One of the guidelines for good business storytelling that authors Richard Maxwell and Robert Dickman present in their book The Elements of Persuasion (disclosure: I received a free reviewer copy of this book) is that "stories are facts wrapped in emotions."
So here's a fact for you -- "Last year 1,944 New Yorkers Saw Something and Said Something."
Pretty much every morning, I see a transit poster that presents that fact in big, blue type. This public safety campaign is part of the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority's appeal for the population to keep an eye out for suspicious activities (e.g. possible terrorist threats) and report incidents to the police.
But when you wrap that particular fact in emotions, it isn't exactly clear what story the MTA is telling. At first you might think:
- Wow. Almost 2,000 upstanding citizens went out of their way to report something that they believed could negatively impact the safety of the city's population at large; or
- Holy crap. Were we really that close to danger almost 2,000 times last year? That's more than five times per day! Maybe I should take this opportunity to relocate to Minnesota.
Or maybe you're good with math, make a few quick mental calculations, and you think:
- The population of New York City is roughly 8 million people. Only 1,944 people reporting suspicious activity last year? That's less than 0.024% of the entire population -- and that doesn't even take into consideration the commuters and the tourists. Very few people reported anything suspicious -- so either nobody cares about our safety or we are in fact pretty safe here, all things considered.
So hmmm... Numbers can be tricky things. They seem to provide you with all the support you need to hammer home your point, but might end up having the opposite affect.
Do you use numbers to tell your marketing story (even implied numbers - like "fewest dropped calls")? What story are you trying to tell? Are you sure?
Do you use other people's numbers to make your marketing decisions? Maybe you factor in ratings data or historical response rates or impression counts to choose your media partners. Have you ever questioned whether the story told by those numbers would hold up to some serious scrutiny? Maybe you should...
