Attribution is the last safe haven for people who can’t explain where the money went.

CFO wants ROI by channel. Marketing says attribution is complicated.

Both are correct. One is trying to run a business. The other is trying to win an argument.

Attribution is the adult version of astrology. It’s brilliant at explaining the past and useless at predicting the future. And somehow it always “proves” the channel someone’s bonus depends on is undervalued.

If you can’t explain where the money went and what it did, you don’t have a marketing function. You have an arts grant.

If Finance can’t accept that some channels work because they change behaviour over time, not because someone clicked a tracked link, you don’t have rigour. You have spreadsheet cosplay.

The fix is boring, which is why nobody does it.

Pick one outcome that matters. Revenue, margin, cash. Not “leads”.
Agree the rules before you spend, not after it goes wrong.
Run proper tests, kill what doesn’t lift, scale what does.
Stop pretending a dashboard is governance.

Marketing isn’t special.
It’s just another capital allocation problem.
Act like it.