Content Marketing: Infographs In 3 Easy Steps

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The digital age has bought a deluge of data and given communicators another dimension to storytelling. The downside is all those numbers and details can quickly overwhelm our ability to make sense of the information we present.

Enter the infograph, a newly arrived social media and PR tool blending graphics and data into digestible imagery, and proving popular in content marketing.

In recent times I've become an infograph fan but only recently started using them in my campaigns.  If like me, you're new to commissioning infographs, here's three simple steps to get you started when someone hands you a pile of data and asks you to make sense of it for their audiences.

Design  Firstly check what capacity there is to design or commission an infograph. If you're lucky you may have in-house talent.  No. Then a quick Google search of free infograph software will bring nearly 6.8 million results.  Or sites like Fiverr offer cheap ways to tap into experts for minimal cost. Either way there's plenty of online help available.

Numbers Next settle on the numbers to highlight.  It's similar to crafting key messages.  Decide on the most important pieces of information you feel audiences to know. That's probably the single most important call in the production process.  Sometimes you get to make it but more often it means collaborating on what's considered essential.

Icons   Successful infographs are simple.  They use clear iconography to breathe life into data.  So it's important to choose symbols appropriate to your story and which will aid the understanding of your audience.

Finally bring together your numbers, icons and other visual elements into an educative but easy on the eye graphic.

So there you have it.  Producing them is straightforward but infographs can be highly effective particularly when you need to convey complex information. 

Good luck and let me know how you go.

9 Tips For Clearer Campaign Messages

We live our lives in an environment of communications clutter.  Each day thousands of messages from other people - governments, businesses, community groups - bombard us. A few are important but most contribute to the ambient noise continually engulfing us.  

The implication is clear: successful campaign messages need to be simple, clear and relevant to the needs and interest of your audiences. So here are my golden rules for developing and using key messages that define your issue and cut through the clutter:

• Firstly write down your key messages.  This sounds so obvious but sometimes we forget the very act of putting pen to paper instils discipline and allows you to share your thinking with others without distortion.

• Use simple language, write in the active voice and express yourself in fewer than 20 - 25 words. Again this introduces discipline and focus into your information.

• Make messages stand out so a busy or time-poor person can recall them. Mix logic with emotion.

• Select three or five key messages that cover your issue. Sure you can have more but in my experience you will only use a handful. Limiting them focuses your efforts and increases the chances others in your organisation will understand and use them.

• Use jargon- or technical-free language unless you are confident your audience knows what you mean.

• Keep a copy of your key messages by your phone or computer to remind you to insert them into every conversation or correspondence that leaves your office.

• Test your key messages with individuals in the groups you are trying to reach or through market research. Feedback is invaluable in tuning up your information.

• Finally make sure at least one of your messages contains a clear call to action: a simple statement of what people should do when they choose to act on your information.