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Randy Krum
President of InfoNewt.
Data Visualization and Infographic Design

Infographic Design

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Entries in Marketing (53)

Thursday
Jul192018

Interactive Infographic From Coca-Cola Spain

Coca-Cola Spain is using the tool ThingLink to add animation and interactivity to their marketing infographics. ThingLink allows you to create "hotspots" that pop-up additional images, text and even videos.
Description: Coca-Cola Spain masters the art of digital storytelling by using interactive infographics on their blog.  In addition to it's attractive design, this infographic captures viewer attention with the use of motion (via GIFs).  In the infographic below, Coca-Cola shares how they have driven employment and progress in Spain since 1953. 

Tuesday
Sep192017

40 Facts About the Psychology of Color

40 Facts About How the Psychology of Color Can Boost Your Website Conversions infographic

Color has always been a determining factor in a consumer's decision to buy a product. But with today's online shopping market, color decision is even more important than ever. It takes a consumer 90 seconds to make a product assessment and Marketing Profs says that 62%-90% of this judgment is based on product color alone! The 40 Facts About How the Psychology of Color Can Boost Your Website Conversions infographic outlines popular uses for the colors as well as some of the brands that use them. They have also included popular colors for specific shoppers like impulse buyers.

The infographic breaks down the rainbow and explains emotions associated with each hue, as well as in which industries each color is popular, and in which industries each color is not recommended.

For example, white and silver signify perfection, and you can see that in brands like Apple and Ralph Lauren, but many food brands—which prefer characteristics such as energy or excitement—opt for brighter colors.

Furthermore, certain colors speak to the psychology of certain types of buyers, according to the infographic. For example, navy blue and teal are often used to target budget shoppers, whereas pink, rose, and sky blue speak to traditional clothing buyers.

Notice how some of the statistics are visualized and others are just shown in text alone. The non-visualized data is perceived as secondary information or footnotes to the more prominent visualized data.

I also think they overuse the Radial Bar Chart style of visualizing data. I'm not a big fan of these since they are harder for readers to understand the comparisons.

Found on https://www.marketingprofs.com

Tuesday
Jan102017

Digital Marketing Tools Landscape

Essential Digital Marketing Tools Landscape infographic

The Essential Digital Marketing Tools infographic from Smart Insights is a cleaner approach to a landscape design style, and only covers their top 5 picks in each of 30 different categories.

As marketers today, we’re fortunate to have a huge number of free and low-cost tools to give us insight about our customers, competitors and market. They also help us compete by delivering automated relevant, real-time communications integrated across desktop and mobile and digital plus traditional marketing channels.

To help highlight the range of great options available, our infographic and free Digital Marketing Tools and Services 2016 download recommends 30 categories of marketing technology and our pick of the most popular 5 in each category. We’ve grouped them across the Smart Insights RACE Planning framework for managing digital marketing so you can review where you could make better use of the tools across the customer lifecycle.

What inspired us to create this infographic and guide?

We were inspired by Scott Brinker’s Marketing Technology landscape which does an excellent job of defining ‘enterprise’ tools for managing digital marketing, but can be difficult to read because of the sheer number of tools. Also, we wanted to include more low-cost and free ‘hands-on’ insight tools which are important for managing activities like Search, Social media and conversion rate optimisation. These don’t tend to be included on Scott’s landscape. We also wanted to highlight the most popular, well-regarded services, particularly those which can be used across all sizes of businesses rather than being affordable only by the biggest brands.

I'm generally not a fan of these complex landscape designs. They're cluttered, complex, and don't help readers understand the information very effectively. I think the Smart Insights design helps readers significantly by choosing a limited number to include, and the circular format makes for an improved reading experience.

I also like the use of this infographic as content to draw in readers for their larger report on these marketing tools. As I wrote in my article "Marketing FAIL: Infographics Hidden Behind Registration Walls"

My personal belief is that they were also inspired by The Conversation Prism by Brian Solis and JESS3, which I also think is a good landscape design style.

 

Friday
Jun172016

Pay Per Click Checklist

Pay Per Click Checklist infographic

When you have an AdWords PPC campaign, it is not a set-and-forget system. To get the most from your system, you should follow an on-going, structured plan like the Pay Per Click Checklist infographic. Midas Media has designed this simple infographic to maximize your PPC results.

