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Have you been looking for a Canva alternative for graphics design?
Me TOO!
I’ve been using Canva for years. I use branded templates and have added my team to my account. But there are still a few data visualization tricks I’d like to try for my visual marketing and Canva hasn’t quite been doing the trick.
Let me introduce you to Visme!
Quick Visme Review Summary
Visme is a great graphic design tool that will make you look like a professional designer in no time.
Visme can help you create:
- Pie charts
- Business cards
- A cool Facebook cover
- Social media images and social media graphic design
- Presentations
- Marketing materials
- Infographics
- Social Media Ads
That’s just the short list. There are so many more media graphics that you can create — even in the free version! With Visme, you may never hire out design services again. (Well almost never).
Overall, Visme is a great tool that will help you create images using their simple editing tools, stock photos and photo editor. Visme does a designer job for a DIY price.
What is Visme:
Visme is an all-in-one content creation tool that makes it easy for non-designers to create and share content they can be proud of.
Visme combines simplicity, flexibility and interactive features inside of a single platform. This gives you users everything you need inside of a single online platform. Visme can help you synthesize your big data into visual marketing materials that will make you look like a professional designer — even if all you ever make are stick figures.
About Visme:
Lately, I’ve discovered that I have an underlying preference for choosing and using marketing tools that are developed by companies who share my values. This includes a commitment to small business and a fiercely independent streak.
Visme checks both of those boxes. It’s a super-affordable data-driven, artificial intelligence powered graphic design tool.
The folks at Visme are as fiercely independent as you are. They are committed to staying independent and not taking any outside funding.
Because the CEO of Visme has been where you are, I think they offer a level of personalization and focus on small business that other online design tools and apps lack.
Here’s a chart they included in their media kit that shows how they’ve grown organically using basic social media and content marketing strategies.
How Visme Compares to Online Graphic Alternatives
Visme vs Canva
There are a lot of similarities between Canva and Visme. Both are online graphic design platforms with dozens of templates to choose from so that you can create presentations, infographics, social media posts and headers as well as printed pieces.
One thing Canva offers that I haven’t found in VIsme are what Canva calls “elements” — these would be the layout templates that allow you to drag and drop images and create collages.
On the other hand, one thing that Visme offers that Canva doesn’t is the ability to create images with third-party embeds such as audio.
You can also embed third-party videos such as YouTube or Vimeo!
Not only that, but Visme’s stock photos are all free and included as part of your plan.
Visme vs PowerPoint
Where should I begin?! There is so much wrong with PowerPoint — other than the fact that it’s standard issue for any presentation.
Let’s just say you ditch PowerPoint and switch over to Visme’s presentation features. Here’s what you’ll be able to do with Visme that you can’t do with PowerPoint.
What you’ll appreciate most is the sheer number of presentation templates Visme offers compared to PowerPoint.
Visme vs Beautiful.ai
Let’s assume you don’t want to kill your audience with the same-old PowerPoint mistakes. You know ugly slides when you see them, but you certainly don’t want to be the one showing ugly slides.
If you don’t want to use PowerPoint, you can choose between Visme and Beautiful.ai. Which you choose will really depend on how much customization you want to make with your slides.
Beautiful.ai will not let you create a lot of customization. This can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your perspective. I like to say that Beautiful.ai absolutely, positively will not let you make ugly slides. At the same time, if there are things you must include on a slide, Beautiful.ai’s artificial intelligence will not let you include them.
The team at Visme put together this infographic that summarizes the differences between Visme and Beautiful.ai.
Visme vs Venngage
Next to Canva, Venngage is one of the oldest and most popular DIY infographic tools for small business owners.
There are three big features that Visme offers that Venngage doesn’t;
- Adding animations. VIsme offers six different types of animation options.
- The ability to add YouTube and Wistia videos as well as audio.
- Performance analytics for your infographic
One great feature Venngage has is its text blocks that allow you to easily insert already designed snippets of text.
