Compiling ROI data from bilingual campaigns—how do you actually build a case for the C-suite?

In-House Marketing Masters (US-Based)
1

We’ve been running influencer and UGC campaigns across Russia and the US for about a year now, and honestly, the results have been solid. But when I sit down to present to leadership, I struggle to tell why they worked, what the actual impact was, and how to defend the budget next year.

The challenge: the metrics are completely different per market. Russia campaigns show high engagement, US campaigns show better conversion. Some campaigns crushed it, some flopped. And it’s hard to explain the why—was it the creator? The product? The market? The timing?

I’m not looking for vanity metrics. I want to actually understand what worked and build a narrative that makes sense to the C-suite. I need to know: which campaigns drove actual business value? What’s the ROI we can realistically claim? How do I present this in a way that justifies future investment?

Does anyone have a framework for compiling bilingual campaign data into something coherent that actually moves decision-makers? How do you build a case that’s honest but also compelling?

2

Okay, this is exactly my world. And I can tell you: most marketers fail at this because they don’t separate activity from outcomes.

Let me give you the framework I use, which has worked with multiple C-suites:

Layer 1: Standardize metrics across markets

Don’t try to compare Russian metrics to US metrics directly. They’re different. Instead, create “normalized” metrics:

  • Cost Per Engagement (CPE): Total spend / total engagements. This works in any market.
  • Cost Per Lead (CPL) or Cost Per Sale (CPS): Set this consistently across markets. (Total spend for campaign / conversions from campaign)
  • ROAS (Return on Ad Spend): Revenue attributed to campaign / total campaign spend.
  • Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Total campaign spend / new customers acquired.

These metrics are comparable across markets because they’re normalized by function.

Layer 2: Build a campaign performance matrix

Create a spreadsheet:

  • Campaign name | Market | Creator(s) | Spend | CPE | CPL | ROAS | Audience (target vs. actual) | Campaign objective | Status (success/flatline/failure)

This becomes your source of truth. Every executive decision comes from this matrix.

Layer 3: Segment by campaign type

Not all campaigns are created equal. Group them:

  • Awareness campaigns: Measure reach, new audience, engagement rate.
  • Conversion campaigns: Measure CPS, ROAS, new customers.
  • Brand campaigns: Measure sentiment shift, brand lift (if you survey).

Report on each segment separately. Don’t mix them.

Layer 4: Tie to business outcomes

This is where it gets real. Connect campaign metrics to business goals.

If your Q3 goal was “50 new customers,” show:

  • Total new customers acquired: 47 (95% of goal)
  • Cost per acquisition: $X
  • Average customer lifetime value: $Y
  • Payback period: Z months

This language resonates with C-suite because it’s about business, not “engagement.”

Layer 5: Create the narrative

Nothing beats a clear story.

“In H1 2024, we ran 12 bilingual influencer campaigns across Russia and US. Total spend: $X. Direct revenue: $Y. ROI: Z%. Top performers were [these 3 campaigns]. They worked because [reason]. Bottom performers were [these 2]. They failed because [reason]. For H2, we recommend [these changes] to improve ROI by [estimated %].”

I can send you a template if you want, but the structure is: spend → activity → outcomes → recommendations.

The C-suite wants three things:

  1. What did we spend? (Accountability)
  2. What did we get back? (ROI)
  3. What should we do next? (Strategy)

If you answer those three questions with data, you’ll get budget approved.

Do you have historical campaign data organized by spend, outcome, and campaign details? That’s your starting point.

3

One more critical thing: attribution modeling. Most campaigns don’t drive conversions directly. There’s a journey.

Usually: influencer post → awareness → customer visits product page → customer makes purchase 2 weeks later.

If you only credit the last touchpoint, you’re not giving influencers credit. If you credit them 100%, you’re overestimating.

For bilingual campaigns, I use a 40-20-40 model:

  • First touchpoint (awareness): 40% credit
  • Middle touchpoints (engagement): 20% credit
  • Last touchpoint (conversion): 40% credit

Then I model different attribution scenarios and present that to C-suite: “Conservative estimate: 15% ROI. Realistic estimate: 28% ROI. Optimistic estimate: 42% ROI.”

This honesty actually increases credibility. You’re not hiding the uncertainty; you’re showing that you understand it.

4

I approach this differently, maybe less analytically but still really effective.

I collect qualitative stories alongside quantitative data. For each top-performing campaign, I have:

  1. The metrics (spend, reach, conversion, ROAS)
  2. The story of why it worked (who was the creator, what resonated, what were they saying in the brief)
  3. A quote or testimonial from the creator or customer
  4. A visual (performance graph, before/after, creator bio)

When I present to leadership, it’s not just charts. It’s charts + stories.

“This campaign generated $50K in revenue with a $5K spend (10x ROAS). It worked because we paired [Russian brand] with [US creator] who understood both audiences. Here’s what they said about it: ‘[quote].’”

Lead with the why, then show the data. This resonates so much better with decision-makers than abstract metrics.

