All good stories need data to support them and all good data needs a story behind it. The same can be said for modern marketing. Today, the marketers who are rising to the top are those who bring data, and the data gurus rising above the rest are those who tell stories that inspire action.
Last week, thousands of marketers flocked to Advertising Week 2016 to learn about the art of storytelling and how to tell more effective stories of marketing success. So it was no surprise when Beckon CEO Jennifer Zeszut’s Advertising Week session “Storytelling with Data” was so packed, there wasn’t an empty seat in the house.
The workshop covered 10 tips for building dashboards, scorecards and reports that inspire and drive action. Here are a few my favorites;
- Choose metrics wisely. Volume metrics don’t tell a story alone. “Think of them like ingredients,” Jennifer shared. Effectiveness, efficiency and strategic metrics and ratios tell a deeper story of performance by adding context.
- “Every time you create a table or chart, ask a question, then answer it.” Charts should deliver answers to business questions. If you start with the question first, charts and tables will always provide value to the story.
- “Context is king.” Don’t just publish numbers, make sure to compare numbers to planned versus actual, a trend, or a benchmark.
Missed the workshop? The full session is available for viewing on Advertising Week’s website. Or, download the session slides and resources—you’ll be plotting your own story of marketing performance in no time.