How to Use Analytics to Show What's Working in Marketing Now

Insights from marketing professionals working "in the trenches" at ISV and VAR organizations

Marketing teams today face increasing pressure to prove their worth with hard data. But which metrics actually matter, and how can you use analytics to demonstrate real business impact?

Three experienced marketing professionals recently shared their proven strategies for using analytics to show what's truly driving results. Here's what they revealed about tracking the right metrics, choosing attribution models, and proving marketing's value to leadership.

What Marketing Strategies Are Actually Working

The Power of Organic Content and SEO

Amanda Sherry, VP of Marketing at Western Computer, emphasized that organic search has become their biggest driver of success. "We had 21 opportunities from SEO last year alone," she shared. "Our approach has been prioritizing human content and human experience—we don't keyword stuff or focus on backlinks. Instead, we position ourselves as thought leaders."

This strategy is paying off significantly:

• SEO drives 37% of their website sessions (11% higher than their second traffic source)

• Accounts for 44% of engaged sessions (more than double their direct traffic)

• Typical conversion happens about 45 days after first visit

  
  

Events and Webinars Drive Quality Leads

Megan McDonagh, Senior Revenue Marketing Manager at Celigo, revealed that 45% of their top-of-funnel leads come from events, particularly in Q1. But they've also revolutionized their webinar strategy by switching to a more robust platform.

"We invested in Goldcast, which allows us to set up series pages where people can multi-register for different events," McDonagh explained. "I can have 100-150 registrants for events I haven't even started promoting yet."

The Inbound Foundation

Hannah Horning, Demand Generation Manager at ArcherPoint, shared that their blog serves as the primary entry point for website traffic. From a revenue perspective, marketing contributed to about 48% of bookings last year, with inbound sources (direct traffic and organic search) making up half of that contribution.

What to Report On (And to Whom)

Know Your Audience

All three experts emphasized tailoring reports to the audience. "I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone present impressions or clicks to executives and watched their eyes glaze over," McDonagh noted.

Executive-Level Reporting

• MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads)

• Opportunities created

• Opportunities won and revenue against targets

• Conversion rates by source

  
  

Team-Level Reporting

• Detailed breakdowns by industry or segment

• Channel performance (PPC, email, webinars)

• Lead quality metrics

• Campaign-specific analytics

  
  

The Importance of Regular Cadence

Horning shared their approach: "We keep our reporting cycle very short for weekly marketing meetings—that's where we can quickly pivot based on what happened last week. Then we do monthly reviews for longer-cycle analysis."

Attribution Models That Actually Work

The "W" Model Approach

Sherry advocates for what she calls the "W attribution model," which tracks:

1. First touch - How they originally found you

2. Converting touch - Where the lead was generated

3. Opportunity creation - When it moves to sales

"I weigh first touch and converting touch equally because they're not going to convert unless they found you," she explained. "You can't focus on just one without the other."

First Touch vs. Last Touch

Both Horning and McDonagh use combinations of first-touch and last-touch attribution:

• First touch shows the original source

• Last touch shows what drove conversion

• Linear models give equal credit to all touchpoints

McDonagh's team uses CaliberMind to see the full customer journey: "We can see all the touches and give equal credit to all of them, so we're not just spending on how they came in, but also what converted them."

Essential Tools for Marketing Analytics

Start Simple, Scale Smart

Horning reminded everyone that sophisticated analytics don't require expensive tools: "I do 99% of my metrics in Salesforce. Most CRMs today have what you need to get started with basic marketing attribution."

Key Tool Categories:

• CRM/Marketing Automation (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pardot)

• Web Analytics (Google Analytics)

• Attribution Platforms (CaliberMind for advanced analysis)

• ABM Tools (RollWorks, Sixth Sense)

• Webinar Platforms (Goldcast for advanced features)

Pro tip: "Your tool is only as good as your ability to use it," McDonagh advised. "We meet bi-weekly with our CSMs and attend feature update sessions. Even one hour a week of tool exploration can dramatically improve your results."

The Critical Metric You're Probably Missing

Lead Quality Over Quantity

Sherry shared a powerful example of why lead quality tracking is essential. When she returned to Western Computer after 14 months away, her PPC vendor wanted to triple down on a campaign that was "killing it" in conversions.

"When I looked at the lead quality report, every single lead from that campaign was immediately disqualified, not one was a target prospect," she revealed. "I'd much rather have five qualified leads than 50 that are all immediately disqualified."

How to Track Lead Quality:

• Connect lead scores to marketing sources

• Track MQL to opportunity conversion rates by channel

• Monitor disqualification reasons by source

• Calculate cost per qualified lead, not just cost per lead

  
  

Start, Stop, Continue Framework

START Doing:

• Track lead quality by marketing source

• Tailor reports to your specific audience

• Use multiple attribution models for complete picture

• Explore advanced features in existing tools

STOP Doing:

• Focusing only on vanity metrics (clicks, impressions) for executive reports

• Setting campaigns and forgetting them

• Using revenue terminology incorrectly (use "bookings" or "committed revenue" instead)

CONTINUE Doing:

• Publishing consistent, human-focused content

• Meeting regularly to review data and pivot quickly

• Balancing top-funnel and bottom-funnel metrics

• Investing in tools that integrate well together

The Bottom Line

Marketing analytics isn't about having the fanciest tools or tracking every possible metric. It's about understanding what drives real business results and communicating that value clearly to different stakeholders.

As these experts demonstrated, the most successful marketing teams:

1. Focus on lead quality over quantity

2. Use multiple attribution models to understand the full customer journey

3. Report the right metrics to the right audiences

4. Continuously optimize based on data insights

5. Start simple and scale their analytics sophistication over time

The key takeaway? You don't need to be perfect, you just need to start measuring what matters and use those insights to prove marketing's impact on the bottom line.

Want to dive deeper into marketing analytics? Join the conversation in our community where marketing professionals share real strategies and results from the trenches.

Watch the full Marketing Group Chat here: https://www.channelmktgacademy.com/video-library 

By Channel Marketing Academy, www.channelmktgacademy.com