Storytelling With Data: Turning Stats Into Captivating Content

The career benefits for experts in data analytics are quite significant today, and employment prospects for these experts are likely to remain quite good for the foreseeable future. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), two of the most common providers of market analytics, market research analysts and data scientists, earn healthy incomes of roughly $68,000 per year and $104,000 per year on average, respectively. Furthermore, the job outlook for these positions far outpaces the 3 percent average for all US occupations, with a growth rate of 13 percent for market research analysts and 35 percent for data scientists. 

But professional success in data analytics demands far more than mere number crunching. Modern analytics positions tend to emphasize communications as well. As a marketing or analytics professional, you must be able to clearly deliver key information to clients, colleagues, and other key partners and stakeholders. In this article, we’ll explore how to utilize data storytelling to communicate across teams, departments, clients, and others in the workplace.

What Is Data Storytelling? 

Storytelling with data combines art and science to frame information and explain concepts in ways that are more engaging and easier to understand. Unlike statistical business intelligence, which is presented as raw analytical data, a data story is a carefully crafted and readily followed narrative with a beginning, middle, and end. Data stories may detail problems and paths to overcome them, explain meaningful patterns, or chart gradual changes over time. 

Every data story has one thing in common: its foundational reliance on large amounts of relevant information and the qualitative/contextual analysis of that information. By using key plot points and appropriate multimedia tools, data storytelling can make even the driest information come alive with practical relevance. 

Why Is Data Storytelling Crucial for Marketing Professionals? 

While data storytelling has proven advantageous in a range of industries and market sectors, it has particularly compelling benefits for marketers. Per the Client Reporting Guide of the digital analytics firm Agency Analytics, “Using a data storytelling approach, the marketing agency provides a clear narrative that helps the client understand the impact of the marketing agency’s efforts.” 

Ryan Mattison, Senior Director of Content & Communications with the analytics software developer ThoughtSpot additionally explains, “Telling a story with data is important because it allows the narrator to put the data into context of a broader objective and use tools such as visual aids to help break down the results so that the audience, regardless of their background, domain expertise, or technical sophistication, can easily understand them and their implications.” 

Enhancing Client Communication and Engagement Through Data Stories 

Different people have different learning processes. By embracing data storytelling, you can employ a variety of communication methods to ensure that your core messages are both received and understood by all. From the highly logical to the highly emotional, your informative and persuasive cues can be tailored to make a lasting impression on your audience. Some audience members might prefer auditory learning, while some might prefer visual learning. Others might be quite verbal, while others might gravitate toward charts and graphs. With the right digital storytelling approach, you can incorporate any number of audiovisual components into a presentation to capture attention and engage with audience members actively rather than passively. 

Creating Visual Appeal and Enhancing Stakeholder Buy-In 

Although data storytelling is often confused with data visualization, they are far from the same. In fact, you can regard data visualization, like presenting information pictorial or graphically, as a component or tool of data storytelling. Every child who has read a good picture book knows that visual aids can be highly compelling during the presentation of a narrative. If you want a marketing client or another crucial stakeholder to ‘buy into’ specific facts or perspectives, data visualization can help you capture audience attention immediately and clearly communicate statistics, trends, and results at a mere glance. 

Improving Client Relationships 

The warm and inviting nature of storytelling tends to foster closer and more satisfying partnerships with all types of key stakeholders. A skilled marketing professional likely already adept at crafting compelling narratives for public advertising campaigns is poised to craft compelling data stories for client presentations. Beyond its inherently welcoming characteristics, data storytelling improves client relationships by ensuring that each client fully understands the specific results of the marketing agency’s efforts. 

Facilitating Agency Growth 

As quoted in the Agency Analytics article “6 Ways to Incorporate Data Storytelling into Marketing Reports,” Denise Bowen, Managing Director of WEB ROI/Blue Ocean Interactive Marketing, praises data storytelling’s ability to “provide monthly reminders of how we are helping [each client’s] business grow.” Consequently, WEB ROI/Blue Ocean Interactive Marketing and other marketing agencies that employ a data storytelling approach tend to further their growth as well. 

