CMOs, Stop Relying on Marketing Attribution

In this interview, Jon Ewing, a three-time B2B CMO, discusses the role of marketing attribution in B2B marketing. While acknowledging the importance of data-driven marketing, he cautions against overreliance on attribution models, particularly in the complex B2B sales process. Ewing emphasizes the need for experimentation and proxy measures to gauge the effectiveness of marketing efforts, especially in areas that are difficult to measure, such as events. Jon discusses the concept of the McNamara fallacy, which highlights the dangers of focusing exclusively on measurable data and ignoring the unmeasurable aspects of marketing. He warns against prioritizing metrics that can be easily measured, leading to a narrow view of marketing effectiveness."We can be over-reliant on [attribution] in a B2B context. B2B sales is a much more complicated process with a lot more layers and a lot more people involved, and therefore, trying to pin success or trying to model backwards to understand which of our marketing materials have been the most influential can be very, very difficult." - Jon EwingJon recommends and suggests examples for finding the right balance between data and intuition, experimentation and attribution, brand-building, and thought leadership. Follow Jon Ewing on LinkedInFollow host Steve MacDonald on LinkedIn