An essential element of any successful marketing campaign is careful planning. Part of that process is developing a strategy around what types of content you’ll deploy and how. Whether you’re working with an individual designer or have hired a visual communication agency to design your infographic or other visual content, a visual strategy is no longer an option: it’s an essential service that will set your campaign up for success.
If the agency you’re working with can’t make data-based recommendations regarding the style, format, and other considerations for your campaign collateral, it’s time to find an agency that will. You can’t afford to deploy content that’s not optimized to achieve your goals.
But what is a visual strategy, and how can it help your next campaign? Let’s take a look.
Defining Visual Strategy
A visual strategy involves a series of creative decisions aimed to optimize your campaign’s performance. It’s a way to plan the design and deployment of your visual content around what will best help you achieve your goal(s) and reach your target audience.
An effective visual strategy should clearly address 3 questions:
- What visual content are you going to produce?
- What creative direction for that content will ensure its success?
- Where should you deploy your content?
The answers to these questions will be different for every campaign — even within a single company. That’s because each campaign has unique goals. And often enough, they have distinct audiences, as well. For instance, a campaign to launch a new product targeted at just one segment of your company’s overall customer base will need to be optimized to connect with and engage that particular segment.
What Your Infographic Designer Should Know
Every visual communication or infographic designer needs to be equipped with a unique set of skills centered around service — skills that are distinct from what a traditionally trained designer might know how to do. A designer specializing in visual communication needs to know how to:
- Visualize information or data accurately
- Emphasize the most compelling information for maximum impact
- Minimize the usage of text and let the visuals do the talking
But that’s not all.
They should also be able to make informed recommendations regarding what types of visual media, design style(s), format(s), and distribution strategies will help you achieve your goals and reach your target audience. While infographics solve many goals, not every goal is solved with an infographic. A strategic agency should be up-front with you about this. They should also be forthcoming about their capabilities.
Goal-oriented content is successful content. Whether they’re creating an infographic, motion graphic, or other visual asset, your designer should be focused on service: ensuring they’re taking the time to understand your goals and develop content that connects.
Visual Strategy and Your Infographic Design Service
When you hire a visual communication agency, what you’re looking for is expertise. You want to work with a team that is extremely knowledgeable in their field. They should spend the time to get to know your business and your goals, then make recommendations.
At a quality agency, it’s not just the designers who will know how to make goal-driven content. Your entire team — from project managers to content writers to researchers — will have your goals in mind from the moment your project kicks off. This way, they’ll be able to make strategic recommendations from the outset of your project all the way to launch.
If the agency you’re working with isn’t asking about your goals, your audience, and your company, they’re probably not developing a visual strategy before they execute on the project. And they’re probably not producing content that will drive engagement for your brand.
So when you seek out a designer or design service for your next infographic, make sure visual strategy comes first.
