Infographic of Infographics by designer Ivan Cash

All About Infographics

There are two kinds of people in the world; those who read the instructions first, and those who don’t. I fall somewhere in the middle. I hate reading instructions, and if the thing I have to put together has few enough parts, I decide I can figure it out on my own. For instance, my vacuum sweeper. About a year ago I bought a cute, little, bright yellow vacuum sweeper that was cheap and super easy to figure out. Five minutes, and I was zipping my new sweeper all over my living room floor. Helping my friend mount his flat screen TV to the wall … that was another story. His TV was big, expensive, and heavy — and the mounting apparatus came with what seemed like 500 different small parts. So we reluctantly referred to the instruction manual, which, luckily for me, had pictures! I am 5 times more likely to successfully understand what to do when an instruction manual has pictures, and 10 times more likely to succeed in putting my new toy together if the pictures are accurate and well drawn.

This brings me to infographics. Infographics and data visualizations have exploded all over the web and print media in the last few years, and lately businesses have been doing their best to jump on the bandwagon with some interesting infographics of their own. They are now so über popular that you can find infographics making fun of other infographics. I will confess, as a visual learner, designer and avid instruction-manual critic, I too have succumbed to the magical attraction of infographics. But why? What makes infographics so popular, and is the recent infographic hype just a passing fad, or is there something actually meaningful behind the mania?

Um, so what is an “infographic”?

Let’s start off old-school style (literally), with a classic textbook definition. Well, how about one from Wikipedia: An infographic, or information graphic, is any visual display of information. There are generally two kinds of infographics (which can be split into infinitely more categories). Some infographics display numerical information like statistics and data sets. These are also often referred to as “data visualizations.” Other infographics communicate abstract concepts. Take for instance this beautiful visualization of emotions:

Robert Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions

Do a little digging, and you’ll find out, infographics are not really a new phenomenon. They’ve been around for quite awhile. Check out this great hand-drawn diagram created in 1900 by students of W.E.B. Du Bois at Clark Atlanta University.

They look good, but exactly how are they useful?

That’s right they look good. (Some better than others, of course.) And there are a few reasons they look good.

It’s easier. Children start reading with picture books. When you’ve put together a good infographic, it makes complex data easier to understand. This can allow you to reach larger, more varied audiences.

It’s quick(er). What takes you a thousand words takes me one picture. When done right, infographics can communicate more quickly. This makes them especially good communication vehicles for the web, where people don’t read — they skim.

It’s attractive. You want to attract your audience’s attention, right? Beautiful imagery is one way to do that. Images often attract more attention than a block of text because they usually have a greater range of visual devices at their disposal. When well designed, they employ color, scale, repetition and clear patterns of organization to communicate their message. Infographics serve can serve as particularly compelling images, as they combine appealing aesthetics with informative content.

It’s engaging. Some of the best infographics utilize humor, which always drives a point home with more impact. Some are simply clever. Online, some infographics take advantage of interactive technology to create an information experience. Users don’t simply sit and watch, they get to participate in what happens. (Who Runs the World? infographic – funny, clever and engaging)

A funny, clever & engaging infographic by David McCandless, Laura Sullivan, Tatjana Dubovina and Jack Hagley — click to view the whole image and see what happens ...

Hmm … what else in the world of marketing is Engaging (with a captial E)? Social media! It’s the perfect venue for infographics, which, because of their easy, quick, attractive and engaging nature, are some of the most sharable kinds of content for the web. Obviously, the creators of Pinterest had this one well figured.

How can I tell a “good” infographic from a “bad” one?

Before you rush out there and pledge allegiance to all infographics everywhere, remember, some infographics are better than others. Like any text article, an infographic has an author — sometimes several — and is getting its data from somewhere. Does it cite its source? Edward Tufte, the long-acknowledged expert on information design, has pointed out that the presence of citations imply care and respect for the data, signs of reliable content. David McCandless, designer and author of several books on information design, created his own infographic which shows the necessary ingredients for a truly impactful infographic. They boil down to four essentials: form, function, integrity & “interestingness”.

