If I had a dollar for every time a conference presenter or panelist said on stage that they’re “very data-driven,” well…. I’d be writing this from my beachfront veranda rather than my basement.

Look, I understand what they mean. Having the right data is important – no argument there. But data is the raw stuff. It’s bricks and mortar – truly vital if you want a house, yet they’re much less useful if just left in a pile. 

The better focus should be on insights. It’s the outcome of refinement, analysis and expertise. Insights are built on a foundation of data,  infinitely more valuable than the sum of those data parts.

This is especially true in advertising effectiveness. The picture of what campaigns, ad creatives or placements are working isn’t always crystal clear when you’re just looking at the numbers. That’s because not all data is equal – you need to be sure what you’re looking at is a measure of what is most influential or determinative. Sometimes those findings lay just underneath the surface. 

I’ll illustrate with some examples.

A Creative Insight Underneath the Data

A national brand debuted fresh messaging with a digital audio campaign comprising streaming and podcasts. It also leveraged a new creative strategy that was very similar across both channels. 

The first quarter brand lift results showed that the new message cut through across the board, with listeners who heard the ad being more likely to associate that message with the brand. Other brand metrics, however, were a different story.

The streaming ads generated significant lifts in brand favorability and consideration, while podcasts failed to generate any lift at all in these measures. Someone just looking at this topline data might conclude that podcasts simply weren’t working for the campaign, and maybe even aren’t a good fit for the brand. However, our team dug deeper, looking for a more sophisticated explanation. 

We actually found that listeners who heard the podcast creatives were more likely to respond negatively to the brand compared to streaming listeners, or even the control group of respondents who did not hear the campaign. This isn’t something we see very often, so we went back to re-evaluate the creative.

It’s an important step, because ultimately it’s the ad creative that listeners are actually responding to. And here they were more negative than we typically see.

Even though the streaming and podcast ads shared a lot of similarities,  our experience told us the tone and style were out of place in a podcast. The creative copy points read by experienced commercial voice talent in the streaming ad didn’t quite work in the context of a podcast host read. 

We took both the data and this insight to the brand and recommended testing a different creative approach in the following quarter. They added some new shows to the next campaign, leveraging more traditional host reads.

When we examined that second quarter’s results, podcasts jumped to first place on all metrics. Then, when we isolated results for just the new creative, the impact stood in starker relief, registering even bigger lifts. This provided strong evidence to support our insight that the initial creative approach was holding back podcast results, rather than a mismatch with the channel or specific placements.

This optimization provided the brand with a greater ROI on key objectives that wouldn’t have happened if the response to initial results was to simply reduce or cut podcasts.

Find Your Best Prospects in the Audience

B2B advertising has unique challenges, arising from the need to reach specialist audiences with a finely tuned message. When measuring impact, it’s important to understand exactly who is responding. That’s the approach we took with a national financial services brand using podcasts to reach small business owners (SBOs).

Overall brand lift results showed little upper funnel movement, which is not uncommon with large well-known advertiser. It can be difficult to move the needle on awareness or even favorability for a household name. Even those who didn’t hear the campaign held the brand in high regard.

At the same time, it was clear that certain small business messaging was cutting through – listeners who heard the ad were more likely to associate key attributes with the brand compared to those who didn’t. That synergy prompted us to look more closely at likely prospects. — SBOs who indicated they were in the market for the brand’s service. 

Isolating results for prospects showed stronger brand metrics with this segment, most notably in consideration and brand preference – two measures you really want to drive with this base. Consumers who are more actively in the market for your service are more tuned-in to your ads and messaging, provided you reach them, as the brand did here. We got there by looking beyond the topline data and finding the audience story by identifying more leaned-in customers.

Data + Refinement + Analysis + Expertise = Insight.

Refinement comes from distilling data to be precise in what you’re looking at, and what you’re looking for. Is there an audience segment that’s more closely tied to campaign objectives? Then be sure you’re clearly isolating their results.

Analysis is applying the data to the problem at hand, and getting a deeper understanding of what you’re seeing in the numbers.. Why would it be that a portion of listeners is actually responding more negatively to the brand? Often, by digging into the most counter-intuitive findings, you get the most important learning. 

Expertise is leveraging experience to shine a light on what’s most relevant, to unearth practical insights from what is otherwise just numbers..

These are the principles that guide our approach to research at Signal Hill Insights. We’d love to help you find the insights hidden in your brand performance data.