We need data we can trust so that we can build trust using data. However, it is not as easy as it sounds. 

A study of over 1,400 marketing campaigns by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising in the UK found that campaigns selling on emotion only were 32% effective. Worse still, campaigns selling on logic only were 16% effective. Blah! 

More strikingly, campaigns combining logic and emotion were 26% effective. The use of logic brought the effectiveness down. 

Emotion in decision making is a very strong driver. Have a read of my Blog, “Telling Tales to Boards” which encourages the use of emotive story-telling to influence. 

Your challenge with data is to build compelling, emotion-stirring storylines based on data that is trustworthy. That means data you trust and your stakeholder trusts. 

Many stakeholders are sceptical of data. That’s understandable. We have all been exposed to misrepresented data and what I like to call “quantifornication” where data has been mishandled or misinterpreted. 

My tip. Start with your data, not big data. There is a compelling, emotion-stirring storyline right there. You just need to go looking.