⏱ 1:00 minute read

👀 One of the biggest challenges I've faced as a first-time CMO

📊 Why attribution in general is flawed

🎧 POD: Marketing signals that drive results

Hey marketers! 👋

A question I get asked a lot in my role is what are my biggest challenges. As you can imagine, they change by the day.

But there’s one challenge that stands out against the rest, which comes in two parts.

1. When switching to an entirely new marketing model - demand gen - measurements can become a lot less solid.

In lead gen, you put out content, and can definitively measure the leads you got from each content piece, and follow those down the funnel to closed won.

In demand gen, you don’t get the same definitive feedback. Instead, you get signals which can give you an indication of what to do next.

But arguably, the bit I’ve found even harder than working out a new measurement system is:

2. Working out how to communicate this upwards, and to the rest of the business.

This is because you’re going from a model people know and understand to one that is by nature, a lot more in the dark funnel.

So it comes down to how you communicate and tell the story of the data.

But when I think about it, whether you’re running a lead gen or a demand gen model - I think we all have the same issue when it comes to attribution.

Because I believe attribution in general is flawed.

There isn’t - and will never be - one source of truth for defining how you’ve generated a deal. Especially in complex, enterprise sales cycles.

Instead, I think you overcome this by working out how you measure the different types of activities - and building a picture of what is driving repeatable success.

Salesforce last touch is only ever going to show us the final step before they converted. But everything before the MQL is absent - and that is where the secrets lie.

While it might not be an easy option, the best option I’ve discovered for measuring is to take a combined view of all the data - then share that back to the CEO and board in one easy to digest way that tells a clear story.

Stay 'looped in' on how to reach modern B2B buyers

😎 Cognism's demand gen playbook

The ultimate resource to learn demand gen

🧠 How to pivot from lead gen to demand gen

A CMO's guide to the switch

🎧 POD: Marketing signals that drive results

With Trinity Nguyen, CMO at UserGems

Until next time! 👋

Alice de Courcy

First Floor, Holborn Gate, 330 Holborn, WC1V 7QT, London, United Kingdom

+44 203 858 0822

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One of my biggest challenges