When you hear people talk about Pay per Click (PPC) Management they typically mean Google AdWords.

That said, PPC now spans a whole spectrum of platforms from social media, content, display and of course ‘the daddy’ Google search itself.

This actionable PPC optimisation checklist is directly attributed to managing an AdWords PPC campaign, but it’s fair to say it can be applied to other paid search marketing too. It can also be used as the basis for a campaign review and audit check list.

This is published on the landing page as a good combination of longer article with more in-depth detail, and a simple infographic that is easy to understand and share.

Thanks to Ed Leake for sending in the link through Twitter.

Wednesday
Nov042015

How Much Should You Spend on Sales & Marketing?

 The Corporate Marketing and Sales Spend Landscape infographic

The Corporate Marketing and Sales Spend Landscape is an infographic about publicly traded companies and how much revenue they spend on sales & marketing. The general rule of thumb, based off of a 2014 Gartner Research study, is that a company should invest 10% of their revenue into marketing. However, a 2014 CMO survey, published by the American Marketing Association and Duke University, came to find that the 10% rule isn't true for all types of companies.

This infographic from Vital is a representation of those findings and shows how much each business style actually spends on marketing. 

Determining the affect of marketing on a company’s growth is not black and white. There are many factors that combine to create a successful and growing business. However, without marketing and sales a company gets very little, if any, promotion or exposure, meaning the chances of growth are slim to none. This is a well-known fact among marketers, evident in the amount of dollars successful corporations allocate towards sales and marketing every year. In 2014, Microsoft, Cisco, Quest Diagnostics, Intel, Salesforce, Constant Contact, LinkedIn, Marketo, Bottomline Technologies, Marin Software, IDEXX Laboratories, Tempur Sealy, Tableau and Twitter among many more all had marketing and sales budgets that were greater than 14% of revenue, some spending as much as 50%! All of these companies also grew year-over-year.

So, how does a company determine how much of their budget to spend on marketing? We decided to look at a handful of some of the most successful large and mid-sized companies across a range of industries to find out how much they allocate for marketing and what they get in return.

Read more at https://vtldesign.com

The order the companies are listed is confusing. There's doesn't seem to be any reasoning behind the sequence. It's not marketing spend dollars or percentage, or total revenue, or revenue growth YOY or even alphabetical.

It's not clear that the orange number shown for each company is the marketing spend dollars, not total revenue. The orange color-coordination with the doughnut chart implies that, but it should be more obvious.

I also think they meant to imply a connection between marketing spend and revenue growth, but that connection is not obvious in the infographic. The revenue growth in gray text-only looks like an afterthought.

Great source citations in the footer. They should also include a copyright statement and the URL link directly to the infographic landing page so readers can find the original full-size version.

This is also a good example of the Fair Use of trademarked logos to report comparisons between the various companies.

Found on Marketing Profs

Monday
Oct052015

The Power of Visual Branding

The Power of Visual Branding infographic

Whenever you are trying to connect with a consumer, there are many factors to keep in mind. The Power of Visual Branding infographic from Silicone Wristbands Direct discusses how to successfully use promotional materials to connect with your target audience.

Top Tips for Making Visual Branding a Success!

When it comes to marketing and promotion, visual branding is vastly important, whether it is for a business, charity or even an individual product.

Silicone wristbands are a huge part of visual marketing and have been proven to have an excellent effect throughout the world, however, to make them work for you and your promotion it is important that you consider the visual qualities of your marketing products. This is why we have created this brand new infographic below that includes the best tips for making visual branding work for you!

Good explanation of the thought that goes into the products in their business market. Silicone wristbands are their business, and one of the wearables mentioned in the infographic. However, the infographic is very informative for anyone in the wearables market, which makes it highly shareable.

The footer should include both a copyright (or Creative Commons) license and the URL link directly to the infographic landing page. Most infographics include only the link the company's home page (like this one), but that makes readers have to search the site to find the original, full-size infographic the company published. 

Thanks to Karen for sending in the link!

