Hello, I'm David Ray.

With 15+ years of experience, I drive business growth through customer and user acquisition, focusing on the full funnel from discovery to loyalty. I have built and led teams in these domains at organizations ranging from startups to Google and Amazon. My expertise includes performance marketing, digital advertising, user experience (UX), and performance optimization. I specialize in digital analytics, SEM (Search Engine Marketing), SEO (Search Engine Optimization), AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), and programmatic advertising (e.g., Amazon DSP). I began this work in 2005 after building a startup website and learning that traffic and search discovery do not happen automatically. Twenty years later, I am still obsessed with solving the old adage, "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don't know which half."

Details

Professional CategoryConsulting & Advisory
Location
Years of Relevant Experience15-20 years
Seniority LevelMid-Senior level
Consulting Rate (Hourly)350

Headline

Experience

Sr. Manager, Analytics & Insights

General MillsApril 2021 - CurrentLead analytics solutions and insight generation capabilities for a business unit.

Digital Marketing & Advertising Manager

TennaDecember 2020 - April 2021Built the company’s scalable growth marketing engine from the ground up by developing all performance marketing (SEM/PPC) and digital analytics capabilities, including campaign strategy, KPI frameworks, data visualization (Looker), and optimization framework.

Sr. Marketing Manager, Digital Advertising & Analytics

Relevant/Notable employerGoogleApril 2019 - December 2020Drove a 7x year-over-year user acquisition increase for the B2B SaaS platform by personally architecting and executing scalable demand and lead generation systems. Increased user acquisition volume by 48% while decreasing CPA by 52% by engineering robust analytics, reporting, and multi-channel attribution systems from scratch. Directed the successful post-acquisition migration of all advertising and analytics platforms, including Google Ads, Google Analytics, and Looker, to internal Google platforms. (Google acquired AppSheet in Jan 2020)

Manager, Digital Advertising Performance & Optimization

Relevant/Notable employerAmazonOctober 2014 - April 2019Architected a rule-based prescriptive analytics engine that automated performance best practices, increasing global platform-wide Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) by 35% within three months. Led a global strategic initiative to centralize and re-engineer operational workflows, reducing required headcount by 87% (from >40 to 5) and simultaneously improving client advertising performance. Established and scaled global best practices for campaign management and performance optimization, improving team efficiency by over 100% for a portfolio managing over $500MM annual ad spend.

Digital Advertising Program Manager

Relevant/Notable employerCDK GlobalOctober 2012 - October 2014Created the foundation for a new, monetized premium digital advertising product offering by identifying critical platform inefficiencies and building an automated campaign analysis system to generate data-driven recommendations. Led program management for 60 digital campaign managers, creating and implementing data-driven optimization strategies that improved display advertising conversion rates by 3x. Reduced the team's manual workload by 30% by designing and implementing an automated analysis and optimization system. Provided digital marketing strategy and direct data analysis to over 200 retail automotive customers, specializing in SEM, programmatic display, and remarketing.

Industry

Consumer Services
Manufacturing
Professional Services
Real Estate and Equipment Rental Services
Retail
Technology, Information and Media
Transportation, Logistics, Supply Chain and Storage

Specific Jurisdictions That I'm Qualified In or Can Cover

United States: Connecticut

Language(s)

English

Professional Membership / Certification

Multiple Certifications across digital marketing and advertising domains including: SEO Search Engine Optimization, SEM Search Engine Marketing, Digital Analytics (Google Analytics), Amazon Ads, Display Advertising, and more

I am interested in

Professional / Business Networking
Career Opportunities
Providing Services based on my Expertise
Having my dedicated digital space on the world wide web
Building my online Brand / Presence