62% of B2B marketing teams lack the data they need to demonstrate their return on investment, according to Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs research. Of those marketers, 10% only have speculative insights on their marketing ROI, and 2% have little to no insight into what works and what doesn’t.
For those tired of throwing noodles at the wall, marketing attribution is a crucial process to track how your marketing drives sales. But attribution can be a confusing and often messy process—just ask any marketer who has spent hours trying to trace an ebook download to an eventual sale.
In this #ContentChat recap, we’re joined by Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede), a digital marketing and marketing technology expert with 15+ years of experience, to discuss how to find the right marketing attribution model. You’ll learn:
- Why marketing attribution is important
- Common marketing attribution models to consider
- Our favorite tools and resources to help with attribution
Q1: What is a marketing attribution model, and why is it important for content marketing teams?
A marketing attribution model is a process or strategy that tracks and credits how the marketing team’s activities (throughout the entire buyer’s journey) lead to an eventual sale.
A1. An attribution model is a process or strategy that allows marketers to attribute marketing touchpoints or activity to buyer behaviors #ContentChat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
A1a: a marketing attribution model is the agreed-upon process between sales and marketing as to how you assign “credit” for each marketing activity’s contribution towards an eventual sale. #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Consultant (@SFerika) March 21, 2022
A1: It keeps track of what marketing efforts are resulting in sales. This is how you can tweak your marketing efforts so you’re not wasting time and money on things that aren’t working ~Julie #ContentChat
— Nimble (@Nimble) March 21, 2022
Companies of all sizes across industries can benefit from marketing attribution.
Is this used in certain agencies, or industries? Large size companies? Have not heard of this #contentchat
— Kathy Van Duzer, M.A. (@katwife) March 21, 2022
Hey Kathy, attribution model are commonly used in B2B organizations and some mid to large B2C companies. Its used to track marketing activity against return on revenue or investment #contentchat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
I’ve used marketing attribution in companies from small startups to large enterprises—basically anywhere that there is a lead funnel with scoring happening through marketing automation and CRM integrations. Tech companies, in particular, use them. #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Consultant (@SFerika) March 21, 2022
Marketing attribution is important to show the value of your marketing activities and know where to allocate your resources.
A1b: Your marketing attribution model is important to help show the value of your marketing activities, and to ensure you allocate your budget appropriately to meet your marketing and business goals. #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Consultant (@SFerika) March 21, 2022
Yes. The engineer in me says a model represents real-world processes that allow you to predict outcomes based on inputs.
An attribution model is a representation of marketing touchpoints and buyer behaviors that allow you to measure, analyze, and predict outcomes. #ContentChat
— Tod Cordill (@todcordill) March 21, 2022
YES!
AND, eventually, to say “no” to lame marketing activities that “we’ve always done” but that don’t actually drive business results. Which is my favorite part. 🙂 #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Consultant (@SFerika) March 21, 2022
Yes! I would add that, most importantly, your marketing attribution model allows you to CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVE your marketing to better meet or exceed your business goals.
#ContentChat— Tod Cordill (@todcordill) March 21, 2022
Moni and Erika further explain the idea below:
So like lifetime value of a customer/subscriber? #ContentChat
— DiKayo Data (@dikayodata) March 21, 2022
More like, how much value/money to a facebook campaign result in #contentchat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
Ohhh so like what Twitter visibility numbers mean? Or the money brought in from said Facebook campaign? The statistical impact of one event on a business’ long term success? #ContentChat
— DiKayo Data (@dikayodata) March 21, 2022
Or the cost of producing and distributing an eBook, compared with the dollar value of closed/won deals that had that as a first or last touch, or as part of their content sequence. #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Consultant (@SFerika) March 21, 2022
The $$ brought in from said campaign and all the marketing campaigns/activities across the buyer’s journey #contentchat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
Based on our community poll and Moni’s insights, many teams do not document their marketing attribution model, which is a missed opportunity.
As an add-in to our first question, let’s do a quick poll.
Do you currently have a documented marketing attribution model?
