Infographics have been having a bit of a moment in the fund marketing world.
These graphic visual representations of information, data and knowledge seem to be the answer to fund markets’ prayers on ways to build their brands in the face of challenges.
Regulation and an increasingly crowded digital space have become key challenges for asset management marketers operating online, while how to best communicate complex research or statistics to advisers and investors remains an important priority.
For those of you yet to embrace infographics we cover the ways they can be best used to get around some of the communication challenges facing the industry.
To stay compliant
Toeing the regulatory line remains a big challenge for us marketers in the financial services.
Particularly with the growing popularity of social media, where the scope for non-compliance is arguably wider due to character limits, display limitations and the little control you have over your audience.
But the UK’s financial services watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), have acknowledged some of the difficulties we are faced with when using financial promotions online.
In their finalised guide to financial promotions on social media, they have addressed the problem of character limits - which they have made clear is not an excuse for noncompliance. And recommend using infographics to disclose the relevant risks to accompany your promotions.
Looking at Twitter, which is known for its 140 character limit, Fidelity have an example of how this can be effective.
Further to Twitter’s character limit, it’s a sacred rule of social media publishing not to make your posts too long on any site.
Although on LinkedIn you can post up to 700 characters, everyone knows that the nature of online reading means that no one reads lengthy updates – it’s just not conducive when skimming. Plus, it won’t come as a surprise that hiding your risk warnings on the wrong side of a ‘read more’ option does not sit well with the regulator.
Just remember to make sure your infographic displays on people’s feeds properly, is individually compliant and that you don’t have to click through to anywhere in order to view the image.
To simplify distribution
As well as being heavily regulated, today’s marketing environment is increasingly competitive, so it’s crucial to think about how well your content works with and for the distribution method you are planning. If it is not optimised for a specific distribution method then you risk getting lost in the noise.
Infographics are multi-channel friendly, so investing in well-designed graphics means you have easy-to-distribute communications to use in email campaigns, social media marketing, on your website and also on traditional printed material. Their versatility makes them a good investment.
Looking at social media specifically– after all it is an unavoidably crucial distribution channel nowadays - recent studies have shown that users are 40 per cent more likely to share visual content than they are text-based information.
Twitter has reported more retweets for tweets containing pictures than just text. In the busy world of social media content, infographics could give you a much needed competitive edge.
To communicate complex research
As well as providing a way around compliance challenges and being easy to distribute, infographics are helpful in relaying complex statistics and detailed research in an easy-to-grasp way.
The research asset managers do can be ‘information-heavy’ and it’s not always easy to get advisers to read the finished product.
Infographics can act as a summary that your time-tight clients are much more likely to absorb. Once they remember an interesting graphic, they are more likely to come back when they have time to read the research in full.
Further, studies have shown that 90 per cent of the information transmitted to the brain is visual and that visuals are processed much faster by our brains than text. Therefore, infographics work for tired and distracted brains as they don’t have to work as hard to dig out the key points.
There is no escaping the fact that regulation, coupled with the sheer volume of content we are faced with, make standing out from the crowd challenging.
Infographics are clearly having their moment among asset managers and that is no surprise. They are well suited to the mind-set of the digital browser because they are easy to digest and can be quickly distributed and shared online – making them a great way of communicating complex research with advisers and investors.
Finally, infographics offer ways of conveying lengthy regulation-essential messages to keep your online financial promotions in-line with the FCA’s guidelines.
Read
The FCA's guide to financial promotions in social media - a summary