It's All Just Different Ways Of Storytelling

"If the person with the data can't communicate it, and the person receiving the data can't understand it, then it doesn't matter how good that data is - it's a failure."

I had a conversation with a data scientist last week that really opened my eyes as to how important storytelling is beyond just words and pictures.

In full disclosure, I am decidedly not a data scientist. My wife had worked in analytics for several years on the marketing end, so I've known data scientists as friends, but certainly knew enough to know that that work was well outside my wheelhouse.

So it shocked me when my new friend stressed how important it is it that data is used to help effectively tell a story.

He lives in a world entirely different from my own. His business is all about numbers, maps, and metrics, whereas someone like me would probably get lightheaded looking at all of that raw data.

The difference, though, is that my friend gets it. He understands that for data to be effective to anyone who isn't a data scientist, it needs to be able to tell a story. In his world, data needs to be presented in a way that is "accessible, relatable, or talkable." No matter how good that information is, the person who collected it needs to be able to explain it to decision makers in a way that they can understand and relate to. If they can't, the best data collection in the world still won't make that information worthwhile.

His perspective backed up what The Write Stuff Agency has been saying for so long - every business has a story. It may not be a traditional story, and it probably won't start with "once upon a time," but there's a story there nonetheless.

Often when I am presenting to groups of business owners I will have entrepreneurs in some really unique fields ask how they can find their story, or ones who are struggling to figure out what story their business needs to tell.

The answer may not always start in words. You may be in an industry that relies heavily on his brand of data, such as numbers and maps. This data may be part of your business, or it may be how you track your own customers.

Let this data help tell your story, and let it help guide you in the stories that you choose to tell. Your customer or client acquisition data, even if it's not in a fancy or sophisticated format is still going to give you an idea of who your clients are, and who your marketing efforts should be targeting.

Those are the people who need to hear your stories. Your job is to offer up those stories in ways that are accessible, relatable, and talkable. Remember, unless you're truly the 'only game in town,' your potential clients are likely surfing around and checking out your competition at the same time. Tell stories that are going to connect and resonate with them, and do so in a way that's accessible, relatable, and talkable. Otherwise it doesn't matter how good your data is - it probably won't be of much help in telling your story.

My business is all about helping your business tell your story. It's important to know your audience. Stories go broad and travel wide, so I always recommend that stories should not be exclusionary, but they definitely should not ignore your target audience either. Contact me today and let's discuss how to tell your stories in a way that's going to resonate.