Mastering multi-touch attribution is key to proving impact

One of my favourite aspects of being part of the B2B Marketing Propolis community is the access to live figures that provide a real-time snapshot of the market. It's an incredible way to see how marketing investments are performing for brands in the technology space. In the past, I focused heavily on discussing budget investment areas with our clients, sometimes neglecting the bigger picture.

However, last year, the statistics around marketing budget as a percentage of revenue target and the percentage of revenue that marketing is responsible for became key insights in my discussions with marketing leads and the C-suite teams. It’s a bit back to basics, but with short-termism being the theme of recent years, the opportunity to prove marketing value and attribution seems to have gotten a little lost

Encouragingly, the B2B Marketing Propolis data shows year-on-year growth in both marketing investment and marketing-generated revenue, but this area often sparks much debate, in terms of attribution and meaningful metrics. Ultimately, as is often the case, these discussions lead to sales and marketing alignment. For a successful model to be in place, it has to be a collaborative effort.

It seems to me that the attribution model should be a core part of any marketing strategy to gain insights and optimise growth. So why isn’t it? Perhaps it’s a lack of education on the value of marketing – a mission many of us continue to battle to demonstrate marketing’s true meaning.

Multi-touch attribution and why it can’t be ignored

At Revere, we’ve been emphasising the importance of understanding the customer journey and its evolution. Accurately attributing conversions to various touchpoints along the journey is crucial. Multi-touch attribution (MTA) offers a comprehensive approach to this challenge, enabling marketers to gain deeper insights and optimise their strategies. 

However, implementing MTA effectively requires not only the right tools and models but also a robust internal change management strategy. This is where the issue often lies. But if marketing can feed these insights to sales, the business can win by focusing budgets and growth strategies on one connected approach.

By assigning credit to multiple touchpoints, MTA provides a comprehensive view of how different marketing efforts contribute to conversions. This approach is essential for any marketer looking to optimise their strategies and drive better results. Where it doesn’t work is in short-term and stop/start campaigns. Given the theme of ‘short-termism’ that’s been present over the last few years, maybe this is why this conversation has perhaps lost its way across multiple brands. 

MTA offers several advantages, and different models exist. The best approach will be based on your set-up, maturity, and passion for investment. What it can do is provide accurate insights into the customer journey, helping in optimising marketing spend by identifying the most effective channels, and enhancing return on investment by focusing on high-impact touchpoints.

The goal is to drive data-driven decisions. Data continues to be a big challenge for most businesses, but it’s another reminder of why investing in this area is vital and can’t continue to be ignored. Like with all data, a human overlay of intelligence is required, conversations with teams and customers to understand the context of the intelligence. You might not be able to achieve all your data goals initially, but working out what is possible and starting the journey with a roadmap is my advice. 

It’s time to get strategic

Gartner highlights that advanced MTA models, while complex and resource-intensive, are crucial for gaining a true understanding of marketing effectiveness.²

Ignoring the importance of attribution models can be costly. Without accurate attribution, marketers risk misallocating their budgets and missing out on valuable insights. It is a chance to stop the ROI question into marketing teams to justify activities. That is why KPIs are the backbone of any successful attribution model. By aligning KPIs with business goals, marketers can gain actionable insights and drive meaningful improvements. Common KPIs such as Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Return On Ad Spend (ROAS), and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) are essential for measuring the impact of marketing efforts.

KPIs should be aligned with overall business objectives to ensure they drive meaningful insights. For example, if the goal is to increase customer retention, focusing on Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) as a KPI would be more relevant. 

Today, I still see a lack of KPIs and a hierarchy of goals for teams to work towards. This is about seeing the bigger picture of what the business is trying to achieve and aligning marketing efforts to that. Cascading down effectively and sharing data. But as teams continue to do more with less, resetting and proactive communication continue to slip down the to-do list.

Internal change management

Implementing MTA requires a cultural shift within the organisation:

• Secure buy-in from key stakeholders by demonstrating the value of MTA. Gartner reports that over half of marketers (52%)² were using multi-touch attribution in 2024, highlighting its growing importance. 
  
  
• Provide training and resources to help teams understand and adopt MTA, and maintain open communication to address concerns and provide updates on progress.
  

Connected strategy

Multi-touch attribution is a powerful tool for understanding and optimising the customer journey. By focusing on meaningful KPIs and managing internal change effectively, organisations can achieve best practices and drive better marketing outcomes. As the digital marketing landscape continues to evolve, staying ahead with robust attribution models and a strategic approach to change management will be key to success.

It's harder for larger brands who have a larger ecosystem in place and more stakeholders to bring on the journey. But the rising challenger brands can get this in place, and this can be their differentiator and secret weapon. 

For your brand to stand out, it must be as distinctive to your target audiences as they are to you. A connected strategy, which translates active insights into individual experiences, is the future of B2B marketing. This approach allows brands to move from ad-hoc interactions to value-boosting customer relationships, staying ahead of the engagement curve and meeting changing audience needs.

I am keen to understand why getting to a robust MTA model is a challenge for brands. I would also love for any examples where effective implementation and change management have occurred.

References for further reading:

1. Mckinsey: Analyzing the CEO CMO relationship
2. Gartner: Fortify your measurement toolkit with rule-based attribution