Do INFOGRAPHICS Really Work for Professional Services Firm Marketing?

Shannon’s monthly product and service review for marketing professional services 

As an online marketing agency, it’s our responsibility to stay on top of the digital marketing and technology world. Different types of marketing tools, software, hardware, and online goodies shape and mold the world we live in and how we do business.

In my explorations of new types of marketing technology I have run into a few golden nuggets and a whole bunch of complete time-wasters.  But because marketing technology is being created each day, I’m going to give a review of technology I‘ve tried and I’ll tell you whether or not it’s worth investing your time and resources.

Each month I will showcase an online tool/resource and pass on my pearls of wisdom. I have created a rating system that will easily show my experience and give my results at the end.

So, What’s the Deal With INFOGRAPHICS?

This month I have targeted my efforts to learn about INFOGRAPHICS and the influence they have relating to professional services firms.

Let’s start out with a definition! An INFOGRAPHIC is basically telling a story graphically using data. Taking data and turning it into an eye-appealing story gives the opportunity to create a dynamic piece of content that people are willing to share and distribute. Professional services firms can use INFOGRAPHICS to present research, simplify reporting and share insights.

Recently, VitbergLLC gathered data on a couple of case studies we had been working on and I was asked to display these case studies on our website. Now, I could have created my normal, letterhead PDF and just wrote out the case study and results, but I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to create my very own INFOGRAPHIC. I was skeptical that this would work at first because I hadn’t seen many other professional services turning their case studies into graphic stories but after an hour of designing and laying out my data, my first case study turned out pretty nice!

Click here to check out this case study INFOGRAPHIC “Does Content Marketing Really Work for CPA Firms?”

I threw some social media share buttons on the INFOGRAPHIC and before I knew it people were sharing our case study! By creating this INFOGRAPHIC I was able to turn very simple data into a creative, share-worthy piece of content.

What I really like about this way of displaying content is that you don’t have to be a graphic designer or even an artist.  There are a lot of templates and inspiring INFOGRAPHICS that you can use to get started - like HubSpot’s free template: How to Create Five Fabulous Infographics in PowerPoint.

But, there’s many other ways to use INFOGRAPHICS other than to present case studies. Here are some quick ideas for other applications that would work well in an infographic universe:

1. Business plans
2. Survey/Research results
3. How-To’s and DIY processes
4. Compare and contrasts
5. Demographics
6. Event timelines

Overall my experience with creating INFOGRAPHICS turned out to be positive and well-received. I can see why so many companies have chosen to use this way of graphically telling a story and why it is so popular to display information. I would recommend this type of content creation for professional services firms like CPA, consulting and financial firms to get their message out in a unique way.

I give INFOGRAPHICS a rating of:

What are your thoughts on INFOGRAPHICS for professional services firms? Leave your comments below!