Marketing Attribution of Pipeline and why it matters
This will be a quick read. This has come up in a number of recent conversations with peers at other companies and there seemed to be some confusion… so I through I’d try to put together a short post to help others that might also feel confused.
What is pipeline attribution and why do we measure it? Starting with very generic descriptions and diving deeper as we discuss further. Pipeline attribution is grouping the pipeline and based on the activity that drove it’s status to see what team Should get credit. Who gets credit, drives the ROI calculation of this much budget was given to this team and they drove this much pipeline. This helps the business figure out where it should put more budget for more growth in business.
There are a couple of issues with just measuring pipeline in the sales funnel. Marketing’s value spans not just those interested in a solution but also those that don’t realize they need a solution. Breaking down what marketing does into very basic components:
- Build future business/interest
- Discover new deals
- Accelerate deals
A healthy business will have marketing activities in each of these stages trying to move some portion of the members to the next stage. The ratio of each item depends on the maturity, size of market captured, and the competitive landscape.
Marketing and sales are a relay team that needs to work together to be efficient and effective. Marketing spend much effort in the TAM, In-Market, and Engaged stages… driving future business and discovering new deal. And some time with accounts that are in Active sales motions to help accelerate deals. Sales typically spends time with Account that are Engaged to discover new deals and with those in the sales funnel to close deals.
When we look at these stages, each of these components can be measured by the amount of pipeline or Potential Deals that sit at each stage.