Thursday
Sep032015

The Psychology of Colors in Marketing

The Psychology of Colors in Marketing infographic

The Psychology of Colors in Marketing infographic is a comprehensive guide to what a colors means in marketing materials. The infographic, created by Homestead, not only covers the meanings of the colors but how to use contrast and the intensity as well. The last bit gives examples of how big corporations use the colors to their advantage.

Do you feel inexplicably calm when surrounded by a sea of blue water or a forest of green trees? Perhaps you feel a slight agitation when looking at a red stop sign or stop light?

The reality is that color has a powerful psychological impact - and that this affect can be harnessed by webmasters and digital marketers alike to promote different buyer behaviors online. To learn more, check out our new "The Psychology of Colors in Marketing" infographic:"

The infographic is a little text heavy, but does a good job of using black text and icons for the descriptions so the colors only appear when they are meant to convey meaning in the infographic as an example.

The footer should include a copyright (or Creative Commons) license statement and the URL web page address directly to the infographic landing page so readers can find the original full-size version when bloggers repost the infographic without a link. I always include a link back to the original but most do not.

Found on http://www.digitalinformationworld.com

Wednesday
Sep022015

The Science of Instagram

The Science of Instagram infographic

The Science of Instagram by Dan Zarrella is a study on 1.5 million photos on Instagram about which photos get more likes and comments. 

If you want to see data like this about your account specifically, check out the Instagram analytics tool I released: PicStats.com

When I’m speaking at a conference, one of the most common questions I’m asked is what do I think the future of social media is. I’m not great at distant future predicting, but I do believe the story of the present and near-future of social media is visual content. From the impact of images and video on Facebook and Twitter to the new crop of media-centric social platforms like Instagram and Pinterest, it’s clear that inbound marketers need to be turning out great visual content.

I recently spent some time collecting a large Instagram database and analyzing it to identify the characteristics that make images work (or not work). The result is the infographic below. If you’re curious about the nerdy details of the dataset, there are details at the bottom of it.

Be sure to come see me present my all new edition of The Science of Social Media next week in Boston at INBOUND. I’ll be speaking on Wednesday the 17th at 1:45PM. There will be tons of never before seen data, including lots about visual content. Oh, and follow me on Instagram!

I like the simplified charts in this infographic. Removing the unnecessary gridlines, axes and other chart clutter helps them clearly communicate their content to the readers.

The footer should include a copyright (or Creative Commons) license statement and the URL to the infographic landing page so readers can find the original full-size version when bloggers repost the infographic without a link. I always include a link back to the original but most do not.

Found on http://www.marketingprofs.com/

Wednesday
Jul292015

The Science Behind Creating Buyer Personas

The Science Behind Creating Buyer Personas infographic

The Science Behind Creating Buyer Personas infographic from WSI does a good job explaining why personas are way more than just demographic information. Too many companies don't dig deep enough when creating buyer personas to really understand their customers' decision making process.

A buyer persona can be one of the most powerful tools in helping you devise effective marketing strategies.

Wikipedia defines a buyer persona as “fictional characters created to represent the different user types that might use a site, brand, or product in a similar way.”

The process and resulting personas are particularly useful for businesses who recognize the value of content-marketing. The secret of content marketing is hiding in plain site: if you want your business to be found by prospective clients, referred by existing clients, lauded by critics, you need to start by creating great content that they will want to read.

Personas are a great foundation to identify the topics that are of interest, and the voice you should use to communicate them.

This infographic is a fun way of looking at how to go about this process. It isn’t easy, but it is extraordinarily valuable!

Sometimes infographics tell stories about concepts or processes instead of large data sets or statistics. This one uses icons and illustrations to help marketers understand how complicated building buyer personas can be.

Oddly, the infographic appears to be hosted on the MarketingProfs website instead of WSI. I couldn't find an original infographic landing page from WSI.

Tuesday
Jul142015

Pro Tips to Track Results from Infographics

Creating an infographic is no simple task. A lot of time and resources go into the data research and design of a good infographic, but not always into figuring what happened after publishing it on the Internet. Where many companies miss the mark with their infographics is in their tracking efforts after the infographic has been released. Pageviews, social shares, reposts, backlinks, and more are all part of measuring the success of an infographic.