Visme vs Piktochart
Piktochart is another popular infographic tool. One subtle difference is that Piktochart’s infographic templates tend to be more casual in nature, while Visme’s Infographics can be used for both casual as well as business applications.
Piktochart doesn’t offer as much capability in embedding audio and video, nor does it have the level of interactivity features that Visme does.
My Favorite Visme Features for Marketing
Lead Generation
I’m not sure if other platforms have this, but Visme has put a lot of emphasis on giving you the ability to capture leads using your graphics.
I just LOVE this feature because it’s a super two-fer of both a lead magnet and a lead generator.
With these hot leads in hand, you can easily move them over to your CRM and marketing automation platforms.
Interactive Graphics Including Audio and Video
Visme has taken interactive graphics to the next level. How? By making them available on their free plan!
It’s common knowledge that your audience will retain more information if they can see it, hear it and engage with it. This is an area where Visme truly shines.
Interactive Ebook Layouts
I’ve been looking for an easy-to-use ebook layout that will create an engaging and interactive ebook and Visme has done it!
Every marketer knows that writing a book or converting some of your content into an ebook is a great way to build your credibility and build an email list.
Honestly, I had never really thought of an ebook being interactive, but with Visme’s ebook layouts you can add a level of interactivity that will make your ebook come to life.
Here’s an example from Visme’s media kit:
Bulk Changes to Fonts and Colors
This may not seem like a big deal, but anyone who has chosen a pre-designed template and then tried to update the colors knows that this simple task can end up taking a lot longer than it should.
Visme has this nifty little feature which is a real time-saver.
Instead of changing one major color for each element, this bulk changing feature will swap one color for another with just one click.
Outgoing Links to Websites and Social Profiles
Another step toward increased interactivity and lead generation is having the ability to insert live links into your images. Now you can easily drive traffic to wherever you want your customers to go!
Detailed Analytics
Another favorite feature is Visme’s analytics feature. Some platforms might be able to tell you how many views your design got, but Visme goes even further.
Here is a list of all the Analytics Visme collects and an explanation of each metric:
Compiled Data (based on all date in range you select)
- Total Visitors: Shows the total number of people that have visited in a given period of time (includes repeat visitors).
- Unique Visitors: The unique total number of people that have visited in a given period of time.
- Average Visit: The average duration of visits in a given time. ( Total Duration / Total Visitors)
- Referrals (Total): The total number of sites/sources traffic has flowed from.
- Referrals (Source): The number of different (unique) visits were generated from.
Singular Data (based on each individual visit)
- Date/Time: The Date and time of each unique visit.
- Duration: The length of time the visitor viewed the project.
- Viewed by: Based on IP address of user visiting
- IP Address: The unique IP address the visitor came from.
- Location: The country the visitor came from.
- Organization: The name of the organization that is accessing the data. (This feature requires Form to be turned on for project)
- Total Time: The duration of the individual visit.
- Source: The type of source for project. For example if project is embed to a website, Visme can pick-up if it was a embed project or if it was Public project (visible to others), etc..
Tutorials and Support
How Much Does Visme Cost?
Visme has three sets of pricing; Individual, Business, and Education/Non-Profit.
There are so many features in the free plan that I’d recommend that you use that along with the tutorials to get your feet wet. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how many features you’ll get there.
One important feature that you can only get with the pro plan is the “branding” feature. I highly, highly recommend that you upgrade for that feature alone because it’s so important toward looking as professional as you can.
Here is the pricing for businesses
Who Visme is Ideal For
If you’re a business owner or marketer who wants to add more engagement and capture leads from the graphic designs that you’ve spent your time creating, then Visme is the ideal choice for you.
It’s collaborative features make it easy for you to share images with your team, or to assign the image creation to a team member and never miss a beat.
1.7 millions people use Visme to tell and present their stories and translate boring data into engaging Visuals. Work individually or as a team to collaborate. Publish online, embed to your site or download for offline use.
Maybe you should too.