Data, Information, and Knowledge: What’s the Difference, and Why Should You Care?

Data driven. Knowledge worker. Information economy. Big data. Information Age. Knowledge management.

Terms such as these are tossed around all the time. What do they mean? Aren’t data, information, and knowledge pretty much the same thing? They all refer to things that we know. Don’t they?

Sort of. But not really.

Data are the raw facts we collect and track. 
Joe is 6’4” tall, has 20% body fat, and weighs 250 lbs.

Information is data that has been organized and aggregated.
Joe has a BMI of 30, and 210 lbs. of lean body mass.

Knowledge is the use of information, and conclusions drawn from it.
Joe is not overweight. Even though his BMI is technically “obese,” it does not account for the large amount of muscle mass he has.

These distinctions are relevant and critical to your marketing efforts. You are not in b2b, b2c, or b2g marketing. You are in p2p marketing—People to People. Your market is comprised of people who share a common problem. People buy from other people.

Although data is fine for machines, humans require information that we can turn into knowledge. This is not to say that data is either good or bad; it is simply factual. Data, without interpretation, is static. It is raw, and it hasn’t been shaped or interpreted.

Data is the foundation of many of our decisions. We process that data into information, and in doing so, we acquire context and structure. These are absolutely essential in reaching our market! We need to know who they are, and what they value in order to speak to them in a way that will ensure they listen. Information is palatable to our market. Data? Not necessarily.

Knowledge is information that is understood. Many interpretive factors come into play with knowledge—our values, previous experiences, expectations. Knowledge is not only what we want to gain, but also what we want to impart to our market.

From oral tradition to cave paintings and hieroglyphics, from hot lead type to texting, human beings are storytellers. It is how we communicate with each other, and the story you tell your market is critical to your business. It communicates your brand, it conveys your values, and it helps people buy. The act of creating a story requires knowledge, as it is taking disparate pieces of information and weaving them together into a meaningful narrative.

Metrics, analytics, and other data are important, and if they are flawed, then the information derived from them is inaccurate, and reliable knowledge cannot be developed. However, what happens all too often is that we fixate on tracking, measuring, and collecting data, rather than using data to create a meaningful story for the market. Data is the basis, not the whole, of your intelligence. Use data to create information; use information to create knowledge; use knowledge to craft a compelling story. Create stories that help your market solve problems; create stories that help people buy.