This is the final of a three-part series of guest posts by professional illustrator and strategic communicator, Guy Downes. It discusses barriers and solutions to adopting visual communication as part of the public relations armoury.

As people have a proven preference for visual learning, we are increasingly suffering from information overload and humans process visuals 66,000* times faster than text, you would think getting professional communicators and senior management to adopt visuals as a communication tool would be easy and straightforward…

Of course, nothing is ever that simple. Using visuals may be a common practice for many clients but for others it can be something new. There are several reasons why companies or organisations may decide against using visual communication or visual thinking.

Business cartoonist Brad Shorr delivers a strong case in a guest article for Wired PR Works, a US strategic marketing consultancy. Brad’s perspective focuses on cartooning but from my experience ‘cartooning’ could easily be swapped out for the words ‘visual communication’, ‘ visual thinking’ or any of the techniques listed above. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

“So again, why aren’t companies jumping on the cartoon bandwagon?

1. Grim determination. Business is serious business. Whether a company is manufacturing space shuttle components or yo-yos, management takes things like sales and marketing rather seriously. Managers are seldom in a frame of mind to think funny.
2. Not thinking like the customer. Customers don’t take your products and services as seriously as you do. Customers have their own problems. One thing you can give them is relief from the daily grind. That’s why YouTube gets more hits in an hour than any super serious corporate Web site gets in a month.
3. Risk aversion. Companies don’t like taking chances. They don’t like trying something unless everybody else is doing it. A lot of companies talk about wanting to be different, to be groundbreaking, to be trendsetters. Mostly that’s malarkey. They only want to be different as long as it’s safe, which is hardly ever.
4. Trivialization. Companies feel funny spending their hard earned cash on something silly like a series of cartoons. Management might think cartooning will trivialize their business.

“Now, depending on the situation, some or all of these concerns might have some validity. Certainly, any communication strategy has to reflect the values and aims of the company putting out the message. But if increasing brand awareness and customer loyalty are part of the equation, cartoons and other forms of humor ought to be considered”.

How to overcome challenges

No client (either internal or external) wants to feel that they are the guinea pig for a new idea. Over time, the best way to introduce visual communication techniques to clients (that seem intrigued but at the same time doubtful) is to find the right visual communication technique for the right opportunity at the right time.

Spending time educating clients on the value of visual communications either by demonstrating how it has worked successfully for other brands in differing scenarios, or investing a visual technique in their business are also excellent ways to show value and build trust.

A picture does paint a thousand words

With their ability to create ‘a-ha’ moments, make quicker connections, improve understanding and help storytelling, the potential and power of visual communications should not be overlooked when the appropriate opportunity arises.

So, next time you are at any stage in the PR process, think about how you can combine your written expertise with visuals to engage the audience you are targeting.

Wikipedia explains that, ‘A picture paints a thousand words’ as an idea that ‘complex stories can be described with just a single still image; or that an image may be more influential than a substantial amount of text’.  Here’s a good example to bring this idea to life and to bring this post to a close.

Isn’t it much easier to show a picture of a tree than to describe one?

For a great resource for further reading on visual communication, check out VizThink.

What arguments can you think of, or approach to take, to ‘sell’ visual communication to your stakeholders? Have you any examples of works and images combining for a big impact and stakeholder engagement?

About Guy Downes

Guy Downes is a graphic recorder and award-winning illustrator who runs his own visual communications venture.  Guy has 10 years experience in communication and public relations, having previously spent six years at Howorth (an Ogilvy PR Worldwide company) in Sydney and four years In London working for Banner and Weber Shandwick Technologies. Guy can be contacted at guy@guydownes.com.au

This three-part series aims to spark conversation and information sharing on the combined role words and images can play in helping PR pros communicate and engage audiences more effectively. The first post discussed the power of visual communication and the second post discussed where visual communication can be useful in PR and different visual communication techniques.

* 3M Research

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