People + Data = Better is a simple but vital concept in marketing. It means humans with marketing experience take impartial marketing analytics data – from multi-touch attribution or customer journey analytics – and devise insights that help a brand, company or agency increase marketing performance.

But the "better" part of the equation can mean different things to marketers of different brands or in different industries. Increased marketing performance could mean one or more of the following:

• Faster times from advertising to sales
• Lower customer acquisition costs (CAC)
• Higher customer lifetime values (LTV)
• Customers putting more products in their shopping carts
• Improved return on ad spend (ROAS)

A Furniture Retailer's Better: Improving the Online Customer Experience

Justin Bowen is the ecommerce manager at The Great American Home Store, a 5-store family-owned chain in the Memphis, Tenn., area. He used multi-touch attribution data from LeadsRx to determine what marketing channels were performing best. For a furniture retailer, attracting foot traffic and web traffic means everything. It's also important to give web visitors something that makes them want to buy.

The company is using 3D visualization software to display furniture packages online. It can even mix and match a bedroom setting from different manufacturers to show how a combination of pieces looks pretty amazing together. That's especially handy as supply issues continue to impact the availability of complete matching sets.

Bowen uses attribution data to show how the new 3D renderings are improving marketing performance. In some cases, they drove a 105% increase in traffic growth – even during a typical slower month (February).

"I think that it's just more visually appealing," Bowen said. "It's that 'inspiration' or giving people an idea and inspiring them, just as a display would do when they come in the store."

Better for an Education Institution: Wider Reach Increases Web Traffic and Enrollments

As director of business insight and intelligence at Hybrid Media Services, the Armonk, New York-based direct response audio advertising agency, Calvin Lathan analyzes data from marketing analytics to help clients maximize the effectiveness of their advertising and marketing budgets.

One client, the University of Maryland Global Campus with its online degree offerings, asked Hybrid for help as enrollment declined during the pandemic. Analyzing Google Analytics data, the Hybrid team was able to show that UMGC had an opportunity to expand beyond its existing marketing reach that included just the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia area.

UMGC ran a Sirius XM campaign on top-performing broadcast radio and streaming audio stations. The four-week run was so successful, Hybrid and UM took the campaign national. Website visits skyrocketed. Enrollment increased. Two years later, the wide-reach approach continues.

Audio Advertising: Better is Identifying the Right Creative

Pierre Bouvard is the chief insights officer for Cumulus Media | Westwood One, as well as president of its Audio Active Group®. He develops media and marketing insights to support the firm's 1,300-plus media sellers. He works with brands and agencies to craft targeting and measurement solutions. Impartial attribution data is something Bouvard uses on a regular basis to help inform decisions.

"One example I'll give is we had a national jewelry chain that was running seven different pieces of copy on the radio throughout the country," Bouvard said. "And we found, through the LeadsRx data, one of the seven campaigns represented maybe 10 or 15% of the impressions, but 25% of all the site traffic."

The result? The brand shifted more of its ad budget to the specific creative having the greatest impact on traffic. "I think the big 'aha!' is that creative really dominates impact and the power of your creative has so much to do with how well your marketing is working," Bouvard said.

For broadcast and streaming audio advertising, a lot of time can be spent focusing on the length of a spot, what time of day the ad ran, etc. – which are important factors – but attribution can also show that the content of ads is, in this case, more important. What good is a prime ad spot if the messaging does not resonate?

"I've Got to Admit Its Getting Better"

When The Beatles sang their 1967 hit "Getting Better," the male character in the song sings of finding a female companion who made him happy. That’s his "better." For marketers, their definition of "better" might differ, but in all cases it takes data and insights from marketing analytics to help improve marketing performance – a "better" all marketers can agree on. What is your better?