Infographics & eBooks

During the WIN/LOST interview process with our clients, a few common questions have been mentioned over and over again in their purchasing cycle:

• Build vs. Buy Buyers struggled to choose between building the chat in-house and choosing a chat solution provider like PubNub. Most of the time, the Buyers aren't technical enough to know the pros/cons in each scenario.

• SMS vs. in-app chat For most use cases, SMS seems like an excellent free and reliable solution. However, while SMS certainly has its use-cases, it's well suited for. It also comes with several limitations that many app users might find prohibitive. And while in-app chat typically offers more functionality and flexibility, it comes with constraints such as needing to be connected to the Internet.

Often time, PubNub sends our best Sales folks to individual lead to clarify their concerns or doubts one by one. It is always a similar set of questions raised by the Buyers, and our responses have been pretty much standardized and unified. The only downside is the effort is not scalable. We can't send Sales whenever a potential customer raises their hand. At this point, I suggested let's produce some high-quality digital content for the Buyers to read/download on their own.

• Infographics help cover “heavy” topics enjoyably. People instead look at an infographic than read a lengthy text containing the same content. Facts and figures lend authority and give readers an objective point of reference. Visuals help readers process the content more efficiently.

• Infographics are a powerful tool to allow people to quickly digest information through visual data, charts, and statistics. With the proper use of color, proportion, and negative space, data can be transformed into unique, attention-grabbing, and even persuasive graphics.

Once I got support from our Content Team, I was joined by our Product Marketer and Copywriter to define this project's scope and intent. Here is my thought process behind my design decisions:

This seems pretty obvious, but I really can’t say it enough. If the content of our infographic is thoughtful and helpful, people will read it. Quality over quantity, always. But, of course, this goes for the content itself as well. There is no need to overwhelm the viewer with dozens of points to get the job done with 5 or 6 compelling points.

One of the first things to do when I sit down to start an infographic is browse inspiration. This will help put me in the right mindset and will also (hopefully) give you some ideas of the best direction to go in.

When I got the final content, I made a mood board on Pinterest to collect the layouts that have a similar structure to my content are doing it well. Is it engaging? Does it use visual cues to move the user down through the content? How is the content broken up? I also took a look at what people in our industry are doing. This can give me a good idea of what our audience is looking for visually or what content our audience may crave.

This is not only a great way to start visualizing my infographic personally, but it's an AWESOME way to collaborate and ensure buy-in from our team before I put too many hours into the project. Also, if something isn't sitting right structurally or content-wise, this gives me a chance to pivot before I'm in too deep.

This goes hand-in-hand with our content and our persona. Just as with any great marketing content, I have to design with our target audience in mind. The characteristics that our Buyer persona all have:

• Our buyer persona values getting quick information, so I intend to keep it short and sweet with icons, bullet points, and simple headers. 
• Our buyer persona is data or numbers-driven, which means highlighting percentages, stats, and real numbers!

Infographics should be just that -- graphic.  It is more powerful to show the point visually through icons or images than to write it out with this medium.

The key to a good infographic is to break up the long-form content into bite-sized morsels. Displaying proper hierarchy among the text will help our Buyer persona determine what is essential, what they can quickly scan, and the rhythm of the content.

 Whitespace is essential to readability, allowing our user's eye to rest and contributing to the hierarchy of the text.

Don’t over-design it just for the sake of it. Just as with any web design, make my visuals purposeful. If it’s not adding to the final product or serving some purpose, it has no business in our infographic.

We all know that a basic infographic is usually taller than it is wide. This means it is super crucial for me to guide our Buyer persona down through the content. There are many subtle ways I can do this. Some of my favorites include arrows, directional lines, diagonally divided backgrounds, and backgrounds that overlap between two sections.

The Buyer persona will be our champion if they evangelize PubNub and share the infographic with the Developer persona or other stakeholders. It doesn't matter if it is PDF or PNG. Make sure to keep the file size reasonably small.

A fatal flaw I see far too often is not including a call to action.

Our infographic should tell be part of a journey, so the following steps should ALWAYS be included. First, consider what would be the next logical move for the reader with your brand. Are they looking for more information? Are they ready to talk to someone? Would they benefit from a demo?

In my PDF, I can create a linked actionable button like “Get Your Demo Now” or “Talk to Us.” 

A recent study found people follow directions with text and illustrations 323% better than with just text. If users digest messages and take action that much more when accompanied by a visual, then why not turn your marketing content into visual content?