Infographics are everywhere. We use them to accomplish two things at the very least:
- Attract the target audience with great eye catching design
- Simplify a complex story visually
In this article, we want to talk about the differences between a factual infographic and a marketing/promotional infographic. It might be clear to most, but surprisingly we have found that many clients who have walked through our door have a hard time understanding the differences. This is what we tell them:
- Factual Infographics: The intended purpose behind factual infographics are to use real data to visually tell a non-biased story. The data is dense, generally neutral, and requires immense amount of data analysis to extract the story. An example is one we created for the Army War College: Factual Infographic Example
- Marketing/Promotional Infographics: The intended purpose behind marketing/promotional infographics are to use data to visually tell a story that is focused on selling a service or showing the value of a service. The data is real; however, the data is shallow with heavy usage of iconic imagery rather than any charting.
One is not better than the other in general, however, choosing the right one to support the overall content marketing strategy is crucial. Thought leadership? Our choice: Factual Infographics. Advertising services, products, or the company in general? Our choice: Marketing/Promotional Infographics.
What you need to know
Each infographic has different features. Let’s break each down:
Factual Infographics:
- 4-6 week production time
- Heavy on data analysis
- Unique one off product that uses information/data that is credible
- Viral worthy material – often used as reference
- Higher price tag compared to Marketing/Promotional Infographics
Marketing/Promotional Infographics:
- 2-4 week production time
- Light on data analysis
- Templated design created to be more eye catching
- Information is geared to sell rather than to inform
- Lower cost solution
In general infographics should be part of any organization’s overall content marketing strategy. If you have any questions or need help deciding which infographic is best for your needs, please let us know.