Good morning: The marketing attribution debate

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Good morning, Marketers, and we do like constructive debate

The first part of William Terdoslavich’s look at some radical new ideas about attribution certainly provoked debate, both in our inboxes and on LinkedIn (read here). For example, Matt Hertig, founder of Alight Analytics, wrote in an email: “Marketing ROI is not impossible. In fact, it’s very possible and should be required by every organization. Predictive modeling is absolutely a must have strategy. These types of approaches like just reacting and responding are just disguised strategies to run from showing the real value marketing brings.”

The ideas come from marketing consultant Kathleen Schaub and Proof Analytics CEO Mark Stouse. At a glance, it can look like Schaub and Stouse are trying to throw out attribution altogether, but on closer examination they are arguing that traditional models are obsolete. In the second part of our interview with them, Schaub says “Once the lights go on, you can’t ever think in the old way again.”

Kim Davis

Editorial Director

Shorts 

What we’re watching. Making videos means a lot of redos? Tell us about it. Here’s a hilarious short video of Simple Strat founder Ali Schwanke wrangling a HubSpot Hacks episode into shape. 

About The Author

Kim Davis is the Editorial Director of MarTech. Born in London, but a New Yorker for over two decades, Kim started covering enterprise software ten years ago. His experience encompasses SaaS for the enterprise, digital- ad data-driven urban planning, and applications of SaaS, digital technology, and data in the marketing space.

He first wrote about marketing technology as editor of Haymarket’s The Hub, a dedicated marketing tech website, which subsequently became a channel on the established direct marketing brand DMN. Kim joined DMN proper in 2016, as a senior editor, becoming Executive Editor, then Editor-in-Chief a position he held until January 2020.

Prior to working in tech journalism, Kim was Associate Editor at a New York Times hyper-local news site, The Local: East Village, and has previously worked as an editor of an academic publication, and as a music journalist. He has written hundreds of New York restaurant reviews for a personal blog, and has been an occasional guest contributor to Eater.