FOUNDER’S GUIDE TO B2B SALES MARKETING CHANNEL PERFORMANCE MICROSOFT EXCEL Marketers think of campaigns as happening within and across various channels. Charts like those above are often used to determine channel effectiveness - i.e. to find which half of your marketing budget is wasted. While this is a useful exercise, it is important to understand how credit is attributed to a channel, especially when multiple people are engaging in multiple marketing, sales, and partner touches over time. These charts can backfire when the audience doesn’t understand the data that’s being presented. For example, measuring field marketing programmes such as executive dinners via first-touch attribution is likely to result in a poor showing as these are are designed to advance existing deals and rarely, if ever, generate new leads. This is why it’s important marketers clearly explain what’s being presented ahead of time. They should then complement this with a quarterly analysis of closed deals to show everyone the reality of their average sales cycle in terms of contacts, time, and touches. ATTRIBUTION - THE ACHILLES’ HEEL OF MEASUREMENT Imagine a situation where a person has multiple marketing touches before becoming an opportunity. e.g. • They clicked on a search ad • They replied yes to a follow-up email webinar invite • They saw a demonstration at a tradeshow booth Attribution is about how you credit these marketing campaigns. There is no good answer to the attribution problem, but in general, people use one of three approaches: • First-touch attribution – gives all credit to the search ad • Last-touch attribution – gives all credit to the trade show • Points-based attribution – accumulates points for each activity and credits back on a pro rata basis Founders need to understand what they’re looking at and act accordingly. Don’t automatically cancel the trade show booth if sales loved the show. For instance, trade shows can help build on first-touch attribution and help move an audience of already-identified buyers towards a deal, instead of just finding new buyers. SPRING 2023 .42