Now that the average person has access to what seems like an infinite amount of information, the ability to cut through the noise is vital to anyone trying to make a space for themselves online. “With so much raw data now available to us…What we need is someone to help select what matters from what we have. Not to accumulate but to shape; not to report but to make,” writes John D’Agata. It’s no wonder, then, that infographics are so effective. According to this infographic on infographics, researchers found that color visuals increase willingness to read by a whole 80%, and make presentations much more persuasive. However, many nonprofits don’t harness the power of the infographic because they believe creating them is too demanding of their already precious time and money. I’m here to tell you that doesn’t have to be the case.

In fact, making infographics is one of the highest ROI marketing activities at WTIA. Why? They attract press coverage, get shared on social channels and through email, have a long shelf-life as a resource for other nonprofits with similar missions, and can be repurposed in presentations and other marketing materials. By adhering to the below steps, WTIA has managed to create five original infographics in the last year and a half. Take a look at my tips and tricks and you’ll see that it’s possible to create a long-lasting, versatile, shareable marketing tool for your nonprofit using a fraction of the budget and time you thought you needed.

Step 1: Determine the infographic’s objectives and target audience.

Every infographic should have an agenda. To define it, you must first be able to answer these three questions:

• What story are you trying to tell?
• Who is this infographic for?
• What action do you want people to take after they see the infographic?

This is how we answered those three questions before creating our Bellevue Tech Neighborhood map:

• We want to show that many mini tech hubs make up the great Seattle tech hub.
• The infographic is for Bellevue tech leaders, tech workers, and people involved in the area’s economic development.
• After seeing the infographic, we want the target audience to feel like they’re a part of the Bellevue tech community, connect with other tech companies, and, if their company is not on the map, join WTIA so it can be on the next version.

After we addressed these critical questions, we were able to determine what kind of resources we needed to allocate in order to make our infographic come to life.

Step 2: Get the research.

When it comes to infographics, data is of utmost importance. You have two options when it comes to obtaining it: having your organization conduct original research, or sourcing third-party research that already exists in the public domain.

Doing original research is usually more expensive and labor-intensive, but the tradeoff is that people will cite it and attribute it to your organization. Here are some ways to get it done as efficiently as possible:

• See if your community partners have research you can build from.
• Use the local library.
• Ask your advisory committee for any data or statistics they might have that would be relevant to your research objectives.

After WTIA completed a large-scale economic impact study, we distilled some of our key stats into this infographic called Coding Ninjas Are Washington’s Secret Weapon. Now our research is being cited in critical discussions about funding for tech education.

Step 3: Get it illustrated.

Whether you visualize your final product hanging in poster form in the offices of community partners or living exclusively online, this aspect of your infographic is not to be overlooked. It’s the pretty packaging that reels your audience in. When planning the illustration…

• Have a very clear scope of work and an idea of what you want if you’re working with an agency, because their time can rack up.
• See if the designer you’re working with is willing to do the work in-kind, so they can get their logo on it.
• Use a service like Fiverr to do a mock version of the illustration.

We created the below infographic to promote a symposium we hosted called Sex Trafficking and the Sex Industry. We had one month to complete it and very limited resources. I made the entire image on Fiverr for less than $100.

Step 4: Get it vetted.

Being open to feedback will only strengthen your work, so get as many relevant eyes on your infographic as possible. A few tips:

• If people can’t understand your call-to-action just by looking at your infographic, you have some reworking to do.
• If you have a committee or board, send the infographic to them for feedback, because they won’t want to be surprised by your message.
• Get feedback from all levels of your staff, including people who had no involvement in the project.
• Check with your target audience to make sure your message resonates.

We went through about 15 rounds of reviews over the span of five months before finalizing our Tech Diversity Champions infographic. We had an advisory committee review all the resources we used and what stats to include, since we weren’t using our own original research. We then sent the infographic out to community partners, and I showed the WTIA staff different versions of it to hear their feedback. It truly takes a village to build a memorable infographic.

Step 5: Promote it.

Now that you put all this work into it, it’s time to spread your infographic like wildfire. Consider…

• Creating a dedicated home for it on your website.
• Giving it as a gift.
• Displaying it.

Share it…

• With community partners so they can help you promote it.
• With the press.
• Via social media channels.

Our Seattle Tech Universe infographic houses 630 companies and required over 1000 hours of manual research. So you can see why we really wanted to get the word out about it.

To give the infographic maximum reach, we created five templated tweets and turned them into shout-outs to the 630 organizations included in the image. We mentioned one to two organizations per tweet and scheduled three of the tweets per day to extend the social life of the infographic as long as possible.

No two infographics are the same, so the formula for successfully creating and promoting them is always going to differ. But getting intimidated by the process is no reason to keep your company from reaping the rewards a well-made infographic can produce. Keep these five steps in mind and you’ll be knocking them out like a pro.

Want to hear more on infographics? Click here to listen to a 45-minute webinar about each of our infographics, recorded at the Nonprofit CRM Summit.