Marketing Attribution
The process of identifying which marketing touchpoints contribute to conversions and assigning credit to each interaction.
Definition
Marketing attribution tracks the customer journey across multiple touchpoints to understand which channels, campaigns, and content drive conversions. It answers the critical question: "What marketing activities actually generated this sale?"
Attribution models range from simple (first-touch, last-touch) to sophisticated (multi-touch, algorithmic). Each model distributes credit differently, affecting how you evaluate channel performance and allocate budget.
Why It Matters
Without attribution, marketing becomes guesswork. You might kill your best-performing channel while doubling down on one that merely catches conversions driven elsewhere.
Proper attribution reveals the true customer journey. Most B2B purchases involve 8+ touchpoints—understanding this sequence enables smarter budget allocation and campaign optimization.
Examples in Practice
Multi-touch attribution reveals that while paid search gets credit for conversions, 80% of those customers first discovered the brand through organic content—justifying continued SEO investment.
A company switches from last-touch to data-driven attribution and discovers their podcast drives 3x more pipeline influence than previously measured, reshaping their content strategy.