Findings from the 2018 Marketing Measurement & Attribution Benchmark Survey show that more than half (55%) of B2B companies say their current ability to measure and analyze marketing performance “needs improvement” or worse. The inability to track activity between specific buyer stages (48%) and measure impact across channels/campaigns (47%) are the biggest challenges for marketers looking to demonstrate marketing impact.
“People used to think it was just the ‘sales’ funnel,” said Kevin Joyce, CMO and VP of Strategy Services at The Pedowitz Group, in an interview with Demand Gen Report. “But it’s not; it’s the ‘sales and marketing’ funnel. That top half of the funnel belongs to marketing. And yes, the sales team is going to source a significant amount of that funnel, but marketing is responsible for more and more of it now. Both sides have to recognize that and be accountable.”Research from Demand Gen Report and Madison Logic shows that more than half (52%) of B2B marketers said that “extending marketing influence across the entire buyer journey” is a top ABM initiative for them. When asked what potential improvements could support a more consensus sale, respondents listed options such as:
The ability to deliver messaging aligned to opportunity stage;
Deeper intelligence on the most engaged accounts;
The ability to identify contacts with target accounts;
Deeper intelligence on account-level areas of interest; and
The ability to measure marketing impact on deal size and time to close.
“[Multi-touch attribution] is the holy grail of the CMO,” said Jon Russo, Founder and CMO of the B2B Fusion Group and Board Member of the marketing operations association MOCCA. “You’ve got to have this right to gain full-funnel visibility.”