Every marketing leader has seen this moment.
Two dashboards.
Same campaign.
Different answers.
One says performance is up.
Another says ROI is flat.
A third quietly suggests cutting budget.
Attribution didn’t suddenly fail us.
We just started asking it to answer questions it was never designed to solve.
Attribution Is a Tool—Not a Strategy
At its core, attribution answers a simple question:
“What influenced this action?”
That’s a valuable question.
It’s just not the only one that matters anymore.
As marketing ecosystems have become more complex—more channels, more touchpoints, more AI-driven discovery—we’ve stretched attribution beyond its original purpose. We now expect it to explain growth, justify strategy, and predict outcomes.
That’s where the tension comes from.
The World Attribution Was Built For (And the One We’re In Now)
Traditional attribution models assumed:
- Linear journeys
- Clear channel boundaries
- Reliable tracking
- Single-product outcomes
Modern marketing looks very different:
- Journeys loop, pause, and restart
- Customers discover brands through AI summaries, recommendations, and conversations
- Influence happens long before conversion
- Most businesses grow through portfolios, not one-time transactions
Attribution still tells part of the story.
It just doesn’t tell the whole story.
𝘼𝙩𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙜𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙚
𝙈𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙪𝙢 𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙧
That distinction matters.
Why Leadership Feels the Disconnect
Many CEOs don’t distrust marketing.
They distrust certainty.
When attribution models confidently assign credit while growth feels fragile, leaders sense the gap. Not because the data is wrong—but because it’s incomplete.
They’re asking:
- Did this create lasting demand?
- Did it move customers closer to our broader portfolio?
- Did it build something that compounds?
Attribution alone can’t answer those questions.
Introducing Momentum as a Complement to Attribution
If attribution explains influence, momentum explains direction.
Momentum looks at:
- Are customers engaging more deeply over time?
- Are they moving across products or services?
- Are relationships getting stronger or stalling?
- Is friction being removed—or just bypassed?
This is where marketing performance becomes strategic instead of tactical.
𝙈𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙪𝙢 𝙄𝙨 𝙖 𝙎𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢 𝙎𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙖𝙡
Not a channel metric.
Not a campaign KPI.
A system-wide indicator of progress.
What Momentum Metrics Look Like in Practice
Momentum-focused teams still use attribution—but they pair it with signals that reflect real growth:
- Time to second product or service
- Repeat engagement by acquisition path
- Portfolio adoption following campaigns
- Retention lift after education-based initiatives
- Reduction in time between meaningful interactions
These metrics don’t fight attribution.
They complete it.
Why This Matters Even More in the Age of AI
AI and intelligent agents don’t think in last clicks.
They synthesize:
- Patterns
- Consistency
- Depth of engagement
- Signals across the entire lifecycle
The brands and organizations that perform best in AI-driven discovery environments are the ones that:
- Build coherent portfolios
- Deliver consistent experiences
- Create momentum, not just moments
In that world, attribution alone becomes a weak proxy for success.
A More Useful Way to Frame the Conversation
Instead of asking:
“Which channel gets the credit?”
High-performing teams ask:
“What did this investment move forward?”
That reframing changes how:
- Budgets are allocated
- Campaigns are designed
- Success is communicated to leadership
And it restores confidence in marketing as a growth engine—not just a reporting function.
Final Thought
If attribution were meant to explain everything, we’d all be using the same model—and agreeing on the answers.
The opportunity now isn’t to abandon attribution.
It’s to elevate it.
Use attribution to understand influence.
Use momentum to understand growth.
When you do both, the story finally makes sense.