#attribution

Long B2B sales cycles make marketing difficult to measure. When a purchase takes months or even years, the time between marketing activity and a completed sale creates a fundamental problem for attribution, optimization, and ROI. The longer the cycle, the harder it is to know which marketing activity actually influenced the outcome, according to [MarTech](https://martech.org/why-long-sales-cycles-make-b2b-marketing-so-hard-to-measure/).

B2B purchases operate differently from B2C.

The B2B marketing sector faces accelerating expectations that outpace available resources and budgets. According to POM Marketing’s research cited in Demand Gen Report, 81% of marketers say pressure to deliver results is higher than two to three years ago. Gartner research found marketing budgets holding steady at 7.7% of total company revenue.

Only 29% of marketers report being very confident in demonstrating ROI to the C-suite.

Attribution models never measured the full buyer journey, according to [MarTech](https://martech.org/marketing-contribution-is-the-new-attribution/). Marketers spent two digital decades asking where a lead came from, yet a lead is guided toward becoming a customer by many pieces of content consumed across many moments that software never saw. Attribution compressed that reality into charts labeled first touch, last touch, or weighted touch.

Epoch is expanding into external marketing events with EpochX, a platform designed to connect registrations, attendance and engagement directly to CRM data so marketers can measure event-sourced pipeline, according to [Demand Gen Report](https://www.demandgenreport.com/industry-news/news-brief/epoch-launches-epochx-to-help-marketers-measure-event-driven-pipeline/54184/).

WordPress’s survey found 74% of enterprise decision-makers say AI discoverability is a priority, yet only 17% name their owned website as their top investment. The survey was conducted by Talker Research in April 2026 across 2,000 respondents, including 800 enterprise decision-makers and 1,200 U.S. adults.

Consumers do not just want visibility, they want proof. 86% seek out the original source after an AI summary.

B2B marketing planning assumptions that guided the past decade are becoming less reliable as buyers become harder to observe, AI reshapes discovery and evaluation, traditional measurement signals weaken, buying networks expand, and volatility remains a permanent feature. Forrester described this shift at this year’s B2B Summit as the B2B go-to-market singularity, making the planning challenge bigger than budget allocation decisions.

CMOs will enter 2027 with a favorable investment outlook.

On its Q3 FY26 call on May 20, 2026, Intuit reported Global Business Solutions revenue of $3.3B, up 15%. The figure rose to 17% growth when Mailchimp was excluded. Online Ecosystem revenue reached $2.5B, up 19%, or 22% ex-Mailchimp. Management stated Mailchimp revenue declined year over year. The company announced a 17% workforce reduction affecting roughly 3,100 roles, citing rightsizing in Mailchimp. Restructuring charges of about $300M are expected mostly in the quarter ending July 31, 2026.

The 2026 Demand Generation Benchmark Survey examines how B2B marketers move beyond vanity metrics to prove impact through sourced revenue, influenced pipeline and customer expansion, according to [Demand Gen Report](https://www.demandgenreport.com/blog/revenue-attribution-take-the-2026-demand-gen-benchmark-survey/54040/).

Attribution strategy is becoming a leadership-level priority. Marketers benchmark multi-touch models and reporting standards against their peers.

B2B marketers no longer seek one attribution model to explain all revenue outcomes. According to MarTech, successful teams instead combine attribution with marketing mix modeling and experimentation to support budget and pipeline decisions.

Structural changes have lengthened B2B journeys from six or seven touches to 20 to 40 touches across multiple channels and stakeholders.

Procore reported Q2 FY26 revenue of $375M, up 16% from the prior year. The result exceeded the company's guide of $364M to $366M by 3%. Growth outpaced the 12.9% rate modeled by the street. The company operates construction software used on 3 million projects across 150+ countries and holds roughly $1.5B in ARR.

GAAP operating margin reached 1%, marking the first positive GAAP operating income in company history and an improvement of 1,080 basis points.

The IAB Tech Lab released an updated draft of its podcast measurement guidelines. Version 2.3 of the Podcast Technical Measurement Guidelines updates the technical framework for measuring podcast downloads, audiences, and ad delivery using server-side log data. The draft remains open for public comment through Aug. 19.

