A Conversation Guide for Talking to Prospects About Data Storytelling Projects
Lesson 33 from: Data Storytelling: Deliver Insights via Compelling StoriesBill Shander
A Conversation Guide for Talking to Prospects About Data Storytelling Projects
Lesson 33 from: Data Storytelling: Deliver Insights via Compelling StoriesBill Shander
Lesson Info
33. A Conversation Guide for Talking to Prospects About Data Storytelling Projects
Lessons
Introduction
1Class Introduction
03:29 2Do The Exercises
00:37 3Communication Challenges and Solutions
05:20 4Exercise: 4X4 Model
04:31 5Exercise Solution: 4X4 Model
03:25 6Introduction - Quiz
Thinking Like a Communicator
The Power of Story
06:48 8Six Ways to Tap Into Your Inner Storyteller
12:32 9The Importance of Understanding Your Audience
03:42 10How to Understand Your Audience
04:35 11How to Embrace Emotion (to review)
04:38 12How to Tap Into Your Inherent Creativity
05:55 13Exercise: An Emotional Story
01:29 14Exercise Solution: An Emotional Story
01:12 15Thinking Like a Communicator - Quiz
Telling Data Stories
16Basic Data Analytics Tactics
08:54 17Basic Journalism Tactics
04:56 18Defining Your Story
05:37 19Sketching and Storyboarding
07:05 20Use Your Words
04:20 21Telling Data Stories - Quiz
Essential Design Principles
22The Power of Visuals
07:44 23How to Pick the Right Chart for Your Data
05:19 24Exercise: Chart Selection
06:27 25Exercise: Visualization
02:59 26Basic Chart Designs Principles
08:21 27Research Driven Design Principles
06:27 28Exercise: A Data Story
03:50 29Essential Design Principles - Quiz
And Now What?
30Great Data Stories for Your Inspiration
05:53 31Tips and Tricks
03:53 32How to Sell Data Storytelling Services
03:56 33A Conversation Guide for Talking to Prospects About Data Storytelling Projects
05:30 34Course Summary
02:48Final Quiz
35Final Quiz
Lesson Info
A Conversation Guide for Talking to Prospects About Data Storytelling Projects
in the last video, I talked about how you need to really get into your prospects heads and ask them a ton of questions and show them you really know about or at least are willing to learn about them, their audience, their data. And I wanted to give you a little bit more to chew on. So this is a conversation guy that might be sort of more specific and helpful for you. The first thing I always ask my clients and prospects before a project begins is to tell me about the audience for their content, I asked them to tell me who will be viewing this content? Are they from a certain industry or a specific company or they may be of a certain rank within their organization or might anyone from the most junior employee all the way up to the Ceo be viewing this. What other attributes are there that we can define about this particular audience. Then I asked them if there is a broad audience, are they getting different things from the content? Often the Ceo wants an overview while like a junior empl...
oyee, they really have to dig into the weeds. So is that true in this context, I also asked them how much they know about the culture of their audience and culture can be interpreted in a bunch of different ways. But I'm sort of talking about the idea that, you know, some audiences are deeply driven by content um whereas others might be just mildly curious about the information being shared. So are they the types of people who will dive deep and spend an hour investigating this information? Or should we be creating a three minute experience? And how much does this vary? Like once again based on those sub segments of the audience? Right. Ceo S versus junior employees etcetera. Next I asked how familiar are these people with the content? Do they already know the data and you're just revealing a new insight or is the data itself completely new to them? All of these audience questions will help make it clear to your prospect that you know that what you're creating is for consumption by someone other than you or them. Right. So the output will be all about the audience and not a navel gazing experiment that goes nowhere helpful. Next I get them talking about the data itself by asking things like tell me about the data itself. What's the most interesting finding in the data that must be shared out? Are there a dozen important details or just one or 50? How in depth is this data that you need to share? Are we focusing on the top level of insights or diving deep into the details for your audience? And don't forget this should align with those audience questions about their need for detail that we asked earlier Then it's important to ask what's most important for your audience to do with this information. Is it all about allowing them to make comparisons of distinct values or is it looking at data changing over time? Or comparisons to some different segments of data? Like like different companies or respondents or is it just looking at part to whole relationships. There's so many different ways of looking at data. This is going to be probably a pretty long and nuanced conversation. That will be all about audience behaviors, the goals and calls to action from the piece you're creating and the nature of the data itself. Then I asked them to tell me about how they collected the data. I need to understand things like sample size methodology and the raw data will have to work with so I know how deep we can go and whether or not there are any caveats we need to explain with the findings. You may not need a detailed methodology for your purposes, but it's helpful to have a top line understanding of this and your clients will definitely appreciate your understanding that this is important. I also frequently asked, what would your skeptics say about this data and the findings you're sharing? I almost always ask this because it helps me understand how careful we need to be when thinking through the story and the visualizations. Being aware of a skeptical audience is always helpful and will drive some important decisions. Then I'll ask them to walk me through the data itself while they point out other findings along the way. This can be a long and involved part of the conversation, but it really helps them explain their thinking the data and I can sort of glean a lot of understanding from seeing it directly through their eyes. Next I'll talk to them about why they're producing, what they're producing. Is it to educate an audience to change hearts and minds or to spark attention and interest in the topic or maybe something else. And how will we measure success against these goals? This isn't different from most other projects. Although sometimes a data driven project may spark conversations around whether the data is going to change hearts and minds. If the data itself isn't quite as strong as they think or wish it was, it's your job to help your clients understand things like this. If you can finally, I'll talk to them about schedules and budgets, which is not much different than any other project. One thing I make sure we cover here is whether or not this is an interactive experience and if so if it needs to be optimized for mobile while its standard and web designed to assume mobile is critical in data storytelling. Since the content is sometimes pretty rich and complex and for very targeted audiences, mobile isn't always a requirement. I'll also make sure we discuss integration because if it's an interactive and it's going to go on their website, this can mean integrating with their code and or databases and other systems. So make sure you have a solid handle on this before bidding on any project. Print pieces are less complicated, but you know, they offer some challenges as well. I hope this conversation guide is useful. Let me know how this helps your marketing and sales efforts here in the fiber marketplace.
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