When attribution data is imperfect or siloed, how do you justify ongoing investment in upper-funnel/brand-driven work?

Even when attribution isn’t perfect, consistent investment in upper-funnel and brand work is still one of the strongest drivers of long-term growth. Strong brand awareness lowers acquisition costs over time, improves conversion rates across all channels, and creates demand before people even step into your funnel. The data may be imperfect, but the long-term impact is very real.

Unless your organization does not rely on Marketing-sourced revenue and generates most of its revenue and pipeline via full-circle sales, ToFu- and brand-driven content are a non-negotiable.

GenAI complicates attribution even more, which is why - if your customer journey allows - I would recommend layering multiple attribution steps on top of each other, like technical attribution in CRM, self-attribution in SDR or Sales, etc.

Lastly, break up the data silos, with AI or BI if necessary.

Great question -- and a real problem. How many times have I heard brand and upstream investments questioned. Technically, this is becoming more possible given data, AI. But, until you have the magic dashboard with all-in; try capturing what you can and isolating good examples, extrapolate others. Run constrained pilots/examples. To the comment below by Debasis, there is data management strategy needed and likely some form of measurement framework. You are not alone! And, anecdotes certainly help when you can get them from commercial folks.