How Data Visualization Changes the PR Story
How turning dense energy statistics into an interactive map changed PR storytelling and brought data journalism methods into corporate communication.
In my years as a journalist, the most persuasive stories were the ones where a single number came alive as a visual.
Charts and interactives earn their power when they surface trends hidden inside numbers.
Moving into the PR director role, I kept running into the same challenge every time I drafted a press release about energy security. Crude oil import diversification ratios, the number of import source countries, shifts in regional dependency — it took journalists time to intuitively grasp what those numbers actually meant.
Applying Data Journalism Methods to PR
Over twelve years as a reporter, I did a lot of data visualization work. I applied those same methods directly to PR.
"Our company sources crude oil from X countries" as a line of text pales against an interactive world map where journalists can click on each country and instantly see import share and year-by-year changes.
Thinking from the journalist's perspective, it's simple: give a journalist under deadline pressure a tool they can explore on their own. That's what good PR material looks like.
It also becomes a source they can return to when they need it later. (That does require a commitment to monthly updates on our end.)
What We Learned Building It
Data visualization is about design before technology. What question does this need to answer? What context is the reader bringing to this data? What angle is the journalist likely to write from?
Only after answering those questions can you decide which chart type to use and which interactions to build in.
It's a small experiment, but as we keep showing these kinds of changes, team members seem to be finding their own motivation to try new things based on numbers and data.
Small wins are, in the end, how change begins.