Calvin Lathan is a firm believer in the power of marketing analytics, specifically broadcast and multi-touch attribution. It’s his job, after all, as Director of Data Insight & Intelligence, to take seemingly mundane data and turn it into actionable adjustments that improve marketing performance for audio advertisers.

Lathan works out of South Florida for Hybrid Media Services, the Armonk, New York-based direct response audio advertising agency. It specializes in buying “remnant” advertising, a low-cost audio advertising alternative.

“A lot of clients are not familiar with any type of data analysis, so being able to take it and speak to it at their level is valuable,” Lathan said. “When talking to a COO or president, they just want the bottom line.”

Increasing ROAS (return on ad spend)

The bottom line for most businesses who use Hybrid means increased profitability, which can be defined by a key attribution KPI – ROAS (return on ad spend). It measures how many dollars a business invests in marketing against how many dollars that marketing brings in to get a ROAS number. This can be done on a campaign-by-campaign basis, by channel, or as a whole for a larger marketing campaign that is omni-channel.

A quick example: Let’s say a business is bringing in $10,000 of revenue against costs of $1,500 for an audio campaign: $10,000/$1,500 = 6.6 or 6.6X ROAS. In this scenario, the business is generating $6.60 for every $1 being spent. A ROAS above 1.0 is a win, so 6.6X ROAS is doing well.

What attribution data allows Lathan to do is be completely transparent with its advertising clients. “We show them everything – how much money is booked, how much is cleared, everything,” he said. All of the input leads to better decision-making on the client’s behalf. Some want to see it for themselves, while others just want increased performance without having to view the data directly.

Increasing ZQuiet’s Marketing Performance

ZQuiet, a manufacturer of a break-through anti-snoring mouthpiece, is a Hybrid direct-response client. A recent case study showed how the partnership between Hybrid and ZQuiet has helped the company continue to grow and prosper.

Dan Webster, who co-founded the company with his wife, Trina, 13 years ago to eliminate Dan’s snoring and Trina’s lack of sleep, has partnered with Hybrid to bring its advertising into the 21st century. The old days of running TV commercials with an 800 number and watching the calls (and sales) roll in were gone, he said. New ways of reaching consumers with smart phones and streaming TV and audio options stood top-of-funnel marketing strategy on its head.

Marketing analytics data allows Hybrid to make audio ad buys on a weekly fashion and grab the inventory it wants across the country, said Hans Dorsainvil, VP of Account Services at Hybrid, who works closely with Lathan and the ZQuiet team.

“We’re trying to see where the most eyeballs are and, by working with LeadsRx, we are able to do so,” Dorsainvil said. “Literally we can know instantaneously if a campaign is working.”

Staying on Data’s Trail

For Lathan, he will continue to sift through the attribution data and sprinkle in his years of experience working with automotive brands and traditional radio and streaming audio services to formulate the best moves for Hybrid’s clients.

He even created a visual tool to show clients cost-per-click (CPC) analysis, which can highlight that an ad on CNN is performing well on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, but not so great on the weekends, for instance. Or that one market is creating lots of website traffic over another.

It’s all about finding out what marketing campaigns are working and, just importantly, which are not. Data creates a solid foundation and the confidence to make decisions that improve profitability and performance.