Oh, and about that big, heavy, expensive TV? Fortunately the instruction manual had effective pictures. We got it up and the wall, and 8 months later, it still hasn’t dropped on any heads … yet.

Give me more!

There are many, many great resources online both for finding great infographics and learning about what makes a good infographic. Here are some of my favorite:
Information is Beautiful — a blog by infographic guru David McCandless
Visual Complexity — infographic intensity!
Strange Maps — from the beautiful to the bizarre
Edward Tufte — a great information design thinker
Good Magazine — always informative and insightful
Cool Infographics — they are cool
The Potential Role for Infographics in Science Communication — An academic paper that details some good infographic history

Also, to follow my own advice, here are our sources:

Infographic of Infographics (Image Source)
16 Infographics About Infographics
Wikipedia
Column Five Media
Wheel of Emotions (Image Source)
Black History Charts, 1900
Library of Congress (Image Source)
Who Runs the World? (Image Source)
Six Rules for Making Infographics More Effective
Data Visualization and Infographic Resources
Presenting Data and Information

Brand Interactions: Touchpoints

Think about all of the different ways that your brand interacts with and makes an impression on your customers, your employees, and all of your critical partners and stakeholders that help to bring your brand to life. Your brand might touch these consumers on a daily basis.

With each interaction you are given the opportunity to give your customer a great experience — building stronger brand equity, or give them a poor experience —damaging your brand in that customer’s eye.

By consistently reinforcing and strengthening what your brand stands for at each of these moments (we call them touchpoints), you drive customer satisfaction. With a high degree of customer satisfaction, your brand will tend to experience:

• Superior customer loyalty
• Increased word-of-mouth referrals
• The ability to charge premium prices
• A higher degree of consumer forgiveness

All leading to…

Increased profitability

So what is a brand touchpoint? Every action, tactic and strategy your brand has with customers or stakeholders, whether it is through advertising, a merchandising display or a customer service call, is a brand touchpoint.

In our experience, every brand has at least 30 and sometimes up to 100 brand touchpoints on a daily basis. In general, touchpoints fall into three distinct customer experience segments: pre-purchase experience, purchase experience and post-purchase experience. Some examples of pre-purchases touchpoints are advertisements, direct mailings, free standing inserts or rack cards, website, e-newsletters, and even your storefront.

The goals of these pre-purchase touch points are to cross sell to current customers, attract new customers, build brand awareness, shape brand perceptions and expectations and drive brand relevance through linking certain benefits to brands (like green products).

The purchase experience touchpoints are geared towards moving customers who are only considering your brand to actually purchasing it. Some examples of purchase touchpoints are packaging, POP displays, in-store sampling, and even customer service representatives.

The goals of these purchase touch points are to instill buying confidence through maximizing value or quality, assuring warranties and mitigating buyers remorse worry, building or strengthening customer relationships and retention.

The post-purchase experience touchpoints are all the interactions that are leveraged after the sale to help maximize the total brand experience. The usage or consumption of the product is experienced at this stage as well.

Typical post-purchase experience touchpoints include product and package performance, customer service, customer satisfaction surveys, loyalty programs, loyalty coupons, e-newsletters, billing, follow up or reminders.

A goal for your brand should be to maximize each of these interactions by delivering on your brand promise consistently. By meeting or exceeding customer performance expectations and seeking new ways to delight your customers, you increase brand loyalty and advocacy.

Good customers will not only look to your brand for repeat and future purchases, but they also endorse and recommend your brand to others. And that is some seriously positive ROI.

Branding Explained Through Pick-Up Lines

Our team was getting prepared to attend an event right here in Anderson, Indiana. We were looking for something bold to say during our 60 second pitch, something that would grab the attention of a room full of women. 

We ladies enjoy a nice joke, especially if it is just slightly racy. So we looked around online. (It’s not exactly easy to find a good joke about branding. I guess people take their brands seriously…)I remembered a blog post a friend shared on Facebook last month that explained social media through the metaphor of a donut.

