Attribution may explain a click, but it rarely explains a decision.

We’ve become obsessed with chasing attribution. The dashboards glow green, the funnel looks clean, and the executive team sees tidy slides with tidy numbers. While neat and trackable, it’s also misleading.

Attribution is a comfort—but it’s not the same thing as value.

The problem with the click.

The click is the currency of short-term thinking. It rewards noise over nuance, and conversion over conviction. In complex B2B marketing and sales—where deal cycles stretch months and buying committees run deep—trust is the real differentiator. Nobody makes a multi-million-dollar decision because of a single touchpoint.

Still yet, many marketers build strategies solely around winning the click. Campaigns are measured in quarters, and budgets swing wildly based on what’s “working” in the moment. But what if the most valuable thing you ever publish doesn’t convert for 18 months? Will your attribution model catch it? Would your team even notice?

Our case for always-on.

Always-on marketing isn’t only a media tactic—it’s a mindset. It’s about creating a consistent, persistent, and strategic presence in the market. One that builds trust over time, earns attention on buyer’s terms, and generates value long after its initial launch.

A huge fallacy of an attribution-focused campaign is the illusion of control. Sure, you may decide all the details—from where your media runs to when it goes live—but you cannot control when a buyer is ready to act. Perhaps their boss just gave them a deadline, or a competitor made a move they need to respond to. Maybe they’ve been quietly following your brand for months and finally act.

The point is, readiness doesn’t follow your campaign calendar. So when you strategize based on “launch windows,” you’re making a dangerous assumption—that buyers are only in-market when you are. The reality? Most aren’t. And when they do enter a buying cycle, they’ll engage with brands that are already present, relevant, and adding value. That’s what always-on is about. Beyond chasing the click, you’re earning consideration and staying top of mind for the moment the buyer becomes ready.

It’s about compounding value over time—not a quick spike.

Take our client, IBS Software. In 2023, we helped them create their Airline Retail Transformation Roadmap—a content asset designed to help airline executives modernize their offer and order strategy, turning their airline from a carrier to a marketplace. The roadmap was part of a tailored campaign, and rather than being optimized for clicks, it was designed to deliver continuous value to prospects.

Two years later, it’s still circulating. Still being called out by IBS Software’s customers, and opening doors to conversations across all touchpoints—from lead acquisition and events to webinars and nurture campaigns. That’s the power of content designed to outlast attribution.

The IBS Software team also partnered with us to develop a virtual Airline Transformation Experience—a fully immersive digital environment that showcased its suite of airline solutions in a gamified, narrative-driven format.

On their own terms or through a guided sales experience, prospects can explore IBS’ aviation impact across cargo, loyalty, operations, and retail. Not only is this piece of content relevant to a variety of prospects, its evergreen nature and intentional build—made for easy updating and content aggregation as IBS’ platforms grow and change over time—makes it a staple experience for the company. As a result, their team has seen:

• Higher engagement time than any prior digital asset.
• Increased recall and brand perception as a leader in aviation technology.
• More informed, faster-moving leads entering the pipeline.
  

Evergreen is greater than ephemeral.

The reality is, most of what makes marketing effective is invisible to attribution tools. Examples:

• A podcast episode that builds a reputation.
• A whitepaper that arms a sales champion for conversation.
• A LinkedIn post that sparks curiosity three months before a buying cycle begins.

None of these moments “attribute” easily, but they influence outcomes in ways that matter more than the last site visit.

Convert on confidence, not contact.

When you’re making decisions that drive your go-to-market strategy, think about more than the report. The real KPI is momentum. Content should be built to shift buyer perceptions. For credibility and trust. For staying power. If the only thing your content does is get clicked and forgotten, you’re not building a brand—you’re renting attention.

The marketers who win in B2B aren’t the ones with the cleanest dashboards. They’re the ones who stay present, consistent, and add value. So if you’re looking for results, stop chasing attribution. Start building something that lasts.