B2B marketing attribution: where to begin...

Attribution has always been a critical issue when it comes to marketing, and attribution for B2B is no different. When businesses truly understand the impact of their marketing efforts on revenue and other key indicators, they can optimize and iterate campaigns for a better return on investment (ROI). With proper attribution, businesses can make data-driven decisions for how they allocate their marketing budgets.

In a recent study by eMarketer, 42 per cent of B2B marketers in North America and the UK found measuring the success of events to be a challenge, demonstrating the need for better education around B2B marketing attribution.  

B2B attribution challenges

One of the primary challenges in B2B marketing attribution is the complexity of the buying journey. Unlike B2C, the B2B buying journey is typically longer and involves multiple decision-makers in the process, which makes it even more difficult to identify the touchpoints that resulted in the final conversion.

Another difficulty lies with tracking offline conversions. In B2B, marketers may pass leads on to their sales team who will continue the conversation in-person, using personal connections or face-to-face meetings to finalize conversion. Once these conversations go offline, the thread connecting online marketing efforts to conversions is often dropped.

Key components of marketing attribution 

The key components of marketing attribution are similar for both B2B and B2C. These include defining goals and objectives, customer mapping, choosing an attribution model, collecting and integrating data, and reporting and analyzing results. However, B2B attribution requires more stakeholder alignment due to the complexity of the buying journey.  

Choosing what's right for your business 

Choosing the right attribution model for your business is critical to ensure accurate measurement of marketing efforts. There are various attribution models to choose from, including first touch, last touch, and multi-touch. It is important to understand the pros and cons of each model and choose the one that best fits the needs of your business. 

Attribution strategy implementation

Implementing an attribution strategy requires careful planning and execution. To start, your goals and objectives must be defined, then customer mapping must be completed to identify the touchpoints that matter most to your customers. Once you have identified the touchpoints, you can choose an attribution model and collect and integrate data using product solutions or sales solutions. Finally, stakeholder alignment is critical for successful implementation, followed by reporting and analyzing results to optimize marketing efforts. 

Final thoughts

Attribution helps marketers understand their effectiveness. It provides insights into the campaigns, tactics and channels that are driving the best results, and with this information, B2B marketers can make the right decisions to optimize their strategies for better performance and ROI.

To achieve success, B2B marketers must know which data points are most important and how to use them. Understanding touchpoints is crucial. No matter the organization, B2B marketers need to set themselves up correctly, and think of attribution at the beginning of every campaign they do.