In the not-so-distant marketing history, brands could only reach consumers through a few marketing channels, such as product catalogs, customer service linesand in-store interactions; but with the advent of digital media ad online advertising, the number of channels for reaching consumers has increased exponentially.
Today, customer journeys are far from linear - they tend to happen across multiple platforms, devices and sessions, and make purchase decisions based on a variety of “touch points,” such as social media, mobile apps, dynamic banner ads and retargeting ads.
Pressure is building on brands to shift their advertising spend to digital, and rely more heavily on data to measure the success of their campaigns. And at the heart of this transition is attribution.
Marketing attribution is a method used by marketers to assign value to each channel that plays a role in influencing a consumer to make a purchase. For example, if a user visits your website through an organic search; returns later via a social network and then makes a purchase after clicking on a banner ad, which channel should get the credit?