What a marketing report can't tell you

We got very good at counting what's cheap to count: clicks, impressions, cost per lead. We got worse at asking what any of it is worth.

With one marketer, every hour has to earn its place. That's pushed me to be picky about what I measure.

Last-touch reporting over-credits

Your dashboard says a channel "drove" a sale. That tells you who touched the customer on the way in. It doesn't tell you whether the sale would have happened anyway.

Picture a customer who already knows you, searches your name, and clicks your ad. The ad gets the credit. It did nothing but stand in the doorway.

Last-touch reporting does this all the time. It over-credits your branded search, your website, and your demo form, because those are the last stops. The work that put you on the customer's shortlist is invisible.

Created or collected demand

Before I credit anything, I ask one thing: did this create new demand, or collect demand that already existed?

• CreatedA person who wasn't looking now knows you exist and why you matter.
• CollectedA person who was already looking found the door.

Both are useful. Only one of them grows the business. If you can't tell them apart, you'll keep paying to collect and wonder why nothing is growing.

What I look for

I still use the numbers. I check them against other evidence before they make the call.

• Ask people"How did you hear about us?" in plain words tells you things a report can't.
• Watch one changeTurn a single channel up or down and see what happens to the whole picture.
• Judge work by its current jobA customer story that won a new audience last year may now reassure someone who is already deciding. Same piece, new role.

Cheaper isn't better

The same trap shows up in spending. A cheap impression nobody remembers is worse value than a pricier one that sticks. A supplier who costs less but thinks less isn't a bargain.

At mode40 we sell to a small group of buyers over a long cycle. In that world, one report can't tell you what's working.