Posters are so 1999. Today we have infographics, which are posters on steroids. Infographics provide marketers with the opportunity to bombard web readers with an overwhelming amount of facts. You start with a topic, create an outline, choose a platform, and shazam, you’ve got an infographic. Yet you shouldn’t limit yourself to simply sharing information with this digital powerhouse. Whether you want to find freelance writers for your marketing agency or you are interested in promoting your clients, you can do so with these tips.
Make Marketing Magic
The first thing to understand is that you won’t get very far by using infographics as self promotion tools for clients. These data bombs are too factual, too detailed, and far too complex to provide web users with effective flash ads selling products or services. Instead, opt to sell a story, educate readers, or provide cold hard facts in graphic form. The key note for your clients is to provide infographics that offer something special, shareable and possibly shocking. This will get web users to share the infographic with their friends and fans, thereby spreading your client’s name and information faster than a trotting turkey on Thanksgiving Eve.
Take a peek at the most popular infographic of 2012 for marketing agencies by IMPACT Branding and Design, which is titled “The Inbound Marketing Process.” It offers a step-by-step guide for marketing agencies, yet is in simple enough terms that even clients could learn a thing or two. No. 7 on that list is “The History of Marketing” by HubSpot, which takes the traditional style of sharing a comprehensive set of information about a concept to explore the life cycle of marketing.
Infographic Tool Kit
When it comes to creating an infographic as a marketing tool for your client, facts are essential. Check out Google’s Public Data Explorer that compiles facts from sources including the U.S. Census Bureau. Many Eyes by IBM Research and Hohli are sites that help you create graphs and charts for posting on your infographic. Creating an infographic is a cinch when you use a specialized program, such as:
What Now?
Once you’ve got a delightful infographic that is as sweet as pumpkin pie, you’ve got to get it out there. Clients will want to share the infographic on their on websites and social media forums. However, as this tool is not for self promotion, this isn’t going to attract inbound traffic. In order to bring customers to your client’s site using an infographic, get that sucker out there using:
- SEO techniques including optimizing the content of the infographic so to meet the search results of potential readers
- A social media press release that is released to social media sites including news sites, such as Huffington Post
- Social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram, by setting up a schedule of posts that stagger the submission of the infographic over a period of weeks
You can also write controversial content or news worthy articles that use the infographic as a source. Share your client’s infographic with the World Wide Web as another form of advertising as part of your marketing campaign. The set up is cost effective, yet the payoff in terms of inbound marketing can bring in substantial attention.
Miranda B is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.