The guidance now explicitly addresses both audio and video podcasts delivered through open RSS feeds and podcast apps that rely on server-side file delivery.

Most connected TV incrementality tests fail before a single ad runs because the test produces a number that looks convincing without proving anything. Coming into this year cross-platform measurement ranked as a top priority for 72% of advertisers, up from 64% in 2025, according to the IAB’s 2026 Outlook Study.

Attribution focuses on identifying which advertising exposure deserves credit for a conversion. Incrementality asks whether that conversion would have happened without the ad.

The 2026 Demand Gen Benchmark Survey is open for B2B marketing teams to document how they are adjusting budgets, measurement practices and workflows.

According to [Demand Gen Report](https://www.demandgenreport.com/blog/take-the-2026-demand-gen-benchmark-survey-help-shape-what-comes-next/53760/), the survey captures strategies on AI adoption, attribution, sales alignment and pipeline performance so participants can compare their priorities with peers.

The survey examines where teams are...

Performance TV advertising platform tvScientific by Pinterest has launched its Certified Measurement Partner Program. The initiative recognizes trusted measurement providers that meet standards for accuracy, transparency, and performance across Performance TV campaigns.

The program gives advertisers transparent and interoperable ways to measure CTV and Performance TV outcomes.

Open-source platforms have made marketing mix modeling more accessible by removing prior consulting expenses of $150,000 to $500,000. Any team with R or Python expertise and clean historical data can now run models in-house.

Almost half (46.9%) of U.S. marketers plan increased MMM investment over the next year, and they ranked it the most reliable measurement methodology at 27.6%.

Patriot Auto Group added AI-generated connected TV ads from Adwave and recorded a 34% increase in showroom visits across four months according to [Demand Gen Report](https://www.demandgenreport.com/case-studies/how-adwave-enabled-patriot-auto-group-to-expand-its-reach-grow-sales-with-ctv-demand-gen-report-case-study/53534/).

The dealership operated two Tampa locations selling new and pre-owned vehicles.

Anteriad released its fifth annual B2B marketing report titled The 2026 B2B Marketing Edge: Control Is the Competitive Advantage, conducted in partnership with Ascend2. The survey reached 631 marketing decision-makers across the United States, United Kingdom, and APAC.

A Harris Poll survey of more than 300 U.S. marketing, advertising, communications, and social media decision-makers found that 48% admit they often feel they are guessing which marketing activities drive consumer purchasing decisions, according to [Demand Gen Report](https://www.demandgenreport.com/industry-news/news-brief/madison-logic-harris-poll-half-of-marketers-are-guessing-on-what-drives-purchasing-decisions-today/53624/).

The poll shows proving ROI as the top concern for marketers.

Digital advertising optimized toward clicks, last-touch attribution, and viewability over the past two decades rather than signals that reflect real business impact, according to [Demand Gen Report](https://www.demandgenreport.com/demanding-views/ad-tech-learned-to-game-itself/53162/).

The dominant signals guiding media optimization have been clicks, last-touch attribution, viewability, and other metrics convenient to track at scale. For smaller advertisers these signals can be sufficient.

A MarTech article states that effective measurement depends on connecting signals across MMM, attribution, and incrementality instead of forcing a single source of truth.

According to [MarTech](https://martech.org/why-marketing-measurement-needs-triangulation/), MMM evaluates overall business contribution and media mix allocation. Attribution focuses on user-level interactions and conversion paths. Incrementality measures whether marketing exposure actually influenced consumer behavior.

B2B marketers repeatedly describe data as their most valuable asset, comparing it to gold or oil, and invest heavily in tools like MAPs, CRMs, CDPs, and various martech solutions that consume a significant portion of their budgets. Despite this investment, reporting now includes analytics from digital campaigns, a shift from past practices where B2B companies advertised in trade publications with limited evidence of benefits, yet more data has not clarified decision-making as marketers fail to...

Shakeel Khan joined Forrester as principal analyst for revenue operations in October. The appointment follows seven years in sales roles selling car rentals, telecom voice and data solutions, and cybersecurity services.

Khan previously worked in sales operations and revenue operations at Neustar, Verisign, and several private equity-backed firms. He holds an M.S.