It’s all led to this. You find yourself at a fork in the road.

Will your infographic take the branded or editorial path?

Should you take the subtle approach? Opt for maximum impact? Each path has the potential to lead you to the promised land of powerful visuals, but, much more often than not, there is a right and a wrong answer.

Branded Infographics

“Isn’t every infographic branded?” you say.

Yeah, kinda, but some are a lot more overt than others. This guy’s gonna have you written all over it. Much like traditional advertisements, readers will know which brand this infographic is affiliated with from their first look—your logo will probably appear right at the top and the look and feel will fit right in with your other marketing collateral.

Example of a branded infographic:

Editorial Infographics

“What’s an editorial one look like, then?” you ask.

The differences can be subtle, but once you know what you’re looking for, they start to show themselves. An editorial infographic usually takes liberties when it comes to the colors, styles, typefaces, and voice brands are accustomed to using, communicating to viewers that the content will be more educational than promotional. Even though a tagline or logo might not appear until the very end—sort of like a “brought-to-you-by” approach—editorial infographics add value by subtly connecting you to the things your audience loves.

Example of an editorial infographic:

Which one is best for you?

Not sure if your infographic idea would work best as a branded or editorial piece? No worries. We’ve whipped up a quiz that’ll help you figure out what’s best by answering a few basic questions about your project. Select all answers that apply:

Who is your target audience?

Professional peers

Potential customers

A more general group (e.g. men 18-35)

Companies/people in a specified field

Not sure

Which best describes the goal of your project?

Solve a problem

Describe a use case

Inform the reader about what we do

Connect our brand with something readers love

Hmm, can’t say right now

How strict is your brand/visual identity?

Every piece of content is stringently checked against visual and tone standards

Our voice and visuals are established but flexible

Our materials have consistent colors and fonts

We have a logo

I’m not the one to answer this

Do you want the content to focus more toward being “entertaining” or “informative”?

We want viewers to remember the benefits we provide

We want viewers to think of us because they enjoyed the content

Shoot, don’t know

How do you want your target audience to find your content?

Through a search engine

As promoted content on a site they regularly visit

In a promoted post on social media

It will be sent or shown directly to the target audience

TBD

What do you want your audience to do after seeing your content?

Try/buy our product/service

Read more information about us

Change their mind or give more consideration to an issue

Connect our brand with something they’re passionate about

I don’t know

What is the source of your content’s information?

Our own first-party research

A study from an outside source

Customer testimonials

Our project is not necessarily research-based

Not prepared yet

We suggest a branded infographic.

Branded infographics excel at explaining unique benefits, announcing new features, offers, or products, and keeping you top-of-mind with your target audience or people already familiar with your product or service.

Want to talk further about branded infographics? Get in touch with us to talk about your ideas and what partnering with Lemonly could look like for your company.

We suggest an editorial infographic.

Rather than getting straight to the point, these tend to take a “pull” approach, first introducing a relevant problem, then describing how the infographic’s subject can help solve it rather than diving right into touting the product or service’s capabilities. Often, specific audiences are more receptive to this strategy, since it feels more applicable and less sales-y.

Want to talk further about editorial infographics? Get in touch with us to talk about your ideas and what partnering with Lemonly could look like for your company.

Hmm, seems like you don’t know exactly what you want. No worries! We can help.

Get in touch with us here and we’ll get you on track.