographic about the harmful chemicals in cleaning products can help convince your natural cleaning product company’s target user base that using more environmentally-friendly cleaners is a worthwhile investment and habit change. 

Establish Your Company as a Thought Leader

Studies and surveys aren’t the only thing that can help your company make itself more well known within your industry. Introducing high-level infographics that are extremely useful, actionable, and timely can brand your company as a business who is on top of the most important industry trends and statistics.

Because infographics are more likely to be shared (because they are images), it’s important for them to contain interesting information that is easy to explain to and absorb by the audience. When released on a regular basis, your target audience (as well as industry colleagues) will come to identify your brand’s services and online presence as a reputable source of information as a whole. Infographics give businesses the chance to increase trust factor, which can in turn help increase sales. 

Identify a Problem and Its Solutions

Infographics can also be used as an urgency tool, which is conveying the message that there is a problem, which needs to be fixed as soon as possible. A good example of this is a recent Entrepreneur article titled Why Marketing to Millennials Pays Off. In this instance, marketing to millennials is the problem, and the infographic (and accompanying article) by Laura Entis is explaining why it is beneficial to companies to market to this age group. This topic is a great promotional infographic topic for companies that specifically target businesses who could target millennials, like an ad agency that creates millennial-centered content.

Another example comes from our own When I Work blog (shameless plug). In our infographic The Ultimate Small Business Toolkit, we identified a problem that every business owner has—the challenges associated with managing all operations of a business—and provided potential solutions in the form of business tool recommendations. 

Make the information you display not only identify key statistics and trends, but also offer solutions or future predictions that can tie in your company and its products or services. This is exactly what Insight Pest Solutions does on their termite information page.

In this case, an inforgraphic makes a complex topic (the behavior of termites) and turns it into a visual guide to solving the problem. Your target audience will not only learn what needs to be done, they will likely turn to the source (your business) to solve their issue.  

Repurpose Existing Content

If you are having a difficult time coming up with new information to share in an infographic, try repurposing content that has already been written. This is similar to the Stone Temple Consulting example mentioned previously, but any case studies, ebooks, white papers, blog posts, or recordings of podcasts, interviews, and live events could all be condensed and turned into an infographic. 

Start by pulling out the key information, such as why this is important to the reader and what would happen if they don’t pay attention to it. Next, identify key areas or steps to focus on next in this specific area.

When repurposing content, it’s important to remember that not all infographics have to be long, graphic lists of statistics. Work on incorporating the information you already have in your existing content with a few key statistics that reinforce the points you are making. Be sure to cite your sources at the bottom of the infographic.  This can help get you new business by exposing your target audience to your information in a new way. 

When they utilize great design (see this post for tips on designing beautiful infographics)  and allow the information to make a point, infographics are a great way to reach your audience in a new way, often through multiple formats, such as social media, blogs, email, and more. Better visibility, brand trust, and proof of solutions will all help your product and services get sold faster to new clientele.  

Sujan Patel is the VP of Marketing at When I Work, and previously founded Single Grain, a San Francisco-based digital marketing agency. He’s helped companies like Sales Force, TurboTax, Sony, Mint, and hundreds of others acquire more customers, build brand awareness, and grow their businesses.