A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words: Visual Storytelling

Posted by CommsAdmin on Oct. 28, 2014  /  PRSA Mid America, Branding, The Media, Events, PRSA Midwest District, Media Relations  /  Subscribe 1

Did you know that people today consume five times as many words as we did in 1986? That’s a lot of reading!

It should be good news for those of us in public relations, since we write so many of those words. But our brains process visuals 60,000 times faster than words.

Yes, you read that right – sixty-thousand times faster.

As public relations professionals, our job is to influence people’s behavior. And the enemy of influence is invisibility. Media and our target audiences desire information in a simple and compelling manner. Often, a captivating or persuasive visual can connect, communicate and be shared more effectively than a bunch of words.

At one of my favorite sessions at this summer’s Midwest District Conference, Dana Arnold, APR, director of public relations and social media, and Dave Florin, president of Madison, Wisconsin-based agency Hiebing, shared their perspectives on how to improve your visual storytelling.

It can be a challenge to incorporate visuals into our storytelling, especially for those of us who are most comfortable writing and editing words. But these Six Rules for Visual Storytelling can help guide the way:

1) Know Your Target: What motivates them? What do they have in common? What keeps them up at night? Capture their attention with visuals that speak to their needs, issues and concerns. Remember, it’s all about THEM.

2) Define Your Brand Voice: Not just what you say, and how you say it, but how does it look? What colors do you use? What typography? What images? It needs to be distinctive to your brand, not your category.

3) Design Fundamentals Matter: Size matters. Location matters. Color matters. When it comes to copy, use subheads and bullets to make it easier to skim and understand. Go for compelling, not clever.

4) Does It Make Sense? Does the visual clearly communicate your message? Remember, less is more when it comes to infographics. If you have lots of information to share, that’s great! Break it up into more pieces of content.

5) Keep the Main Point the Main Point:  Don’t get bogged down trying to pack every single piece of data into a single infographic. What is the one key message you are trying to get across? Focus on that.

6) Design for Digital First (Mobile, Specifically): More people are using their mobile devices to find information. Make sure your visual is easily viewed on the small screen first. You can always make it bigger for other formats.

And always, make sure what you create is clickable and shareable!

So, next time you’re planning to communicate something, don’t forget the images! They might be more powerful than your 1,000 words.

This post is courtesy of Sandi Straetker, APR, who serves as PRSA St. Louis Membership Director. As owner and principal of PRiority Public Relations LLC, Sandi helps her B2B clients connect with customers and grow their businesses. Her work has been honored by PRSA’s Silver Anvil Awards. You can catch up with her on Twitter @SandiStraetker.

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