Using Data & Analytics to Drive ROI-Positive Media Plans

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Every brand has the means to measure ROI and brand growth from their advertising spend…and to project future growth from an increased advertising budget. It comes from being data-driven and scrappy.

There are a myriad of excuses brands offer as to why they do not know the ROI of their advertising spend:

“We’re not sold on site like those DTC brands who can measure everything.”

“Our goal is to drive equity .”

“We’re in “growth-mode” .”

And #1:

“We can’t afford to measure it.”

All of these miss the mark on how modern marketers are measuring ROI. Democratizing attribution for brands, no matter where or how they are sold, is a pet mission of mine. Even B2B marketers with extensive CRM capabilities are struggling to get there.

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Here is how I solve for ROI-positive growth:

1) I do not rely on Amazon (or other vendor’s) ROAS figures - these are one-dimensional and typically just help to optimize media within these channels, not against other media channels

2) I recommend building a media mix that maximizes ROI. Easy to say, of course, but how do we do this in practice? In the absence of any other guiding data, brands need to:

  • Utilize multiple media channels to maximize reach and the kicker effect of consumers viewing you in multiple formats

  • Include at least one “trust” channel - TV, Radio, Outdoor all increase trust with consumers, who are more likely to think you are a reputable brand and purchase

  • Mix upper and lower funnel - the standard “optimal” mix here is 60% brand building and 40% short term/promotional/lower funnel (though each brand is a little different), courtesy of Binet & Fields

  • Get access to as much sales data as possible, from as many sources as possible - and be ready to feed it into a smart, scrappy, AI-based sales modeling provider.

At my firm, Exverus, we pay for exceptional modeling software that not only provides ROI attribution for past advertising, but lets our clients project the impact of future advertising spend (even with low budgets). The name of our software is Concentric, and even if your brand contracts with them directly their cost is less than half of a traditional Marketing Mix Model, with more reliable results.

With a 90-95% degree of accuracy, the right modeling software should not only help you make smarter, ROI-driven decisions, but it can critically help you sell through (increased) budgets to the CEO and Board.

And that is where growth comes from - data-driven decisions that rely on proven advertising models and third party validation.

Interested in working with Bill? E-mail Bill and set time for a one-on-one meeting.