How do you simplify marketing data for non-technical stakeholders?

Marketing data can be complex and overwhelming, especially for non-technical stakeholders who need to understand the value and impact of your campaigns. How do you simplify marketing data for them without losing the essential insights and recommendations? Here are some tips to help you communicate your marketing analytics effectively and persuasively.

1 Know your audience

Before you present your marketing data, you need to know who your audience is, what their goals and pain points are, and how they prefer to consume information. For example, a senior executive might want a high-level overview of the key metrics and outcomes, while a marketing manager might want more details on the strategies and tactics. You also need to consider their level of data literacy and familiarity with marketing analytics terms and tools. You can tailor your message and format accordingly, using clear and simple language, relevant examples, and visual aids.

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Joy Ifeanyichukwu

BI/Data Insight Analyst at Help for Heroe
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The key thing is your audience and the story you want to tell, this will determine your choice of tools to present the visuals. Remeber you need to guide your audience, so you need to use texts , arrows to direct them to follow along with your story

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2 Define your objectives

Another way to simplify marketing data is to define your objectives and align them with your audience's expectations. What are you trying to achieve with your marketing data presentation? What are the main questions you want to answer or the actions you want to recommend? How do you measure your success and impact? By having a clear purpose and focus, you can filter out the irrelevant or redundant data and highlight the most important and meaningful insights. You can also use a logical and coherent structure to organize your data and guide your audience through your analysis.

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Tena Lyons, MBA

Global Marketing Leader | B2B SaaS Services | HCM Tech | Product Marketing Evangelist
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Start with the end in mind. Not all marketing programs or channels are created to serve the same goal (i.e. demand, awareness, engagement, etc.) - but, a lot of non-marketing stakeholders only know standard key measures like MQLs or Opps. A simple visual of where your program sits in the brand-to-demand spectrum, and education around WHY this channel or approach for THIS purpose can 'make it click' for your stakeholders.

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3 Use data visualization

Data visualization is a powerful technique to simplify marketing data and make it more engaging and memorable for your audience. Data visualization can help you show patterns, trends, comparisons, and relationships in your data that might be hard to explain or understand with words or numbers alone. You can use charts, graphs, tables, maps, dashboards, or infographics to visualize your data, depending on the type and amount of data you have and the message you want to convey. However, you should avoid using too many or too complex visualizations that might confuse or distract your audience. You should also use consistent and appropriate colors, fonts, labels, and legends to enhance your data visualization.

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4 Tell a story

One of the most effective ways to simplify marketing data and connect with your audience is to tell a story with your data. A story can help you provide context, meaning, and emotion to your data, as well as persuade your audience to take action or change their behavior. To tell a story with your data, you need to have a clear narrative arc that includes a beginning, a middle, and an end. The beginning should introduce the problem or opportunity, the middle should present the data and analysis, and the end should provide the solution or recommendation. You should also use characters, conflicts, and resolutions to make your story more compelling and relatable.

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Brooke Duffy

Fractional CRO / CMO, GTM Advisor | B2B SaaS Platform Scale-Ups Growth Strategies I Chief Founding Member I Pavilion Executive Member I Speaker
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The story is what matters most - and the data, itself, is not a story. It can be easy to go down a rabbit hole of numbers, charts, graphs, etc. because everything can be measured and monitored today. But, you'd be better served to use the data to support a story, prove a point, or highlight a problem. While marketing has become incredibly quantitative, it should still be qualitative, too. Don't overwhelm your audiences with the quant side.

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5 Invite feedback

Finally, you can simplify marketing data by inviting feedback from your audience and encouraging dialogue and collaboration. Feedback can help you understand how your audience perceives and interprets your data, as well as identify any gaps or errors in your data or presentation. You can ask open-ended questions, solicit opinions, or request suggestions to engage your audience and foster a learning environment. You can also use feedback to improve your marketing data communication skills and build trust and rapport with your audience.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Visvanathan Sambasivam

🏆 Mentor, Teacher, Coach 👨🎓 Founder, Growth Catalysts Hub 📘 Lifelong Learner 🎯Executive Director, CPG, Retail & Shopper, NielsenIQ 🎯 28 yrs of Consumer Insights & Market Research
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1. From all the marketing data, come up with the top 3-4 things that marketing needs to focus on. 2. Now, select the data which illustrates either the challenges or the opportunities and hence supports those action items 3. Tell the story of those action items with only this skeletal - set of - selected data set. 4. Use the right data visualization to make the story come alive. 5. Always remember that the only reason ANY data is there is to illustrate and illuminate the action to be taken 6. Always remember that the only reason to tell the story is to push for action 7. And, finally, remember that the most important step is the first one where you ensure that ALL of the marketing data is looked at before crafting the 3-4 key points

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How do you simplify marketing data for non-technical stakeholders?

1

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3

4

5

6

1 Know your audience

2 Define your objectives

3 Use data visualization

4 Tell a story

5 Invite feedback

6 Here’s what else to consider

Marketing Analytics

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How do you simplify marketing data for non-technical stakeholders?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Know your audience

2 Define your objectives

3 Use data visualization

4 Tell a story

5 Invite feedback

6 Here’s what else to consider

Marketing Analytics

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