Three Essential Components of Data Storytelling 

Due to the sheer diversity of initiatives that it can present, audiences that it can reach, and goals that it can attain, there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to data storytelling. Still, virtually all successful data stories share the following key components in common: 

Crafting a Compelling Narrative for Your Audience 

A good storyline can help audiences digest, understand, and retain all types of complex information. Just remember that good stories generally provide ample contextual details and follow a linear path forward through time to readily and clearly make logical and emotional sense. 

Breaking Down Complex Data Into Digestible Stories 

Of course, data storytelling is just storytelling unless key data points and analytical insights support it. Most people tend to have little patience or ability to take in and think about massive amounts of statistical and quantitative information. However, a story can serve as a spoonful of sugar, making this often-unappetizing information go down far easier. 

Incorporating Visual Elements 

From pictures and icons to charts and graphs, visual aids, both primary and auxiliary, can capture attention, add interest, and support arguments, as well as promote a better understanding and retention of data. 

Strategies for Exceptional Data Storytelling 

Like professionals in other fields and industries, marketers tend to rely on specific core techniques and processes when developing a data story. Common general strategies include: 

Organizing and Analyzing Data 

Begin the data storytelling process by identifying the most essential data relevant to your stated goals and the situation at hand. These data points should serve as foundational support for your data story as it unfolds. 

Providing Conflict and Resolution in Your Narrative 

Whether it illustrates an obvious problem or an area ripe for improvement, a good data story should present a clear conflict that must be overcome. Then, it must show the resolution to that conflict, allowing the protagonist in our data story to proceed from an undesirable state to an ideal one. 

Incorporating Data Storytelling Into Marketing Reports 

Marketing reports lend themselves particularly well to data storytelling. After identifying the key performance indicators (KPIs) that will directly support the message you want to convey, you must incorporate those data points into your data story in an engaging and logical way. 

Tools and Resources for Data Storytelling in Marketing 

Crafting an entertaining and effective data story is challenging. Fortunately, many modern technologies and methodologies can help you tell your tale. 

Future Trends in Data Storytelling 

In “The Future of Data Storytelling,” statistics and marketing thought leader Philip Lawer Alimo cites the use of interactive digital charts and the sourcing of real-time data from the Internet of Things (IoT) as two data storytelling trends to watch. He also recognizes the vast potential of artificial intelligence and machine learning in data storytelling. He writes, “while results generated by algorithms are not comparable to the types of narratives humans create, they can help guide you on your journey toward discovering and understanding an insight in data, and in potentially creating a story from it.” 

Examples of Good Data Stories 

In the workplace and beyond, data storytellers have become quite renowned for their ability to present complex information in a clear and compelling manner. As a data storytelling example, the Arab News organized a wealth of raw information into its Jews of Lebanon data story to show the evolution of a small minority Jewish community in Lebanon. In another data storytelling example, ThoughtSpot’s “Are Hurricanes Getting Worse?” offers time-based visualizations to show increasing storm severity and damage outcomes. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

This section unravels the secrets behind effective data storytelling, providing insights and tips for turning statistics into captivating content. It also dives into the most pressing questions about transforming complex data into engaging stories. 

What Role Does Storytelling Play in Data Visualization? 

We have already examined the ways in which data storytelling efforts can benefit from data visualization methods, such as using tools such as charts and graphs. But data visualization (the clear display and observation of important information) also stands to gain a great deal from data storytelling and the relevant context and audience engagement that it provides. 

What Are the Three Steps of Data Storytelling? 

Data storytelling begins with data analysis. Then you must craft a relevant narrative from that data. Finally, you can add visualization elements. 

How Can You Analyze and Interpret Complex Data to Craft a Clear Narrative? 

As it measures progress toward specific campaign goals, a good marketing agency will accumulate large amounts of information as it tracks KPIs that might range from target audience numbers to final sales figures. Through data storytelling, that agency can develop and present a comprehensive and detailed narrative that drives this information home. It also brings big-picture takeaways alive for clients and other stakeholders. 

Become a Better Data Storyteller Today 

If you’re a marketer looking to develop superior data storytelling skills, a quality marketing analytics program can do just that. To learn more, take a close look at the Master of Science in Marketing Analytics program at Champlain College Online or request an online request for more information today.