In the latter part of the 19^th Century, John Wanamaker (the father of modern advertising) reportedly stated, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half!” Today’s emerging technologies make it easier than ever to demonstrate and manage the impact of marketing on revenue. Marketing attribution—which is the science of using advanced analytics and key metrics to allocate proportional credit to each marketing touchpoint across all channels (online and offline) and lead to a desired customer behavior—is a hot topic for marketers of all sizes. Simply put, marketing attribution is designed to “give credit where credit is due.” It helps brands track the value of specific marketing and media channels more accurately and define their overall business impact.

The digital revolution has put the marketing landscape in a state of flux, and this means that exact attribution has become highly complex. Nonetheless, attribution is critical because it can provide clear and accurate insights into how, when, and where marketing efforts affect customer actions across devices and channels. Marketing executives can use the data that they collect to improve budget allocation and optimize the marketing mix. Marketers are under continual pressure to do more with less, and budget allocations can be improved by developing an understanding of the channels—online and offline—that are working most effectively.

InfoTrends recently completed a Multi-Client study entitled Lead with Data…Follow with Print. The objectives of this study were to define marketers’ data utilization sophistication and to examine how data can be used effectively to drive better sales and marketing results. Developing an understanding of the channels that are most effective is critical to driving results. According to the 250 marketing executives that InfoTrends surveyed, an essential element of any campaign was understanding the customer’s “path to purchase” to determine when and how to communicate with the consumer most effectively. Although 81% of the marketers that participated in the study were currently evaluating the path to purchase, there is only a limited understanding of how customers discover, learn about, purchase, and experience a product.