The Data Dilemma: How to Use Facts for Better Storytelling in a Polarized World
Polling failures highlight the challenge of using data effectively. In a world overloaded with information, great storytelling requires balancing facts with engagement. Learn how to build trust, inspire action, and communicate responsibly through data-driven narratives.
“The degree of one’s emotions varies inversely with one’s knowledge of the facts.”
Pity the poor polling industry.
A succession of near (or actual) misses over the last couple of decades must be sending leaders of canvassing companies into a tailspin.
Around the world pollsters have successively failed to gauge public opinion to such a degree that industry leaders must be wondering how they get their future back.
A few recent examples:
Donald Trump 2016 and 2024 (USA)
Polling predicted a win for Hilary Clinton in 2016 and a close race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in 2024.
EU Brexit Referendum 2016 (UK)
Polling predicted Britain would vote to remain in the European Union
Australia Federal Election 2019 (Australia)
Polling predicted a Labor win but the Liberal-National Coalition held on to power.
Indian General Election 2014 (India)
Polling failed to predict the scale of Narendra Modi’s BJP victory.
There are plenty more examples too. So what’s happening?
And if we can’t predict the future with any degree of certainty, what's the point of all this data that we have access to? Should we just abandon facts altogether and go with ‘gut feeling’ to make our case and tell our story?
While that’s a tempting conclusion it’s also a mistake.
Data (information) proliferation in the modern world is both a blessing and a curse:
Blessing because we have more access to more data than at any time in history;
Curse because there’s so much of it it’s harder to get a clear view of the ‘facts’, which data to trust (or ignore) and how to use it when we have it.
So where to start?
Firstly, on the value of data in storytelling.
Using data effectively for your storytelling does a lot more than engage your audience. It inspires action and can delight staff, stakeholders in unanticipated ways.
UK charity Marie Curie’s ‘Great Daffodil Appeal’ used data to send emails to engage supporters causing donations and supporter engagement to spike.
Music streamer Spotify’s annual ‘Wrapped’ campaign has grown from customer curiosity to a social media phenomenon with close to 70 billion views on TikTok - so successful that other digital platforms have created their own versions.
The reverse is also true.
Badly used, data and facts ‘crowd out’ what’s important, making it hard to understand what’s happening. At worst it can damage your business - switching your audience off and damaging trust.
Inaccurate reporting during the Covid 19 pandemic caused misinformation to spread, destroying trust in public health campaigns.
Secondly, creating value from data means building a culture of data discipline: check the facts (and the source) and then make sure the data sample is suitably representative.
So how do we get this right to build stories that enrich and inspire while engaging our audiences responsibly?
Storytelling is as much art as science but a good way to start is by observing the following rules:
Stories work: Find an ‘angle’ that will make your audience take action when you’ve told it
But facts matter: Don’t try to massage the data to match your story. Trust is hard to win.
Humans are visual beings: Think about the right format (video, blog etc) for the audience
Bear fruit, don’t pick cherries: ‘Cherry-picking’ data to fit a narrative breeds sceptics not supporters!
KYC: Know your audience - communicate with them in the style and location that works for them.
In these polarising times it’s more tempting than ever ‘to speak from the heart’ but while that might work in some circles, the risk of alienating customers or staff is usually too great.
It’s a cliche that great products (and great stories) tell themselves - but to tell them in a way that’s good for you and your business requires doing the leg work by getting the right facts that you and your audience can get behind.
Simon Hardie is an author and founder of findexable - the digital analytics and insight platform. He co-hosts the Born to Disrupt podcast with Mingzulu and Disrupts
