How to promote data literacy in your marketing team

What insights is your company missing because your teams don’t fully understand the data they rely on? In a world where key strategies are data-driven, brands must enable more team members to access, understand and use the data that drives success. Here’s how to foster a culture of data literacy and accessibility that drives meaningful marketing results.

Building data literacy in teams

Data literacy seems to be mentioned more often in conversations, but how often are companies actively working to increase it?

In reality, most data is managed by a relatively small number of data scientists, and other team members are sent reports that are assumed to understand concepts like p-value. Spoiler alert: it most likely wouldn’t.

Where gatekeeping goes wrong

If only a small group in your organization thoroughly understands the data being reported on, the collective potential of your marketing team is compromised from the start. Then you’re left with a bottleneck where every meaningful question about campaign performance, user behavior, or ROI must go through the same overworked few — the data custodians.

This reliance slows decision-making and creates a culture of silos and dependencies, hardly ideal in a fast-paced marketing world that demands agility and collaboration. In most cases, it’s not the fault of the data professionals because probably many decisions made over the years have created these silos. However, there is no time like the present to break down these silos.

Make data available

If you want to democratize the understanding of your reporting, start by making data literacy accessible and engaging. Provide multiple ways to educate your team, such as workshops or adding clear annotations to reports. Focus less on avoiding repetition and more on reaching out to everyone, keeping in mind their different learning styles.

Avoid dense slides filled with numbers and formulas in your reports and opt for interactive and linkable content. Here you can train your marketing teams to answer questions that directly affect their work, including:

• Which channels drive conversions?
• What is the ROI of this campaign?
• Why is this segment of the audience suddenly buying five times more toothpaste than the average customer?

Even better, take advantage of tools and hands-on exercises that allow team members to interact with the results of their campaigns in real time. Create opportunities to allow them to discover patterns, identify discrepancies and make connections for themselves, reinforcing their learning.

Building a faster team with more knowledge

When marketers understand the data they use, great things happen. Teams work better together and no one has to wait on others for multiple reports. It also boosts morale when employees can find and understand the information they need, often leading to new discoveries.

Data literacy is not optional; it is a key tool for staying competitive. When your team relies on several data processing experts, it limits the overall performance of your marketing team.

Dig deeper: Breaking Data Silos: A Practical Guide to Integrated Marketing Data

From numbers to narrative: Turning data into meaningful insights

Most marketing reports are full of information, but less often they are engaging or even easy to understand. Filled with numbers, charts and technical terms, they don’t tell a clear story. The problem is not the data, but the lack of context and explanations that highlight the importance of the numbers.

Rethinking your reports

Without context or structure, charts that display seemingly important information are like unedited movies. Raw footage may exist and be accessible to many, but it makes no sense and is difficult to follow.

Deciphering its meaning is additional, time-consuming work for already overburdened teams. Reports that simply show numbers without interpretation force teams into unnecessary analysis, slowing progress and potentially causing key insights to be missed.

Insights that are not clearly articulated can be overlooked or misunderstood. A trend line that is supposed to trigger action might be dismissed as just a visually appealing chart. If your data doesn’t tell a story, it’s just meaningless noise.

Dig deeper: 4 reporting essentials to simplify business intelligence

Telling stories with data

Storytelling is not the exclusive domain of the creative team working on the upcoming ad campaign. It can be a useful way of turning complex data into something that is relatable, understandable and actionable, with real consequences. Start by framing your data as a story:

• Who are the characters? List the most important metrics or trends that are relevant.
• What is plot? Highlight the actions or events that drive those metrics.
• Where is the conflict? Highlight challenges or areas that need improvement.
• What is the conclusion? Recommend actions or solutions based on data.

For example, instead of simply showing a line graph of declining email open rates, tell a story:

• “Our email open rates dropped 15% over the last quarter, primarily due to a change in subject line strategy. Here’s what we’re going to try next: A/B testing three new subscriber re-engagement styles.”

It gives you the trifecta — context, conflict, and call to action — all in one.

Visuals are also key. Use data visualizations to reinforce your story rather than complicate it by keeping them clean, intuitive and focused on the narrative you’re trying to convey. A well laid out annotated chart or a simple infographic can do wonders for understanding.

Dig deeper: How to put marketing data into a meaningful context

Data storytelling simplifies complex information and makes it actionable. It helps your team see how their work fits into the bigger picture and make changes in areas such as budget allocation, customer segmentation or strategy. Without a story, data is like a map without a key — useful only if you’re willing to decipher it yourself.

Creating an accessible, explainable report

Many reports simply overwhelm teams with charts and data without context, making important information difficult to access. When metrics are buried in jargon, unfiltered data, or unclear visuals, reports become ineffective for those who need to understand them.

This creates frustration and divides the team into those who can access information and those who cannot. In a collaborative marketing environment, it’s critical that everyone can understand key insights and contribute their ideas. The goal should be to make insights clear and actionable, allowing all team members to get involved, regardless of their role.

Opt for easy-to-understand, user-friendly reports

If your reports are difficult to understand without a guide, they are not effective. The goal is simplicity and clarity. Here’s how to improve them.

Explain the metrics clearly

Don’t assume everyone knows what CTR, CAC or LTV means (or what they mean in context). Include short, plain English definitions for key metrics within the report or as an easy-to-reference glossary.

• Example: Instead of just stating “Crift Rate,” add: “Percentage of users who unsubscribed this quarter (lower the better).”

Use consistent formatting

Make sure reports use standardized layouts, fonts, and colors to make them more visually intuitive. Don’t underestimate the power of uniformity. It reduces the mental load required to understand new reports. Also, consider accessibility factors such as color contrast and font sizes that work for all team members.

Highlight key takeaways

Don’t make people search for insights. Include a summary at the top of each report, listing the most critical findings. Think of it as a TL;DR for busy marketers.

• Example: “Campaign performance this month: +10% in social engagement, -5% in email open rates. Action Required: Refresh the email subject lines to reverse the rejection.”

Enable interactive options

If possible, make your reports interactive. Tools like Tableau or Power BI allow users to explore the data that matters most to them without wading through irrelevant details.

Creating a data-literate marketing team

When reports are easier to understand, they become useful, not a burden. Available reports enable better participation in strategy and decision-making, which benefits your team, company and customers.

Your goal should be to produce reports that are insightful, actionable, and engaging. Identify reports that are overlooked or misunderstood and improve or remove them. In today’s fast-paced world, there is no room for reports that don’t provide valuable insights.