Why is data so important?

How data-driven arguments make a difference

Using data to prove a point

From Florence Nightingale to Steve Jobs, people who make data-backed points have always had the most impact.

In the 1850s, Florence Nightingale was armed with nothing but dense statistical reports and the knowledge that she had to illustrate the findings to members of parliament and civil servants.

She came up with an elegant way of visually describing the necessary information. Nightingale’s hand-drawn diagram, beautifully colored and - even today - strikingly modern-looking, was an early infographic; a pictorial way of communicating huge amounts of data - in this case, the impacts that hospital conditions had on causes of death among soldiers.

Nightingale fortified her infographic with some tight and informative messaging to ensure she was communicating a memorable story. She wasn’t simply in the business of showing that there were more deaths from sickness than wounds; rather Nightingale felt this was her one chance to prescribe the opportunity for investment to make a difference. Proving that a campaign will make a difference was critical - and backing it up with data even more so.

The data problem for marketers

What can we learn from Florence Nightingale? That illustrating in a meaningful way the return on investment driven by your work is critical. What you measure, and how you demonstrate it to others, makes a huge difference.

However, it's not always easy to prove ROI. The Forrester study, commissioned by Turtl, proves how much marketers are under pressure to prove their point with data. Our study shows that most marketers believe they play a central role in driving business, but not as many in sales agree.

Sales teams are:

21% less likely than marketers to say that marketing is the key driver of business growth
21% less likely to say that the marketing organization generates predictable and measurable buyer acquisition
13% less likely to believe that marketing leadership plays a central role in steering the direction of the business

So what can marketing do to increase their position? According to B2B marketing and sales decision-makers in the UK and US, the top two ways are:

1. Providing sales teams with better insights to sales qualification, cross-sale opportunities, and buyer motivation

2. Generating rich and reliable insights into the business's prospects and buyers

So what's standing in the way of marketing producing these insights and making their point with data?