This document discusses how to create effective content using data and stories. It provides examples of content projects that were successful because they originated from data and answered questions for customers. However, simply presenting data without context is not interesting to most audiences. To create engaging content, data needs to be formed into compelling stories that are timely, relevant, unexpected, new, close to home, or have a human interest element. The document advises sourcing credible and transparent data, then finding the best story within the data. Creating a linkable asset like a download, visual, or solution can encourage journalists to link to the content. Careful planning, testing ideas, and learning from successes and failures is also recommended.

1. DATA & CREATIVITY
A WINNING CONTENT FORMULA
Stacey MacNaught
Tecmark @staceycav

2. I WAS PART OF A TEAM OF
PEOPLE INVOLVED IN THIS
DISASTER…
@staceycav

3. @staceycav

4. @staceycav
“WTF IS THAT?” I HEAR YOU
ASK…

5. @staceycav
THAT IS A TERRIBLE PICTURE
THING WE CALLED AN
“INFOGRAPHIC”

6. @staceycav
YES, THERE’S
A DINOSAUR
ON IT.

7. @staceycav
AND NO, I DON’T KNOW WHY.

8. @staceycav
THIS WAS A LESSON IN HOW
NOT TO DO CONTENT.

9. For the record…
@staceycav

10. For the record…
My Nan liked it.
@staceycav

11. THE 5 STAGES OF
CONTENT FAILURE.
@staceycav

12. STEP 1.
You have this
amazing idea.
Literally amazing.
Possibly after a few
beers.
@staceycav

13. STEP 2.
You convince your
client/boss that this
will be the most
wonderful piece of
content ever and
you get the budget.
@staceycav

14. STEP 3.
You invest hours/
days (weeks?) into
graphics, dev,
research, pretty
things…
@staceycav

15. STEP 4.
You launch your
beautiful piece of
content and you
send emails to as
many people as you
can.
@staceycav

16. @staceycav
AND….

17. @staceycav

18. STEP 5.
You work out how
you are going to
salvage something
from this…
@staceycav

19. STEP 5.
You work out how
you are going to
salvage something
from this… Or
apologise and hope
it goes away.
@staceycav