#ContentChat— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Consultant (@SFerika) March 21, 2022
Agreed! More companies need to document their processes. Many orgs have redundant processes because of the lack of documentation #contentchat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
I know this is hard for many orgs to do, document their process. Many have a model but its rarely documented #contentchat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
That leads to some really un-fun sales and marketing meetings! 🤣#ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Consultant (@SFerika) March 21, 2022
Documenting processes allow you to:
↗️ Consistently use processes
↗️ Efficiently train people
↗️ Improve processesA two-day process development course was one of the best professional workshops I ever had.
I recommend it for everybody, including marketers. #ContentChat
— Tod Cordill (@todcordill) March 21, 2022
Attribution requires a calculated and cohesive team effort. If attribution is rushed, your team could make important decisions based on incomplete insights.
I’ve read horror stories about management refusing to invest more in things bc attribution wasn’t capturing them, then losing profit and scaling because of it, partly because they focused on ineffective strategies.
Attribution isn’t complete or fully accurate intel. #contentchat
— Ashley Ashbee (@ashley_ashbee) March 21, 2022
Q2: What are the common types of marketing attribution models?
We recommend you read about single-touch (first or last), multi-touch, time decay, position-based, and linear attribution models. This HubSpot article briefly explores these models.
A2. The common attribution models are Single Touch (First or Last), Multi Touch, Time Decay, Position-Based and Liner #ContentChat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
Erika is a fan of weighted multi-touch marketing attribution. Her least favorite models are first-touch and last-touch, which are the most common starting points for teams.
A2: I’ve mostly worked with organizations that used a weighted multi-touch marketing attribution model (my favorite!), and first touch or last touch attribution models (my least favorite).#ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Consultant (@SFerika) March 21, 2022
Multi Touch is what most orgs strive for, but sadly first and last touch models are what’s most commonly used as its the starting point for most companies attempting to do attribution #contentchat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
Agreed. I was so spoiled as to have had a Salesforce MVP on staff at one of my former startups who created the most beautiful attribution dashboard, which showed the $$value of closed deals and every piece of content’s contribution towards it. It was glorious!! #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Consultant (@SFerika) March 21, 2022
Marketing attribution models should track the entire buyer’s journey, including post-sales processes.
💯 Analyze all steps in the #CustomerJourney. You’ll get no customers if any of these phases are broken:
➡️ Awareness
➡️ Interest
➡️ Consideration
➡️ Sales processDon’t forget post-sales processes to increase retention and create advocates. #ContentChat
— Tod Cordill (@todcordill) March 21, 2022
Q3: How should marketing teams begin to decide which attribution model is best for them?
Before implementing a marketing attribution model, ask yourself: What are our marketing and business goals?
A3. First you need to know what problem you’re solving for the customer and which marketing approach/strategy you’re going to deploy to communicate how you’re going to solve this problem. Ex. Brand Awareness, Demand Gen, Upsell, etc. #ContentChat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
Most people miss it and its a critical step. You must establish your goals or else you’ll get lost and what to track everything. You can easily get overwhelmed in marketing attribution #contentchat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
Audit your martech stack to understand what you can track.
I’d add you also need to audit your #martech stack to understand what you can feasibly track with your existing resources. #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Consultant (@SFerika) March 21, 2022
This is critical #contentchat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
And start small and scale as you go. As Erika said, you may not be able to implement the “perfect” marketing attribution model, but you should start where you can.
A3: I would start by looking at resources and any attribution you already have in place. You may not have what you need to launch your ideal attribution model, and it may not make sense to blow up what exists. Assess before starting from scratch. #ContentChat
— Melanie Graham (@mg_content) March 21, 2022
Very good points here. Don’t let perfect being impossible mean you don’t do any attribution.#ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Consultant (@SFerika) March 21, 2022
Excellent point, you can build and scale as you go along #contentchat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
Q4: What are common mistakes that marketers often make with attribution?
Moni lists the four most common marketing attribution mistakes below.
