B2B marketers face myriad barriers to accurate measurement of marketing programs.

But lucky for us, some help arrived last summer with Marketo's popular Definitive Guide to Marketing Metrics and Analytics. In it, Jon Miller offers five sequential methods for building a "sensible framework" to answer the age-old marketing question, "Did this program deliver results?"

In case you haven't memorized them, here's a quick synopsis of the five methods:

1. Single attribution (first touch/last touch). This most common measurement method assigns all the value to the first or last program that "touched the deal," Miller says. Examples: First touch: If a webinar produces a deal one year later, it still gets the credit. Last touch: If a product demo turns a prospect into a customer, it gets the credit, despite a salesperson's previous nurturing.
2. Single attribution with revenue cycle projections. This method is used to estimate long-term program impacts. Example: You assess the impact of a trade show at the top of your revenue cycle—then estimate the show's long-term impact based on "historical conversion metrics," says Miller.
3. Attributions across multiple programs and people. Now things get more complicated as you try to measure the impact of each and every touch. Try weighting your touch points by time, by role, by program type.
4. Test and control groups. If you have the time and money, comparing your program against a control is a great way to measure its impact.
5. Full market mix modeling. This method (used by only three percent of B2B marketers) uses statistical techniques like regression, Miller notes.

Daunted? Miller suggests you begin with the first and second methods and experiment with more approaches as you "move up the maturity curve."

The Po!nt: It ain't easy, but it's doable. By examining tried-and-true methods of marketing program measurement, you can produce some hard, cold facts.

Source: Marketo.

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