With that in mind, I stumbled upon this website , and they had an oldie but a goodie posted that explained marketing and branding through the metaphor of sex and pickup lines. I love the original, but there was no way we could get away with using it at the event. So, we mixed it up a little bit and created our own version. We hope you like it:

Over the years we have gotten a lot of questions about what in the heck is the difference between marketing and branding. Here’s how we explain it:

You go to a party and you see a cute guy across the room. You go up to him and say, “Hi, I’m free for dinner Friday, how about it?”

That’s Direct Marketing.

You go to the coffeeshop and you see a gorgeous man across the room. You give your girlfriend a buck. She goes up and says “Hi, my friend over there is free for dinner Friday night, how about it?”

That’s Advertising.

You go to the mall and see a handsome hunk across the room. You recognize him. You walk up to him, refresh his memory about how you met, then you say, “I’m free for dinner Friday night, how about it?”

That’s Customer Relationship Management.

You’re  at a party with your boyfriend, when a gorgeous fellow walks in, smiles & buys you a glass of wine. You spill the drink on your boyfriend, send him on his way.

That’s your trade-in policy.

You go to a party, you see the man of your dreams across the room. HE COMES OVER to you and says, “Hi, I hear you’re a great dinner date, are you free Friday night?”

Now THAT is the power of Branding.

If you have any jokes that pertain to the type of business YOU are in, we hope you will tell us!

From 10′ long Geek glasses hanging in the office window to full-size, bright yellow airplanes on the rooftop, there are some companies in Madison County who are finding success by re-defining “BIG” in their marketing budgets. These companies have found alternative and cost-effective ways to shout out their presence in the community and create positive buzz. (And they are creating some revenue while they’re at it, too.)

If you have been to any events in or around Madison County in the past several months, chances are you have seen otherwise distinguished-looking gentlemen and ladies, along with several teenagers, sporting decidedly un-disinguished-looking “geek” glasses. Or perhaps while driving south on I-69 you noticed a 10′ pair of geek glasses hanging in a window at the Flagship Enterprise Center…The Weeks Geeks phenomenon is here, thanks to Weeks Communication’s participation in several key community events. Weeks Geeks-Mania has made it incredibly cool to sport a pair of black, taped up glasses.

It seemed like everywhere I went, I was running into someone wearing the glasses. I was hit with the burning desire to know all about the birth of the glasses. Whose idea was it in the first place, and what in the world was their inspiration? Who’s BIG idea has people from 9-99 wearing these big, dorky, and now incredibly cool glasses?

So, I reached out to the friendly folks at Week’s Communications. Within a day, I was given the following letter from Weeks Geek Seth Daniels:

The History of the “famous” Weeks Geeks Glasses

Suzanne McGill-   “The Weeks Geeks phrase really originated when we were putting together the website. We wanted to express that we were a geeky bunch since we are a technology-based company. So when I was designing the “About the Weeks Geeks” page, I thought a pair of glasses would visually communicate and also represent us as geeks. What better way to show a geek than some nerdy glasses!”

Seth Daniels-  ”Suzanne, our graphics designer had come up with the idea of the Weeks Geeks and our Geeks Glasses, but we did not know how popular or catchy those would turn out to be. We really enjoyed them in our office and we thought that it could be something that every generation would enjoy and bring some positive “buzz” about our company.

We ordered hundreds of glasses and had our website tagged on them in order to give out at the annual Get Linked Expo. We went through every pair of glasses that day and as it turned out created the “buzz” we were hoping for. Will the glasses sell our phone service? No. But, they will put a name in people’s heads and hopefully when they think of phone service they can remember the glasses that their kids loved and think of us! And it’s still fun to see those glasses floating around the county from time to time.

We now have a huge 10’ pair of glasses hanging in our office window that you can see from Interstate 69. We hope that the glasses can bring some excitement not only to our name but to the community as well.”

Thanks to the team at Weeks Communications for sharing the story of your super cute glasses. I wish you much success. And I LOVE your phone service, by the way.