A4. There are several
1.Trying to measure everything with one model
2.Not have a clearly defined goal
3.Trying to create a perfect tracking process
4.Establishing a linear framework with a predefined timeframe#ContentChat— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
Don’t try to measure everything with one model.
A4b. First, marketers try to measure everything with one model. They want to track ROI, they want to track the funnel, they want to track the buyer’s journey, want to track conversions, track audience behaviors– it’s too much for model to handle #ContentChat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
Be clear about what you are tracking, and align on how you define ROI.
A4c.Not having clearly defined goals. Most marketers think tracking ROI is a clear goal, it’s not. What does ROI really mean, is that what has the biggest impact on sales, is that what’s giving the biggest return, is that what’s driving demand? What is ROI? Get CLEAR #ContentChat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
So much YES here!
I can’t even count how many hours I’ve worked with sales and marketing teams trying to agree on funnel stages and ROI definitions. Unfortunately, too often, this is well after having marketing programs in place. #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Consultant (@SFerika) March 21, 2022
This is really important. Metrics aren’t an end goal in themselves. You need to have an idea of their worth while collecting. Applies a lot to what I do with #data. #ContentChat https://t.co/WKVZ0DgBGO
— DiKayo Data (@dikayodata) March 21, 2022
No process will be perfect, and trying to account for every little action or encounter will complicate your model.
A4d. Next mistake is trying to create a perfect process. Trying to account for every little action or encounter with the buyer and the result is ending up with an overly complex model or process with so many dependencies that it still doesn’t work #ContentChat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
Be wary of adopting a framework that has a time frame. Buyers work on their own time.
A4e. And finally, one the biggest mistakes I see is a linear framework, such as a lead funnel with a pre-defined time frame. The egregious part is the time frame (1 month, 3 months, 6 months, etc.) the buyer doesn’t work on your time. Plus, time frames are arbitrary #ContentChat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
The past two years and their completely unanticipated vast acceleration of everyone’s digital strategies is a key proof point for this one. #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Consultant (@SFerika) March 21, 2022
Stay flexible with your model and factor in all the different sources a customer could come from.
A4: Lack of flexibility within the model or not enough data to show all the different sources a customer could come from. Customers don’t always follow one straight path/funnel. Make sure. you have ways to show that. #ContentChat
— Melanie Graham (@mg_content) March 21, 2022
I agree… but I’d say customers rarely follow a linear path.
But the funnel model is still useful. Just be aware it helps you define content and processes – the stuff you do – but it doesn’t really model the path customers take. #ContentChat
— Tod Cordill (@todcordill) March 21, 2022
Exactly, companies don’t want to invest the time in building the relationships with customers. If they don’t buy this week then the marketing effort was a fail and that’s not true. #contentchat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
Content marketers, in particular, have to work really hard to help others in the organization understand how content builds relationships over time. It’s rare for a single piece of content to magically close a deal out of nowhere, within a week of it going live. #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Consultant (@SFerika) March 21, 2022
And don’t forget to align your strategy with your sales team.
A4b: I would also add: Not having a conversation w/ Sales about your model and how/why you’ve set it up the way you have. We’re all in this together! #contentchat
— Melanie Graham (@mg_content) March 21, 2022
Q5: Are there tools or resources that marketing teams need to effectively track and measure the ROI of their content and campaigns?
Your team needs a buyer’s map, a CRM, and a database management tool to effectively track and measure your marketing content and campaign ROI. Marketing automation or web analytics tools that integrate with your CRM will also help.
A5. I’m tool/tech agnostic. I think marketers over rely on tools sometimes but based on the way I believe attribution should be tracked, I think the necessary items are a buyer’s journey map, A CRM and a database management tool #ContentChat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
Same. I’ve worked with so many different platforms.
My only additions to your list here would be a marketing automation tool and some sort of web analytics tool that can also integrate with your CRM. #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Consultant (@SFerika) March 21, 2022
A5: Tools I’ve used in the past that help w/ this: CRMs like Salesforce/Pardot, Hubspot and some Google Analytics on the side. #ContentChat
— Melanie Graham (@mg_content) March 21, 2022
Q6: Where can marketers learn more about marketing attribution? What sites, resources, or thought leaders do you recommend for more information?
