Data Storytelling in the Sports Industry
Data Storytelling. It’s a buzzword used a lot. But what is it, actually? Data storytelling has been connected with research, visualizations, reports, and infographics. While it can be seen as just visualizing information, it is more than creating graphs and charts. It requires laying out the data, finding the story, pairing the correct pieces, and providing a visually compelling, easy-to-read report.
This is even more necessary in the sports industry. In sports sponsorships, data storytelling is a way to communicate asset performance to a team’s partners. The partners receiving the report may not be data savvy and, for that reason, the storytelling component is imperative to provide recaps that a partner understands. The teams that can do this well see an immense improvement in partner relationships.
Photo by Franki Chamaki on Unsplash
The biggest challenge that teams face is the ability to present the most accurate information and build a story around it. They might say to a brand that a sponsorship asset is worth $100,000, but they don’t really know why. Or they might see an LED board is underperforming but they’re not telling the brand how they can improve. If you’re just providing your partner with a recap of the big numbers, are you really telling a story? And don’t forget, a story has ups and downs. Don’t be afraid to show the negatives because it’s all a part of the story. But how do you give the follow up on how to improve the negatives?
Organizations can’t assume that everyone reading their report can easily analyze and understand data. If the data is daunting, the client won’t read it. So tell stories with the data, find what all the numbers mean and tell it in a way that’s not throwing numbers on a page. This is something we focus heavily on at Trajektory. We tell data stories. Every number that we show has a meaning. It’s accurate, it has a deep methodology, and it’s easy to understand.
If you have any questions or want to learn more about how you can become a better data storyteller, connect with us at Trajektory.com.