What a Microphone Taught Me About Marketing Attribution
I recently listened to the Humans of Martech podcast featuring Kacie Jenkins, SVP at Sendoso, and I can’t recommend it enough. If you haven’t had a chance to listen, it’s fantastic—you can check it out here. There were many valuable takeaways, but one idea in particular really resonated with me: the debate around credit for pipeline contributions.
I’ve often been asked, “How can Marketing get credit over Sales for XYZ pipeline?” To me, this has always felt like the wrong approach. Sales and Marketing aren’t adversaries; they’re two sides of the same coin. Both functions are working toward the same goal—growing the pipeline and ultimately driving revenue. Pitting them against each other to assign credit only creates unnecessary friction. Instead, we should focus on collaboration and alignment, recognizing that both teams play essential roles in the customer journey.
Marketing lays the groundwork by educating and engaging potential customers, sparking interest in your product. Sales steps in to build relationships and close the deal. Both are vital to success.
This brings me to the topic of attribution—specifically, the emphasis on first-touch and last-touch models. As Kacie brilliantly explained, no one falls in love on the first text, and no one proposes marriage based on the last one. Why, then, do we insist on crediting one isolated touchpoint? The first and last interactions only scratch the surface of a much richer buyer journey.
Take my own recent experience as an example. After 20 years, my beloved Sennheiser 835 vocal mic finally gave out—it had survived countless drops on stage and drinks spilled on it in bars, but it was time for a replacement. Here’s what my journey looked like:
- I started by researching two major brands, Shure and Sennheiser, visiting their websites to compare models like the Shure SM58 and Beta 58, and the Sennheiser 935 and 945.
- I dove into reviews on Amazon, Sweetwater, and other platforms to understand performance and durability.
- I watched comparison videos to assess sound quality.
- I went to Guitar Center to test a few microphones in person and got input from the sales team.
- Finally, I factored in my budget. I wanted to keep it under $200, so I waited for Black Friday to snag a deal. When the Sennheiser 935 went on sale for $50 off, I made my purchase.
Now, who deserves credit for that sale? If you go by first-touch attribution, the Sennheiser website gets the credit. If you go by last-touch, it’s Sweetwater’s Black Friday promotion. But that doesn’t capture the full story. There were at least four additional touchpoints that influenced my decision—reviews, videos, in-person testing, and conversations with a sales associate. Ultimately, I chose the Sennheiser 935 not just because of the discount but because it sounded best with my voice.
This experience highlights the flaws in single-touch attribution models. Neither the first nor last touch sold me—it was the combination of all the interactions and research along the way.
What if we shifted the focus away from assigning credit to isolated moments and instead analyzed the entire buyer journey? Marketing could concentrate on understanding which campaigns and touchpoints truly drive decisions, how many interactions are needed before purchase, and which content is most effective. By doing this, we could make smarter decisions, create better campaigns, and ultimately drive more revenue—together.