20. We had to change.
We had to get
smarter.
@staceycav

21. THESE DAYS WE’RE DOING
STUFF LIKE THIS…
@staceycav

22. Link and citation
building with
surveys
@staceycav

23. Garden and
home security
survey
@staceycav

24. British Business
Dreamers
Survey
@staceycav

25. Browsing for
holidays while
at work survey
@staceycav

26. An old school one (2014) still
working for us…

27. @staceycav

28. June 2015
@staceycav

29. June 2016
@staceycav

30. 155 more
links.
@staceycav

31. 155 more
links.
NO
MORE
WORK
@staceycav

32. Link and citation
building with
proprietary data
@staceycav

33. Quick and low
cost coverage,
citation and link
opportunities
@staceycav

34. Link and citation
building with FOI
data
@staceycav

35. Quick win local
and regional
press links
@staceycav

36. Using data to create
content that answers
questions and wins
customers
@staceycav

37. @staceycav

38. @staceycav

39. @staceycav
Exists only because
keyword data
suggested a need

40. All of those examples
have something in
common.
@staceycav

41. They all have their origins in
DATA
@staceycav

42. Winning with
data.
So, let’s talk about
@staceycav

43. NOT
WINNING
@staceycav

44. NOT
WINNING
@staceycav

45. WINNING
@staceycav

46. WINNING
@staceycav

47. WINNING
@staceycav

48. Link building
with data
@staceycav

49. 100s
of projects
since 2011
@staceycav

50. resulted in great coverage
and links
Most
@staceycav

51. fell completely and painfully
flat
Some
@staceycav

52. Others…
@staceycav

54. So, we did a bit of
analysis…
@staceycav

55. NOBODY REALLY
CARES ABOUT DATA
@staceycav

56. DATA,
WITHOUT
STORIES, IS
JUST A LOAD
OF OLD
NUMBERS
@staceycav

57. @staceycav

58. What is “good data?”
@staceycav

60. Credible.
Good data is….
@staceycav

61. Timely.
Good data is….
@staceycav

62. Impartial.
Good data is….
@staceycav

63. Transparent
source.
Good data is….
@staceycav

64. Where can you get it?
@staceycav

65. £££ Surveys with Responses
@staceycav
h"ps://directory.esomar.org/

66. £ Surveys with Responses
@staceycav

67. Freedom of Information
@staceycavh"p://www.whatdotheyknow.com

68. Freedom of Information
@staceycavh"p://www.asktheeu.org/

69. Proprietary Data Examples
@staceycavh"ps://jawbone.com/blog/jawbone-up-data-by-city/

70. Proprietary Data Examples
@staceycavh"ps://www.kickstarter.com/year/2014/data?ref=yir2014

71. If you really can’t
source your own data…
@staceycav

72. Existing Public Data
@staceycav
h"p://www.staCsta.com/

73. Existing Public Data
@staceycav
h"ps://www.google.com/publicdata/directory

74. Existing Public Data
@staceycavh"ps://www.gov.uk/government/staCsCcs

75. Existing Public Data
@staceycavh"ps://datahub.io/dataset

76. Existing Public Data
@staceycavh"ps://knoema.com/

77. BUT…
@staceycav
News outlets don’t
publish “good data.”

78. @staceycav
They publish compelling
stories.

80. @staceycav
“To hell with facts! We
need stories.”
- Ken Kesey

81. stories.
The single
biggest job you
have with data is
to find its best
@staceycav

82. But what makes
a good story?
@staceycav

83. • Timely
• Relevant
• Unexpected
• New
• Close to Home
• Human Interest
Good stories are…
@staceycav

84. Timeliness and
Relevance
@staceycav
The reason you don’t pitch
Christmas stories in February or
money saving tips to Tech Crunch.

85. Unexpected
@staceycav
Dog bites man…
Not News

86. Unexpected
@staceycav
Man bites dog?
NEWS!
(via @neilbarraclough)

87. New

88. Close to Home
@staceycav
The reason that the Paris attacks
got more European coverage than
equally deadly atrocities in Africa
or the Middle East.

89. Human Interest
@staceycav
h"p://www.mediacollege.com/journalism/news/newsworthy.html

90. The number
alone wasn’t
publishable…
The case studies
(people) told the
stories.
@staceycav

91. @staceycav
The Linkable Asset

92. @staceycav
The reason that a
journalist would send
their readers to your
site.

93. @staceycav

94. @staceycav

97. Disappointment.

98. @staceycav
Sometimes, the
linkable asset is
simple

99. Raw data
download
@staceycav

100. Supporting
visual asset
@staceycav

101. A solution to
the problem
your story
uncovered
@staceycav

102. @staceycav
Don’t underestimate
promotion budgets
and time

103. We Use….
@staceycav

104. We Contact Via….
@staceycav
• Email
• Social Media
• Phone

105. We Contact Via….
@staceycav
• Email
• Social Media
• Phone
• Whichever method our contact
prefers

106. A Concise Version of our Process
@staceycav

107. A FEW TIPS
(FROM A LOT OF
EXPERIMENTING)
@staceycav

108. Buy consultancy time
from someone working
in journalism right now.
@staceycav

109. Sanity check your story
before you invest too
heavily in promotion or
assets
@staceycav

110. And then sanity check
throughout…
@staceycav

111. @staceycav

112. @staceycav

113. Have a backup plan
Multiple questions/data items
@staceycav

114. Don’t launch without a
linkable asset
@staceycav

115. Success or failure…
measure, record,
analyse and learn.
@staceycav

116. stacey.macnaught@tecmark.co.uk