How Much Do Infographics Cost?

There’s not a week goes by that we don’t have an infographic at each phase of its production at Highbridge. Our strategic team is consistently looking for unique topics that can be utilized within the content marketing strategies of our clients. Our research team collects new secondary research from around the Internet. Our storyteller is writing a story around the concepts we come up with. And our designers are working to develop those stories visually.

Businesses that publish infographics have 12% greater traffic volume

What is an Infographic?

A vast majority of content marketers think an infographic is simply wrapping a ton of data and statistics around a given premise. Ugh… we see these all over the web and almost never share them unless there’s something incredibly compelling about some of the stats found. We believe a balanced infographic tells a complex story, visually provides supporting research, is optimized for viewing on different sites and devices, and culminates in a compelling call to action to drive the viewer to a decision.

What Factors Impact the Cost of an Infographic?

There’s a ton of work involved in each and every infographic we develop, but we’re still priced reasonably well compared to other companies. Infographics can vary in pricing widely – from a few hundred dollars for design to tens of thousands of dollars for the full production, promotion, and pitching. Here are the types of questions you need to ask when having an agency develop your next infographic.

• Research – Do you already have all the research and data necessary for the infographic? One example of this is when you publish an ebook or whitepaper – typically you have all the research you need rather than deploying resources to find the data. Having your own data can save some time – but usually not enough to change pricing.
• Branding – At times we work hard to brand infographics exactly like our clients, other times we work to brand them totally differently. If readers see your brand everywhere, you may not reach new prospects nor get a lot of sharing of your infographic. It may appear overly sales-oriented and less informative. Of course, if you’re a new brand it may be a great way to begin building your identity! Maintaining tight branding standards can drive up the cost of design services.
• Timeline – Most of our infographics require a few weeks of work, from planning through production, to ensure success. In all honesty, we typically don’t provide proposals for less unless most of the effort involved will be minimal. When we’ve developed infographics from scratch in shorter periods of time, we’ve not seen the results as when they’ve been provided the care and attention they deserve. As with any project, tighter deadlines increase costs.
• Audience – With Martech Zone, we’re in the enviable position to promote our marketing and sales-related infographics to our audience, which is a substantial size with quite a footing in the industry. While other agencies charge for pitching and promotion, we’ll often forego that cost and just release it to our community and it performs beyond expectations.
• Assets – So much work goes into our clients’ infographics that we don’t believe we should hold the completed graphic files. We will often create both a presentation or PDF version as well as a web-optimized vertical version for our clients. We still hand over the files to them, though, so that their marketing teams can incorporate and repurpose the graphics and information in other collateral that’s distributed. That improves the return on investment significantly.
• Subscription – One infographic can have an incredible impact for a company. However, much can be learned in the production of the first infographic that can be used to further optimize future infographics. As well, if a collection of infographics can be similarly designed, there are cost savings down the road. We highly recommend signing clients up for at least 4 infographics – one per quarter and then watching how they perform in the months after publishing.
• Promotion – Infographics are incredible, but getting them viewed through paid advertising is still a great way to go. We can optionally provide promotion of your infographic via ad purchases. Unlike typical content, it doesn’t require ongoing campaigns. An introduction campaign to increase initial visibility can be enough to get it shared and published on highly relevant sites throughout the Internet.
• Pitching – If you have a public relations team internal or a public relations agency working with you, Infographics are incredible to pitch to influencers with their own publications. These types of services can double the cost of an infographic, though, so you’ll want to evaluate whether or not you need to maximize viewing (like on timely content) or go for a momentum-based strategy more longer-term where it’s found organically.

Case Study: Closet52

Closet52 is a destination for women to buy dresses online. With a new domain, we were challenged with acquiring more search traffic for our Shopify client and knew an infographic could kickstart their domain. After doing some research, we identified that no one had ever done an infographic on the history of dresses, so we designed one and published it.

The infographic quickly took off and ranks on page one for multiple keywords, including dresses through history, dresses throughout history, and history women’s fashion. The infographic brought hundreds of new visitors to the site with a low bounce rate and high engagement. Additionally, it was shared multiple times on social media and backlinked from multiple sites.

When we published it, we simultaneously portioned out micrographics for social media sharing. We also coded the associated Shopify blog template and embedded actual products within the content to drive conversions as well.

So How Much Does an Infographic Cost?

For a single infographic, we charge a project rate of $5,000 (US) that includes promotion (no pitching or ad purchases) and returns all assets to our clients. A quarterly infographic drops the cost of the infographics to $4,000 each. A monthly infographic drops the cost to $3,000 because of the efficiencies we’re able to build into the process.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or comments – or if you would like to get started! We also have agency pricing where we develop infographics for other agencies – both public relations and design. Contact us for details.

What’s the ROI of an Infographic?

Infographics really are magical pieces of content. Infographics can provide both data or also help explain a complex process.

• Conversions – Infographics can drive conversions through increased cognition and authority.
• Sales – Many of our clients’ inbound and outbound sales teams utilize infographics to nurture and engage with prospects. They make great sales collateral.
• Sharing – Infographics can spread virally and build brand recognition and online authority.
• Social – Infographics are incredible social content that’s easily shareable on every social media platform (including animating them and producing a video out of them).
• Organic Search – Infographics that are published throughout relevant sites drive highly authoritative links and ranking to the clients who deploy them regularly.
• Evergreen – Infographics often provide that can be repromoted month over month and sometimes year over year.
• Repurpose – Because we return assets to clients, we’ve utilized the elements from their infographics to feed their social image shares, their sales presentations, their one-sheets, and their website. An infographic need not be a single image delivery, it can provide dozens of assets to repurpose in other material.

The return on investment on an Infographic isn’t measured in days or weeks, it’s often measured in months and years. We’ve had clients that have told us several years later that they are still the top pages visited on their website.

Contact Highbridge

Disclosure: I’m a co-founder and partner in Highbridge.