Turn Your Data Into a Story Worth Telling

Data and research can be powerful tools for communicators who are looking to call attention to their organizations’ work.

When packaged well, your data can become an engine for lead-generation content. You can use it as the source material for reports, whitepapers, and webinars that build your reputation (and your email list).

It can also be a great way to generate earned media coverage. Reporters and editors latch on to stories that are based on new research or reveal an emerging trend.

If your organization conducts an annual survey, collects data about the impact of its work, or has seen significant growth in sales or fundraising, chances are you have a compelling story to tell.

But as someone who has worked the beat as a reporter and sat in an editor’s chair, I can say most nonprofits and businesses have a difficult time pitching stories about their data and research.

And as someone who has done a lot of storytelling with data, I can see why.

When you’re confronted with spreadsheets full of numbers, it’s not always easy to spot the story that’s buried in all of those rows and columns.

So how do you find stories in your data?

It all starts with asking the right questions. In the same way a reporter interviews a source or a detective interviews a witness, you need to interview your data — asking questions that will help draw the conclusions you need to go forward.

If you ask the right questions, you’ll likely find stories in your data that you can use to create compelling content and pitch to the media. You’ll also likely gain insights that will help your organization better understand its work.

Here are some questions you should always try to ask when you’re “interviewing” your data or research:

What has changed?

It might seem obvious, but if you have data that spans a period of time, the first thing you should try to explore is what has changed during that time span.

Was there an increase in the number of people coming into your hospital’s emergency room? Was there a decline in the amount of federal money that supports a key program? Has your organization been able to serve more people or sell more widgets?

If you can find interesting changes over time, you’re on your way to finding a story to tell.

Usually, the next step after you find the trend is to determine why it’s happening. Once you’ve found that trend, talk to key people inside of your organization who can provide reasons to what is driving the trend. If you can spotlight a trend and provide reasons why that trend is occurring, you’re serving up a story on a silver platter to a smart reporter.

What are the outliers?

Some of the best stories can be found in the outliers — the pieces of data that are outside of the norm.

It’s important when you’re looking at your data or research to isolate those outliers and find out why they occurred and what they mean for the larger dataset.

How can we group information?

You can also find great stories in your data by figuring out how you can group information within your dataset.

You might be able to group your organization’s data in a number of ways: by the age or race of those who receive services, by the home neighborhoods of your supporters, by the income or political ideology of people who support a key piece of legislation your organization supports.

Sort your information in different ways to see if you can find patterns among these groups. As patterns emerge, explore why they’re happening and whether they reveal an important insight.

What is surprising?

We all love stories with an unexpected twist. If your data reveals something that surprises you or challenges what you think you know, chances are it will do the same when you pitch it to a reporter or editor.

But you still need to get the attention of the reporter or editor who will ultimately decide whether to write a story or air a report about your findings.

Which leads us to a bonus question:

How do we pitch our story?

There’s no one answer to this question, since each story is different.

But you should always try to follow one key rule: keep it simple.

Think about the key story you want to tell and focus your pitch on how the data explains that story.

Focus on one or two key findings and make those the focus of your pitch. Resist the urge to throw tons of statistics into your introductory email or release.

You should also offer to provide the full report or data set to the reporter so she can see your work and explore her own storylines.

But if you’ve interviewed your data correctly, chances are the story you pitch will become the story she chooses to tell. And you’ll be able to create compelling and meaningful stories of your own.