Beyond Visual Marketing: How to Use Data for Storytelling

Visual marketing and storytelling both play a massive role in how companies communicate with consumers. A well-designed visual aid allows information that’s otherwise very complex or technical to be translated into something simpler and more comprehensible.

Storytelling is an important aspect of marketing because it’s something almost everyone can connect with. When you’re trying to relay important information to a large audience, catering for the majority is what will support the delivery of that message.

With data quickly becoming one of the world’s most lucrative and powerful resources, using it as a tool for persuasive visual communications is accessible, useful and highly effective.

Data is more accessible to the public than ever before, but digging in to identify patterns and extract graspable information is a process that requires intensive research and analytical ability.

Most people don’t have the time or impetus to go through that process, but companies do - once they have the data they need to support their message. Displaying it in a clear and visually stunning manner is what will engage customers and boost conversion rates.

What data storytelling means

Data storytelling is a communication and engagement strategy that transforms complex data into a simple and compelling visual story.

If you hand your typical consumer a document containing data in its raw form (percentages, graphs, technical language etc.), they’re very unlikely to gain a natural understanding of what they’re reading, and therefore may quickly lose interest.

However, data can provide us with compelling insights that consumers need to comprehend if they are to fully receive the message your company wants to send them. For many people, data can often come across as confusing or even boring, despite containing relevant and captivating information.

The numbers and figures will only communicate to a small handful of people who have a basic understanding of analytics. But everyone else misses out on the message delivery. This is what makes data visualization and storytelling so important: it appeals to the majority.

Data storytelling takes the hard facts, and transforms them into colorful, inviting infographics that clearly illustrate your points of interest - all while still maintaining the attention of your typical audience (an audience that, on a global scale, tends to possess a short attention span thanks to the high-speed pace of information availability on the internet).

You can use data visualization to communicate everything from product comparison to sales reports, while maintaining your audience’s attention and persuading them to take action.

3 reasons to create persuasive data storytelling

One of the main incentives for companies to harness the power of data-driven storytelling is to influence the business decisions of the people within their target market.

It’s not just a way to communicate ideas and information about your business. Data storytelling can benefit the business itself through sales, conversion and brand engagement.

Here are three reasons to create persuasive data storytelling that benefits your brand:

1.     Maintain your audience’s attention

An astonishing 90% of the information we retain in our brains is visual. By merging otherwise complex information with visually pleasing graphics, you can dramatically increase the ability of readers to really absorb what you are trying to communicate.

While articles or blogs are equally important for marketing, visually well-executed data storytelling can relay a message much quicker and more succinctly than large blocks of text can. Your audience’s attention is far easier to grab and maintain when simple but creative visuals are present.

2.     Motivate your audience to take action

Because of how much easier it is for people to mentally process and comprehend visuals, data storytelling can allow people to make faster, more conclusive decisions about the information they are presented with.

By presenting your data in a friendly and simplified manner, you allow viewers to grasp what you’re saying more intuitively. Once the message has been delivered, your audience may feel motivated to take whatever action you are encouraging them to pursue.

3.     Communicate key points quickly

When you know how to work with data, it has an amazing way of taking years of information and condensing it into a single number. The clear-cut figures and percentages can allow for much more straightforward communication when it comes to storytelling. This is what makes data the perfect vessel for audience engagement.

Instead of using long words and sentences to explain years of analysis, you can use eye-catching numbers to illustrate your progress and track patterns within your business or brand. Your key takeaway points will come across much faster, and with more profundity.

Ideas to utilize data storytelling 

It’s all well and good to understand why data storytelling is so effective within any modern marketing strategy. But knowing how to go about it is a different story.

If you’re new to the concept of data-driven visual storytelling, here are some ideas to get you going:

1.     Create a clear objective

Before you can start to map out your visuals, you and your brand need to determine what message you’re aiming to send your audience.

Once you know what you ‘e trying to say and what actions you’re trying to motivate, you can begin compiling data that supports your message. Your visual story is only going to make sense if you know your objective well, so don’t skimp on the research.

2.     Use charts, graphs and infographics

Once you’ve compiled relevant data and established a clear message, you can start looking into various visual graphic formats that illustrate that message clearly.

There’s a wide variety of infographic formats available, such as pie charts, bar charts and graphs. The trick is to find the ones that best match the data and information you’re aiming to illustrate, and use them in a clever, simple and attractive way.

3.     Get creative with your narrative

Your audience will respond even better to your storytelling if it contains unique and creative formatting and narrative.

Consider the story behind your message, and what visual examples you can incorporate that might enhance that story and better communicate the information that pertains to it.

Unique visuals and pertinent data are what will make your storytelling experience both memorable and effective.