And now to discuss the yellow giant airplane attached to the roof…

If you have driven down Columbus Avenue in Anderson lately, you might have noticed a bright yellow airplane on top of the ServiceMaster building. Never in a million years would I have matched up the restoration and commercial cleaning industry with a bright yellow airplane on the roof. I was compelled to ask Shannon Terrell, owner of Service Master of Anderson about the plane. She was so kind and within days sent me this letter explaining the story behind the decision that she and husband Eric Terrell made when buying the plane:

How ServiceMaster of Anderson acquired the Loon Lake Lodge Plane

In October of 2009, Eric was driving by the Loon Lake Lodge restaurant in Indianapolis.  He always took notice of the restaurant, because it was one of our favorite places to eat.  We always loved the unique style of the place.  The plane on the roof seemed to be the landmark that would welcome you to Indianapolis.   He called me right away when he saw that the restaurant was closed and they were selling off the décor and fixtures.

I immediately went to the sale to see if we could acquire some of the restaurant’s décor for our own home.  While I was walking thru admiring everything, and deciding how much I could fit in my car, I overheard that the landmark plane was for sale.  I called Eric and filled him in on this wonderful piece of information.   We have always been pretty adventurous, and we immediately started talking about what we could do with it.  We decided that it was too crazy to put a plane on our home, so I left with my car filled with treasures.  That evening and on into the next day, we could not get that plane out of our minds.  I’m not sure when the idea finally popped up, but we agreed that the new home for that plane needed to be on the roof of ServiceMaster.  We wanted to have that landmark for our business and for Anderson.

Eric solicited the help of Godby construction and Johnson’s crane service to help with this big project.  The plane was transported to its’ new home in Anderson on two trailers.  We had the plane painted, reassembled, and placed atop our building.  It was all very exciting.  We had a fantastic article in the newspaper and a spot on Channel six news.  We were excited for us, our employees, and our community.  The plane is great marketing for our business and we wanted it to be a sign for Anderson that some businesses are thriving and growing in these difficult times.  We are very excited that it has accomplished this and so much more.

It is great to see businesses in the area take a chance and do something BIG, making their marks in Madison County. Kudos to the teams at Weeks Communications and ServiceMaster!

Brand positioning has been a hot topic lately. Executives and owner-operators are asking what their perceived position in their market truly is.

One was a telecom client, another from a university, and yet another from a distiller. These clients don’t have a lot in common, but the implicit question seems to be this: “Is our brand correctly positioned for the coming economic recovery?”

It’s good to see businesses looking ahead again.

The hard part is understanding how to shift a brand without a solid comprehension of where the brand is positioned. A brand audit is a good tool to employ.

A brand audit is a holistic way of looking at a business – more specifically its value proposition married to the way it interfaces with the world. The orientation is definitely around the brand/messaging/promise portrayed inside and outside the company. The audit involves putting together a framework that allows the right questions to be asked of everyone involved, from employees to customers to suppliers.

Brand audits are designed to sort out perceptions around what a brand stands for and the perceived value proposition. They also end up touching on internal culture, customer experience and a host of related issues. For example, a brand audit on a premium furniture manufacturer might turn up concerns over production quality and showroom presentation, in addition to uncovering positive perceptions of the brand’s position relative to its competitors.

A thorough brand audit compares internal and external perspectives. There are inherent objectivity risks tied to brand audits, so mitigating these risks is important. The most obvious option is to get outside help – an independent third party to design and conduct the study. This eliminates bias. For some businesses, this can be cumbersome or cost prohibitive. A second means of eliminating – or at least minimizing – objectivity risk is to conduct the audit in-house around a well-designed and rigorous process.

Say Yes to Community Involvement

Organizations all over the country have realized community relations is back in style. The recent recession has made them reevaluate where they are spending their marketing budgets. And they have definitely learned something—community involvement pays off. Call it return on involvement—the monetary and intrinsic rewards your business, school, or organization reaps from its volunteerism and support of the community.

