An intentionally developed skill

For the past couple of months, I have consciously been building a skill that shifted my entire approach to marketing and data-based storytelling. For a long time, I would look at numbers and separate them from creativity. While I was seeing and learning numbers, something was always missing. The numbers told me what happened, but they didn’t set out why it was important. This is the moment I recognized the significance of data combined with storytelling. I now see something different whenever I look at the analytics.

I learned individual behaviors, emotion, and opportunity rather than simply percentages or engagement rates. For example, if a mock campaign has a 20% lift in engagement, I’m asking myself, what emotion or sentiment drove the response? What resonated on a human level? Once I started thinking of data in this lens it made my understanding better. I believe that every marketer should learn this essential skill if they have not already, because data without story does not create emotion in people, and story without data does not build trust with people.

With both, meaning is created. Meaning leads to action from those insights. Campaigns become conversations. If you still think of analytics and storytelling as two different things, I encourage you to combine them and let me know how that goes. Start small, for example: for your next campaign report, ask yourself,

"What is the story the numbers are telling"?

You will be amazed at the clarity and connection that can bring to your work. I'd love you to comment on your experience using storytelling and data in your own marketing. Please share with me here in AISAM what is the story behind your numbers?