L.A. Times/U.S Waterproof Brands

Driving Low-Funnel Conversions with Audience Insights and Creative Optimization

Across clients in both media and home services — from the Los Angeles Times to U.S. Waterproofing - I was tasked with scaling low-funnel performance. The goals were clear: deliver incremental conversions (subscriptions or leads), consistently beat efficiency targets, and create scalable frameworks for long-term growth.

Challenge
Both clients faced challenges common to lower-funnel campaigns: high competition for audiences, rising costs per acquisition, and creative fatigue. Success required a deep understanding of audience motivations, paired with tailored messaging, structured testing, and continuous optimization.

Strategy & Actions

  • Audience Insight-Driven Approach: Researched conversion drivers for each audience (e.g., value of timely news access for L.A. Times readers; urgency and peace of mind for U.S. Waterproof customers).

  • Creative & Messaging Development: Designed and tested multiple creative angles - headlines, visuals, and CTAs - that directly addressed pain points and motivations.

  • Testing Frameworks: Ran systematic A/B tests across platforms to refine messaging, creative, and audience targeting.

  • Optimization Cycles: Continuously reallocated budget to top-performing tactics while developing new creative to combat fatigue and expand reach.

  • Cross-Team Enablement: For U.S. Waterproof, aligned with the sales team to ensure lead flow quality and volume supported pipeline needs.

Results

  • L.A. Times:

    • Delivered incremental monthly subscriptions, consistently exceeding cost-per-subscription goals by 10 to 50% depending on channel/tactic.

    • Creative and messaging iterations surpassed channel benchmarks and drove conversion rates above industry standards.

  • U.S. Waterproofing:

    • Consistently hit or exceeded monthly cost-per-lead targets while driving net new incremental leads.

    • Developed diverse creative/messaging tactics that improved cost per lead by 20%, while increasing the monthly flow of qualified leads for the sales team.

Impact
For both clients, I proved that audience understanding + disciplined creative testing = measurable conversion growth. By aligning insights, creative, and optimization, I not only delivered short-term efficiency wins (lower CPL/CPS) but also built repeatable frameworks that strengthened long-term acquisition strategies.