The loudest voices on LinkedIn have declared attribution outdated, overly simplistic, and incapable of capturing the complexity of modern B2B journeys.
But here’s the truth no one talks about: there’s no alternative.
2025 may be clouded with economic uncertainty, but when it comes to marketing ROI, expectations couldn’t be clearer. Across all B2B industries, marketers are now expected to report on revenue instead of engagement, making attribution mission-critical.
It’s not that attribution doesn’t work. It’s that it doesn’t work the way people assume it should.
Attribution continues to be one of the most hotly debated topics in B2B marketing because it touches on a fundamental nerve: accountability.
Marketers are often asked to prove their value using revenue metrics built for finance, while operating in a world of messy, often untrackable, omnichannel engagement. They can only make bets on what the future will look like, yet are expected to deliver guaranteed outcomes with a high degree of predictability.
And in 2025, attribution is the proxy that marketers are using to translate their efforts into business OKRs.
In our State of Marketing Attribution report, we explore:
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