Do you need a marketing attribution and predictive analytics tool?
Make sure your organization understands how it will not only use attribution and predictive analytics, but also how it will measure success.
With marketers facing increasing pressure to demonstrate the value of the budget they’re allocated for programs, marketing attribution and predictive analytics solutions are tailor-made for proving how tactics and media channels contribute to the bottom line.
But deciding whether or not your company needs a marketing attribution and predictive analytics tool calls for the same evaluative steps involved in any software adoption, including a comprehensive self-assessment of your organization’s business needs, staff capabilities, management support and financial resources.
Use the following questions to help you decide:

Know how your customers interact with your advertising today and into the future. Explore the platforms essential to predictive analytics and marketing attribution in the latest edition of this MarTech Intelligence Report.
How do we currently manage our marketing campaigns? How many and what martech and ad tech systems are employed in executing campaigns? Is one the “master” or dominant system? Are they tied together in any way? How many and what channels do we typically deploy campaigns on? Depending on the complexity of your campaigns and the length of the typical purchase cycle you’re measuring, you may not need the advanced capabilities offered by a dedicated marketing attribution and predictive analytics solution.
How do we currently analyze success? Is there a central analytics solution? How flexible is the system? Are we able to arrive at insights that are actionable?
How would we use a marketing attribution and predictive analytics platform? What are the first problems that we would use it to solve?
Is your organization ready for a marketing attribution and predictive analytics platform? Do you have the staffing to use the tool to its full capacity or would you need to hire a data analyst or train an existing employee?
How will we define and benchmark the success of a marketing attribution and predictive analytics system?
Do we have management buy-in? You’ll be much more successful with a new tool if you have an ally in the C-suite who can advocate for you and advise on rolling it out across the company.
What is the total cost of ownership? Be sure to consider things like adding staff, training existing staff, any development costs for the integration.
Marketing attribution and predictive analytics: A snapshot
What it is. Marketing attribution and predictive analytics platforms are software that employ sophisticated statistical modeling and machine learning to evaluate the impact of each marketing touch a buyer encounters along a purchase journey across all channels, with the goal of helping marketers allocate future spending. Platforms with predictive analytics capabilities also use data, statistical algorithms and machine learning to predict future outcomes based on historical data and scenario building.
Why it’s hot today. Many marketers know roughly half their media spend is wasted, but few are aware of which half that is. And with tight budgets due to the economic uncertainty brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, companies are seeking to rid themselves of waste.
Attribution challenges. Buyers are using more channels and devices in their purchase journeys than ever before. The lack of attributive modeling and analytics makes it even more difficult to help them along the way.
Marketers continuing to use traditional channels find this challenge magnified. The advent of digital privacy regulations has also led to the disappearance of third-party cookies, one of marketers’ most useful data sources.
Marketing attribution and predictive analytics platforms can help marketers tackle these challenges. They give professionals more information about their buyers and help them get a better handle on the issue of budget waste.
Read Next: What do marketing attribution and predictive analytics tools do?
Related stories