When your organization donates its time, treasures, or talents to charities, they are usually recognized for it. People see the names and logos on a flyer, on the back of a Little League shirt, or on the banner at a marathon. A recent survey by IPG Lab found that 92% of consumers have a more positive image of a company when it supports a cause. When price and quality are equal between brands, 87% will choose the brand that is associated with a cause. Volunteerism and corporate citizenship are good for staff retention, recruitment, and overall reputation, as well.

It takes time, patience, and creativity to find the right formula for your community involvement. You can’t sponsor a softball team every year and get lauded overnight for being the champion of the community. The community needs to get to know and like you first. They want to see you consistently. Two years ago, my son Ben won a goldfish at his school carnival. There was a company name on the side of the large tank, Specks Pet Supply. At the moment, I was less than amused with the prospect, but Ben was thrilled. He finally got the goldfish that he had wanted his entire 6-year-old life. He named the goldfish Bob, and off we went to buy food and a fish bowl. (All I could imagine was the difficult conversation I was going to have with my 6 year old son, explaining the flush heard ‘round the world.) Thankfully, Bob has beat the odds. (What’s the average lifespan of a school carnival goldfish- 3 days?)

Two years went by, and I was convinced that my son indeed knew how to care for his fish. I took him out to get a family and some new digs for Bob. We would not have even considered going anywhere but Specks to select Bob’s family. Bob and his new bride, Fisharella, are happy together, and my son can’t wait to go back to Specks to purchase some more décor for their tank.

Tip:
Make sure your company brand is visible at all events you are sponsoring or donating to. You can’t be appreciated for your donation if no one knows you made it.

CN Design & Marketing has changed its name to Element212, while adding the new tagline “a higher degree of branding.” Among these changes are a new logo, new product offerings, and fresh updates to its company website.

The new brand is a result of significant changes related to the company’s offerings and capabilities. The company originated four years ago as a small graphic design firm, but has since developed into a full-service branding and marketing agency.  The addition of several key employees made it possible to expand services to include marketing strategies, research, and branding.

For the rest of the news story, please visit http://heraldbulletin.com/business/x647570927/Local-design-firm-rebrands-as-Element212.

Element212 has been nominated for the 2012 Emerging Business of the Year Award. The judging panel consists of small business owners, nonprofits/academic leaders, and chamber staff who reviewed a number of companies in Madison County that met or exceeded the following guidelines: Madison County owned; under 5 years in business; visible growth and achievements; adherence to brand promise; investment in community and demonstration of the “cool” factor.

The recipient of the award will be announced at the MCC annual Gala on Thursday March 1st at the Paramount Theatre Ballroom. The Annual Gala will run from 6:00 – 9:00 PM.

We are so excited and honored to be nominated for this award!

January 20, 2012

Element212 recently designed the new website for AERCO, a full-service heating and cooling company serving Indiana’s Delaware, Henry, and Madison counties. Our team was hired to create this site in order to help enhance AERCO’S professional image while helping to position them as indoor air quality and “comfort” experts.

AERCO wanted to highlight their full line of quality Bryant products in a more efficient way, so Element212 created a product library on the homepage below the photo-rotator where most eyes are drawn.

We emphasized AERCO’s reputation as quality experts by showcasing their certifications on every page to build a trusted relationship with their customers.

AERCO also wanted to be able to showcase seasonal offerings, so Element212 created a featured product/service area where AERCO can easily update their offerings that are pertinent to each season.

Staying connected with their clients, while also educating them with valuable tips and industry news, is important to AERCO.  So we established a new blog containing fresh content and smart copy.  Additionally, this will help improve their SEO by making it easier to be found by potential customers.

NAWBO prides itself on being a global beacon for influence, ingenuity and action and is uniquely positioned to provide incisive commentary on issues of importance to women business owners. Everything NAWBO undertakes leverages the unique attributes that women business owners bring to the table and is designed to illuminate, transform – and ultimately harness – the nation’s wide-ranging community of entrepreneurial women into an ever-more-influential unified voice and increasingly dynamic leadership roles.

We are proud to be part of this group! To learn more about NAWBO visit www.nawboindy.org