Also, I build case studies. For top 3-5 campaigns, I create a one-page case study:

  • Challenge (what was the marketing objective?)
  • Solution (who did we work with, what was the approach?)
  • Results (metrics)
  • Learnings (what did this teach us?)
  • Recommendation (what should we do more of?)

C-suite loves case studies because they can explain it to their board. “We ran a case with [brand] and [creator] and here’s what happened.”

If you have 5 solid case studies + a data summary, you’ll have credibility.

5

This is a classic B2B comms problem. You have data, you’re missing narrative structure.

Here’s the executive summary format I use for C-suite presentations:

Page 1: One-pager

  • Objective
  • Total investment
  • Total return
  • ROI %
  • Recommendation

That’s it. One page. Everything else is backup.

Page 2: Campaign summary table

  • Campaign | Investment | Return | ROI | Status

Sorted by ROI, descending. Top performers first.

Page 3-5: Deep dives on top 3 campaigns

  • Why we chose this approach
  • What we actually did
  • Results vs. expectation
  • Learnings

Page 6: Competitive/market context

  • How does our ROI compare to industry benchmarks?
  • What’s the market rate for influencer campaigns?
  • Are we above or below?

Page 7: Recommendations and next steps

  • What’s working and should we scale?
  • What’s not working and should we kill?
  • What should we try new?
  • Budget recommendation

The mistake most marketers make: they dump all the data and hope the executive figures out the narrative.

Instead, you figure out the narrative and use data to support it.

Your narrative is probably: “Our bilingual influencer strategy generated [X return] with [Y investment]. [This segment] performed best. [This segment] underperformed. We recommend [scaling/killing/adjusting] based on these learnings.”

Everything else is support for that narrative.

What’s your actual ROI across all campaigns? That’s the number that matters most.

6

I’m not as analytical as Анна, but here’s what worked for me when I pitched our board:

I stopped trying to explain everything and just focused on: what actually moved the needle for the business?

We had 15 campaigns. 3 of them drove 70% of results. So I built my case around those 3.

“Here’s what we spent. Here’s what we got back. Here’s why those specific campaigns worked. Here’s what we’re doing differently next cycle.”

The board didn’t care about the flops (they’re learning). They cared about the winners (can we do more of that?).

Also, I tied everything to a business metric they care about. For us, it’s CAC (customer acquisition cost). I showed: “Using traditional channels, our CAC is $X. Using influence, our CAC is $X-30%. That’s our competitive advantage.”

Once I tied influencer ROI to a metric they already tracked and cared about, suddenly the budget conversation was easy.

So my advice: find your “translation metric.” What business metric does your C-suite already track? CAC? LTV? NPS? Tie your campaign ROI back to that metric. That’s your narrative.

Do you know what metric your board cares most about?

7

From an agency perspective, I present ROI data like this:

The Dashboard Approach:

  1. Build a Google Data Studio dashboard (or similar) that pulls from:

    • Your campaign management platform (Asana, Monday, whatever)
    • Your analytics tool (Google Analytics, Shopify, whatever)
    • Your CRM (Hubspot, Pipedrive, etc.)

  2. Dashboard shows, in real-time:

    • YTD spend
    • YTD revenue attributed
    • YTD ROAS
    • Campaign performance by market
    • Campaign performance by creator tier
    • Trend (going up? down?)

  3. Update it monthly. Send it to stakeholders.

The Presentation Approach:

When presenting to C-suite:

  1. Start with numbers that matter: “We’ve invested $X and generated $Y in attributed revenue. That’s X% ROAS.”

  2. Break by market: “Russia: X ROAS. US: Y ROAS.” (Acknowledge the difference exists and why.)

  3. Show trends: “Q1 ROAS was 2x. Q2 was 3x. We’re improving.”

  4. Show what’s working: “Top 3 creators generated 50% of revenue. Here’s why we should double down on that tier.”

  5. Show opportunity: “Industry benchmark for influencer ROAS is 4-6x. We’re at 3x. Here’s how we get to 5x.”

  6. Ask for budget: “To hit our $X revenue goal for next year, we need $Y investment. Here’s the ROI model.”

The key: every piece of data should answer one executive question. Don’t show data for data’s sake.

Critical point: Get your finance team involved. Have them validate your ROI calculations. When the CFO agrees with your numbers, executive buy-in happens fast.

8

One more thing: I always present “conservative,” “realistic,” and “optimistic” scenarios.

Conservative: Only counting direct attributed revenue. (Probably 1-2x ROAS)
Realistic: Using light attribution model. (Probably 3-5x ROAS)
Optimistic: Including brand lift and indirect revenue. (Probably 6-8x ROAS)

Then I say: “We’re conservative in our reporting. Even our conservative scenario shows positive ROI.”

This gives execs confidence that you’re not cooking the books.

9

One final thought: if your campaigns don’t show positive ROI across both markets, don’t try to hide it or spin it.

Instead, frame it as: “Market A is profitable with 2x ROAS. Market B is in investment phase. Here’s our strategy to get Market B profitable.”

Honesty about market differences actually increases credibility. And then you get budget to fix the underperforming market instead of getting accused of hiding problems.

The best presentations aren’t the ones with the biggest numbers. They’re the ones with the clearest narrative and the most honest analysis.