Visuals are a must for effective marketing.

Whether it’s photographs, custom illustrations, or striking graphics, any marketing campaign requires some form of visuals.

Good images and graphics grab attention, help share a message, and improve engagement. They are great for explaining concepts, showcasing products, or highlighting their features. Most importantly, visuals are perfect for telling a story.

So, it’s no surprise picking the right visuals for your campaign can make all the difference.

For this post, we’ll look at two powerful visual tools: photos and infographics.

How do you know if your marketing campaign will benefit from photos or would be better off with infographics?

Choosing between infographics and photos is a tricky business. But there is a method to the madness. Each one has its strengths and there are general guidelines on when to choose one over the other, depending on your marketing needs.

When to Use Infographics?

Infographics are ideal if you need to present difficult data or share extensive information. You can use graphs, charts, icons, and more to showcase the information clearly and concisely. Put simply, if what you’re marketing requires simplifying extensive data with lots of numbers or complicated processes, an infographic is the best way to engage a non-technical audience.

Advantages of Using Infographics in Marketing

Creates a visual representation of concepts and data

An infographic is best when translating intricate information into a digestible set of visuals. Imagine showing numbers and statistics in your marketing campaign. Do you think your target audience will respond to it? Some might, but chances are, they’ll gloss over the numbers and forget it. Translate it into a beautiful visual representation and they’ll respond better. Just a glance and all the insights are there.

Simplifies and enhances storytelling

Telling a story is another advantage of infographics. They’re ideal for displaying a narrative. You can showcase a journey map as an infographic better than narrating every single step. This makes the story easy to follow for your audience.  

Infographic Usage Examples:

Goodwill Northern Michigan – Brand Refresh

Here’s a great example of telling a complex story through infographics. Goodwill Northern Michigan wanted to create a comprehensive collection of brand standards, not just for their employees but to forge their own identity in the Goodwill brand.

Goodwill Michigan created a unique infographic specifically for their donation doors. Each donor received this visual guide, which illustrates the journey of donated items—from the moment Goodwill receives them to how they ultimately transform into food and homeless assistance.

Since its introduction, it has been featured in its annual report, incorporated into advertisements, and prominently displayed as a large version at its Traverse City facility. During tours, this larger infographic helps narrate the powerful story of how donations make a difference in the community.

You can read more details about the project here.      

When to Use Photos?

Photos or images showcase real-life scenarios. What’s powerful about using images or photos is they trigger emotions and inject authenticity into any marketing campaign. Highly versatile, photos can be used in almost any type of marketing effort, from websites, print media, videos, and more. Of course, the photos or images must be high quality. It may be tempting to grab images from Google, but this could put your brand in serious legal issues if you’re not careful.

Advantages of Using Photos in Marketing

Emotionally appealing and seen as authentic

Like infographics, using photos has its benefits. Because images capture real life, they are ideal for advertising that requires an emotional response and is seen as authentic. This is the same concept when restaurants use an appetizing photo of the food on their menus, it’s a way of connecting with customers.

Creates visual recognition and brand identity

Choosing the right images helps strengthen brand identity. Consistent photos, certain colors, image styles, font, etc., can create a cohesive look for your website, print materials, or social media platforms. Popular brands like Nike, use similar imagery to showcase their brand. Their images often contain athletes in dynamic or action-oriented photos which captures the brand’s emphasis on empowerment and athleticism.

Photo Usage Examples:

2024 Traverse City Horse Shows – Sponsorship Deck

The 2024 Traverse City Horse Shows (TCHS) Sponsorship deck is focused on showing top-quality images taken from the shows. These images were meant to capture the feel of the events and to allow potential sponsors to imagine, even feel, what it would be like to be there.

Read more about this project here:

Truestream Internet – Step-by-Step Brochure Design

For this project, the brochure was designed to communicate the complicated process of hooking up fiber Internet inside a home. As you can see, key images are used strategically to create authenticity and to make it relatable. It creates a familial connection, making the customers feel like the process isn’t something they should be worried about.

You can read more about this project here:

General Guidelines When Choosing Between Infographics or Photos

• If the information is complicated, use infographics to simplify complex data or processes. Use it for showing a pipeline process, manufacturing, or something that requires large numbers and statistics.
• Study your audience engagement, your decision on whether to use photos or infographics should be based on this.
• Pay attention to your product or business offering, a photo series is more useful if you are marketing products or sharing content that requires emotional connections. For instance, success stories and testimonials need actual photos of people to create trust.  

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Need help making your next campaign a success?

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If you need help rebranding or getting your focus back, we can assist in handling all your creative marketing needs so you can get back to focusing on what you do best – lead!

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