Today we find ourselves in the age of technology, a time when more clients and customers spend their work and free time online to engage with businesses. Infographics can help set your business apart—and position it for future growth—by creatively sharing your story in an instant.
Research now shows that humans process visual information 60,000 times faster than text. Information coupled with illustrations increases recall by 82%. (Source: Management Information Systems Research Center)
Infographics can help your potential clients learn about your business, and remember what they learn, by turning a complicated process into visual information that’s easy to understand and digest. For example, the lead photo of this blog post is a process O’Connor Connective’s Brand Consultant Joe Bergner designed to show how our partner, the Greater Green Bay Habitat for Humanity ReStore, benefits the community from its donation phase that ultimately leads to building more homes for more families.
Bergner shared the following best practices to help tell your company story, visually.
Highlight smaller segments. Bergner suggests using infographics to highlight smaller portions of a bigger story for increased clarity. While an infographic may not translate to telling a company’s whole story, the tactic can be useful for making segments of complicated data—such as company history or a process—clearer.
In general, be brief with copy. Infographics shouldn’t require long descriptions in order to understand what it is trying to communicate. If an infographic is right for your business, lengthy explanations won’t be necessary. Keep any text short and easy to read. A viewer should be able to skim through the copy and get the point, which is the goal of an infographic.
Title your infographic clearly. Use a clear title that includes the subject of your infographic to instantly give context to what the visual is about, and what the graphic is trying to convey.
Match your brand identity. The infographic should feel and look like your business, including the color, font and design-style. Both the graphic elements and the voice of the copy—the way you write the words—should be consistent to fit your overall brand.
As a business leader, you already know that what and how you communicate matters. Use visuals such as infographics—and technology to share them—to help communicate your story and engage more customers for your continued success.
Melissa Gorzelanczyk is a communications specialist at O’Connor Connective, a strategic communications firm committed to helping organizations share their story.