Many professionals employ traditional marketing attribution models, which often measure business metrics and not customer metrics.
A6. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of the current view on marketing attribution from mainstream marketing sources. Traditional marketing attribution often fails because you’re measuring business metrics not customer metrics. #ContentChat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
Which is how you end up with people creating marketing targeted towards org charts instead of the human beings behind those titles. #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Consultant (@SFerika) March 21, 2022
…and when you think about how frequently #B2B customers who have a fantastic customer experience keep on buying your product/services as they move from company to company, it’s just so surprising that everyone isn’t customer-centric in their attribution. #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Consultant (@SFerika) March 21, 2022
Spot on, we forget we’re marketing to humans and wonder why our marketing fails 🤦🏿♀️#contentchat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
Watch Moni’s video to learn how to approach marketing attribution the right way.
A6b. I have a YouTube video on what I believe is the proper way to do marketing attribution https://t.co/4IAE7ScEVH #ContentChat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
And if you’re attending MarketingProfs B2B Forum this April, don’t miss Moni’s session to learn more!
A6: I am going to give @MoniOloyede a plug here, as she’s speaking on this topic at #MPB2B (where I am also speaking next month):https://t.co/RZ911CcPJo
#ContentChat— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Consultant (@SFerika) March 21, 2022
Q7: AMA time with Moni: What marketing attribution questions do you have?
Where can you get started with attribution? Start with the buyer/customer. What action do you want them to take? Set up a tracking mechanism to capture this action.
A4 – Most of the marketer, or even me, I am noob into Attribution, how should you start? what should be the budget allocation?
How is it different from different Marketing channels? #ContentChat https://t.co/qA75QZKyb1
— Dipali Thakkar 🇮🇳🇩🇪- Digital Marketing Analyst (@dipalit) March 21, 2022
It’s much easier when you start with the buyer/customer. What do you want them to do? What action do you want them to take? Then start working on how to track that #contentchat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
It is more relevant for B2b or B2c? Or Is it similar as we decide for our clients we do SEO based on goals. something like it? #ContentChat
— Dipali Thakkar 🇮🇳🇩🇪- Digital Marketing Analyst (@dipalit) March 21, 2022
For both. Do you want the buyer to take a free trial, buy an item, download a whitepaper, etc. Then set up your tracking mechanisms from there #contentchat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
So, if you are using Google Analytics, for example, you’d set up your Goals and assign a dollar value to them.#ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Consultant (@SFerika) March 21, 2022
How do digital marketing, analytics, and attribution intersect? Moni explains below.
How Digital Marketing, Analytics and Attribution intersects? What should I keep in mind when I want to explore Attribution Modeling? #Contentchat
— Dipali Thakkar 🇮🇳🇩🇪- Digital Marketing Analyst (@dipalit) March 21, 2022
Great question! Digital marketing produces results, when you do digital marketing (outside of advertising) you’re normally asking the buyer to take an action and you want to track those actions (analytics) over many channels (attribution) #contentchat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
Where do marketers often overthink attribution, and how can we simply our process? Start slow. Identify your ideal customer action, and find a way to track that. Keep your goals top-of-mind to keep your process focused.
Where do marketers tend to overthink attribution? What are some ways we can simplify our process? #contentchat
— Melanie Graham (@mg_content) March 21, 2022
Start slow and don’t try to boil the ocean. Start with want your customers want or need and figure how to track that, then work backwards from there #conentchat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
Trying to track every single little action the buyer could possibly take thinking they get more insight but they just end up with analysis/paralysis
Have very clear goals, it’ll have focus your attribution process #contentchat
— Moni Oloyede (@MoniOloyede) March 21, 2022
I would echo what Moni said earlier and note too often marketers try to track too many attribution data points that 1) they cannot take action on and 2) don’t help them solve customer problems. You have to be smart about the what+why to simplify.#ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Consultant (@SFerika) March 21, 2022
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