Marketing today is consumed with attribution. It’s that quest to prove what marketing tactic (or tactics) led to your prospect turning into a customer.

Data aggregation and marketing automation promise to help us find the holy grail of attribution. But it’s not as easy as just hooking up a few systems and sitting back and waiting for the magic to happen. There will be holes. We will have to make educated assumptions based on the best data available.

A rule of thumb

If we’re unsure what tactic to employ, there is one rule of thumb that never fails. Be useful.

If we’re providing something useful to our prospects, then we will never have that sinking feeling that our efforts are wasted.

5 ideas for creating something useful

Not sure what you should be doing? Here are five questions to ask that could help you develop something useful.

1. What will help them answer a key question?
2. What will help them compare their options?
3. What will help them discover a new option?
4. What will help them find a new way to address a familiar challenge?
5. What will help them feel smarter about their decision?

It could be a blog post, an ebook, a worksheet, an interview with an expert, and more. Whatever it is, just make sure it’s useful. If you do that, it will be worth your and your prospect’s time.