B2B marketing measurement is reaching a turning point, with marketers moving beyond traditional cost-based metrics to focus on revenue impact, brand value, and AI-driven attribution models. That’s according to LinkedIn’s latest report, The Future of B2B Marketing Measurement, which explores how marketing leaders are adapting their measurement strategies to meet evolving business demands.
Connecting marketing measurement to revenue
For years, marketing performance has been judged on metrics such as impressions, clicks, and lead generation. However, LinkedIn’s report suggests that many marketing leaders are frustrated by these cost-based measurements, which fail to provide a clear connection between marketing efforts and business revenue.
Instead, there is a growing shift towards tracking metrics that directly correlate with revenue, allowing marketers to align their efforts more closely with overall business strategy. Some companies are moving beyond traditional lead generation to focus on metrics like lifetime value (LTV) to customer acquisition cost (CAC) ratios.
Alex Young of financial data network Plaid noted the importance of long-term revenue measurement, explaining that customer value can change significantly over time. “We work really closely with our analytics team to get the full picture of the revenue we’re getting from specific customers over time, because the number can change quite drastically between day one and two or three years down the line.”
This shift means that marketing teams must focus on conversions that have a tangible business impact, rather than vanity metrics such as marketing-qualified leads (MQLs). Venus, a marketing leader featured in the report, warned that optimising for the wrong metrics can distort marketing strategies, explaining: “If you’re trying to scale things that don’t really matter to revenue, like form fills, then it doesn’t just impact negatively on your reporting – it also impacts your funnel.”
Proving the ROI of brand marketing
While demand generation has long been tied to revenue, marketers are increasingly expected to demonstrate the financial impact of brand marketing. Business leaders are recognising the importance of brand equity, but CFOs want greater visibility into how brand-building efforts translate into financial returns.
Lucas Riedberger of Dassault Systèmes noted that brand marketing investment plays a key role in business valuation, saying: “The value of a brand is very important to any Chief Financial Officer (CFO). As a marketer, I can explain to them that the money we put into these campaigns has direct value in terms of the capitalisation of the brand – the amount that we’ll receive if we sell a brand to another company. The challenge is that it’s difficult to put numbers behind that.”
Marketers are working to separate brand and performance marketing metrics to better optimise each. Some, like Plaid’s Alex Young, are taking an account-based approach, using specific touchpoints to track brand influence. “If we put up a billboard outside someone’s offices and that company buys our solution six months later, then it’s a bit easier to match things up,” Young explained.
Evolving attribution models with AI
Accurately attributing marketing impact has long been a challenge, especially in B2B, where complex buying cycles often involve multiple stakeholders. Traditionally, many businesses have relied on last-touch attribution, which gives full credit to the final action before a conversion. However, LinkedIn’s report highlights a shift towards more sophisticated AI-driven attribution models.
ServiceNow’s Vivek Khandelwal explained how machine learning is improving attribution, saying: “Moving beyond the last touch view has been very important to us. We’re using machine learning models to ensure that we’re giving the right credit to the right touches, and capturing the fact that the performance of one channel can have a positive impact on the performance of another.”
B2B marketing’s increasing focus on revenue means businesses are not just tracking conversions, but assessing the lifetime value of customers across different channels. Sveta Freidman, global general manager for data and analytics at Xero, emphasised the need for a more granular approach: “One of my goals is to build an understanding of lifetime value by channel, segment level and by platform so that we can optimise our approach around the best outcomes for our business.”
Real-time data integration and measurement across timeframes
Marketers now measure campaign performance across multiple timeframes, including short-term return on ad spend (ROAS), long-term return on investment (ROI), and immediate activity metrics. This shift acknowledges that different marketing objectives require different measurement approaches.
However, real-time dashboards alone are not enough. The report highlights the growing need for integrated data sources that provide a complete picture of the buyer journey. Xero’s Freidman pointed to the need for a 360-degree view of the customer, saying: “To achieve that, you need to be able to connect your first-party data with behavioural and offline data, in order to create a better customer experience and more effective acquisition.”
Platforms like LinkedIn are becoming essential partners in filling data gaps. Alexandra Long of Plaid explained: “We have dashboards that we look at constantly, but they only tell us half the story. The dashboards give you an internal view, but you also need to work with ad platforms like LinkedIn to get their data – and that’s where partnership really comes in.”
The future of B2B marketing measurement
The report concludes that B2B marketers are moving towards more sophisticated measurement models that connect marketing investment to revenue, brand value, and customer lifetime value. Instead of relying on outdated attribution models or cost-based metrics, today’s marketing leaders are leveraging AI, integrated data, and real-time insights to make smarter decisions.
By refining how they measure impact across timeframes and integrating brand and performance metrics, marketers will be better equipped to drive growth and secure investment in the future.
You can download LinkedIn’s full report here.
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