It is important to understand that infographics need as much promotional and tracking support as articles, videos, advertisements, and even the products and services their business is marketing. Learning what works and doesn’t work should be a huge part of future marketing plans.

The work of tracking an infographic starts the day it’s published online. Here are five key areas a company should focus on after they've released an infographic.

 

1. Dedicated Landing Page for Analytics

 

via: CopyBlogger

To make sure you get the most out of your infographic, make sure it is published on the company’s website on a dedicated landing page or if that’s not available, in it’s own blog post. That will provide a dedicated landing page URL as the one primary link in posts to drive all the views and backlinks to one place. By creating a landing page you can access your own web analytics to see pageviews, traffic patterns and referring sites. You also have control over which social sharing buttons to include for default text and sharing statistics.

An often overlooked ally to tracking infographics after their release is your company’s own website analytics. When you examine the metrics of the overall company website, inbound links can become a jackpot for insights about who picked up your content.

Pro Tip:

Use inbound links to keep track of pick-up, and target new outlets for future outreach efforts.

An alternate (or secondary) method would be to publish your infographic on a hosted platform like Visme or SlideShare. These platforms display the infographic within an enclosure that can be embedded and shared on other sites, and gather the analytics from all of the sites displaying the enclosure in one tracking report.


 

2. Track the Value of Backlinks

 

via: Pole Position Marketing

For many companies, the goal of publishing infographics is to attract links and visitors to its own website. To find all of those links, you have to go looking for them.

Pro Tip:

Use an SEO backlink tool like Majestic SEO Site Explorer, Moz Open Site Explorer, or even do a Google search of the full landing page URL (another advantage of having a dedicated landing page URL). These tools will allow you to be able to find all of those valuable backlinks.

Be sure to check the value of links from those sites. One strong link can be worth more than many weak links. Google call this PageRank, Moz calls this Authority, and Majestic calls this Trust. Choose one metric for your tracking so you are comparing the same type of score across all of the sites that link to your infographic landing page.

Go through your list of industry specific websites, blogs, and news media outlets you pitched the infographic to, and search their website to see if anything pops up (wait about a week or two before searching to give time for an article to be written).

 

3. Social Share Counters

 

Social media can be used as a good indicator of how well your content is performing online, especially when looking at social shares from a specific media site pick-up. It’s important to remember that social sharing doesn’t help your own website’s pagerank, but it does build widespread awareness and exposure of your infographic content.

Pro Tips:

a. Use the counters from the social share buttons you set-up on the dedicated landing page.

b. Search Twitter (and other social media sites) for the full URL link to the landing page to find other social media posts that didn’t use your buttons but did link back to the infographic.

c. Check the social share button counters on other sites that reposted the infographic for additional sharing stats.


4. Reverse Image Search

 

When a blogger, media outlet, or journalist has chosen to write about your infographic, it doesn't always mean they will also take the time to include a link back to your website, or will even remember where they found the infographic. Reverse Image Search is a valuable tool to use to find reposts of your infographic that don’t link back to your website..

Reverse Image Search is a service offered by Google, Bing and TinEye. They allow you to drag and drop, upload your own image or choose an image online to start the search. The results will list all of the web pages in their index that include that image, in any size. This is the best way to find sites that posted your infographic without linking back to your landing page.

Via: Google Images

Pro Tip:

Reach out to any high value sites you find that published your infographic but didn’t include a link. Politely thank them for sharing your infographics, and ask them to add a link back to the original landing page.

 

5. Gather Your Results

Pull together all of the results you found into a summary that your company can use as a benchmark to evaluate future published content. Your web analytics, combined social shares, backlinks from sites and image-only posts together paint an overall picture of how well your infographic performed.

via: Razor Social

Pro Tip:

Site that have seen their own success from posting your infographic are more likely to post future infographics from you as well. Start building an outreach list of people and sites that appreciate your content.

 

Even the slightest effort put into tracking your infographic can significantly improve your understanding of the value of visual content. In order to understand it’s value, you have to understand its reach. Then, you can evaluate how your content is performing, and make any changes needed to make future content more likely to garner the pick-up and exposure your team or company seeks.

Remember, you can’t improve what you don’t measure!

Are there any other tracking methods you use to keep track of your infographics or other visual content? How do you measure success for infographic (or any visual content)?