I lead industrial marketing by asking what influenced a buying decision, what the evidence cannot tell us and what a customer actually understood.
My first mistake in marketing measurement was attractive because it gave everyone a simple account of success. An exhibition had been busy, sales colleagues were pleased and twenty-four subsequent orders could be connected to accounts that had attended or engaged with the event. I used that association as if it established what the exhibition had caused. The correction required a less flattering explanation and a better decision about the next year's budget.
A customer touching a campaign does not tell me that the campaign caused the purchase. A lost bid marked price does not explain the whole buying decision. I want marketing to make those uncertainties useful: ask the next question, change the investment where evidence supports it and admit when our own presentation created the misunderstanding.