Opinion: Merging data & statistics with creative storytelling to create a sound marketing blueprint

Upasna Dash gives her opinion on the merging of data and statistics that in turn help in creating a marketing blueprint and gives insights on the future of creative storytelling.

Users are looking for meaning. They’re looking for credibility. As we progress in the age of visual information, the timeless art of creative storytelling can now empower its narrative by diving into the universe of data and statistics. 

Data-driven stories enable readers to transform information into meaningful insights. Quantitative information in the story improves the overall understanding and validity of a complex narrative by simplifying it. This makes it easier for consumers to connect with a brand. 

Data and statistics are becoming a vital element in conveying a brand’s message driven by readers enjoying the discovery of new insights. Brands can leverage empirical stories to create and nurture relationships with their consumers. 

Across social media, consumers are more engaged if there’s visual imagery like polls, survey results, and data infographics. In the process, they feel more valued and attached to the brand, as opposed to the engagement we get through long-format content. 

Also Read: Virtual Influencers breaking the barriers between digital and real-world for brands

The advantage of merging Data into storytelling is that Data-driven stories have the propensity to be quantified, and hence marketers can navigate their consumer's interests by tracking the number of active participants in their stories in real-time. As Dr. Lynell Burmark, an education consultant who writes and speaks about visual literacy once said, “Unless our words, concepts, and ideas are hooked onto an image, they will go in one ear, sail through the brain, and go out the other ear.”

Choosing an approach for telling a brand story through visual imagery plays a crucial role in transmitting the key messages to the intended audience, and the positioning of the brand is possible exactly the way we expect.

How and when to use data in the storytelling :

Combining data and statistics into brand stories introduces a whole new set of opportunities for marketers as engagements can be tracked on a real-time basis, allowing marketing professionals to understand what worked for their brand the most. For a campaign that needs the utmost attention, data must be carefully incorporated to maximize the results. 

Weaving quantitative information like the sequence of facts, data, and statistics into a storyline with a unifying theme and powerful narrative further helps marketers to make thoughtful decisions before proposing the marketing blueprint.

Marketers must establish a logical flow of information with the help of statistical tools and techniques that connect the story section in terms of time, effect, and pattern, which has worked the best for them.

A recent article at Harvard Business School highlights the power of data and statistics in brand story storytelling is pointed out,” Suppose a negative social media post has gone viral against your company's false claims to supply sustainable products to users, citing how modern consumers are proponents of utilizing environmentally friendly products and are careful of the environment one can derive creative storytelling by using data and statistical narrative.”

The brand can propose its solutions using visuals like data and graphs by presenting a long-term objective to switch to sustainable manufacturing techniques. Based on the proposed statistical plan of action shared by the brand, one can expect the audience to feel different, and they can regain their lost trust. This will alter the positioning of the brand by making it more public-friendly.

Visual imagery has the power to bring back the old data to life by uncovering new dimensions which enable brands to rise above the crowd of their competitors and keep the trust intact.

There is an endless list of reasons that explain the benefits driven by brands through data-driven storytelling. Some of these would be:

• Context: Stories contextualize data so that the audience understands what the numbers mean

• Trust: Statistics and numbers boost the credibility of your content and reinforce your brand's reputation as a trustworthy and dependable source of information

• Attention: A well-designed infographic or engaging video, backed up by data, stands out and is highly shareable, exposing your brand to new audiences

• Versatility: you can experiment with different content formats and channels, such as case studies for your website, unique videos, or graphics for social media

The future of storytelling appears promising, and its capacity to include more elements will aid in conveying a message, raising awareness, and engaging the audience in a new experience of data analysis. As human brains are wired to visual imagery, statistics and data are distinctive elements that play an important role in adding surplus value for marketers to promote their brands.

Furthermore, the state of a visual exploration process's provenance summarises all added actions that lead to the final story, which is more verifiable and reliable to the human eye. This principle can help marketers identify the optimal data and statistical narrative for their brand, according to which the best suitable marketing blueprint can be formulated.

This article is penned by Upasna Dash, CEO - Jajabor Brand consultancy.