How knowing the story helps you slay at solo marketing

Some real talk for solo marketers:

I know it’s overwhelming. You’re juggling content, emails, ads, your cousin’s birthday, and whatever the heck UTM parameters are. But just remember: you don’t need to do everything, you just need to do the right things, and knowing what influences your audience is the cheat code.

Okay, how do we do that?

Understanding which channels and touchpoints actually influence consumer behaviour is called "attribution". With proper attribution, you’re not just staring at dashboards. You’re making smarter decisions, stretching tight budgets, and turning insight into income. As Marketing Week puts it so well: "You’re no longer going off guesswork. You’re seeing the whole picture, and using that insight to drive more sales, more efficiently".

Basically, if you’re only measuring what converts, you’re judging a book by its checkout receipt. And we both know that’s not how marketing magic really works. The best marketers don't just track the last click. Those iced oat milk latte addicts (I assume lol) uncover what influences people along the way. Because every ad, every blog post, every awkwardly cropped webinar still rocking 2012 design choices… it all matters.

Cool, but… what does that actually mean?

Think of your marketing like a messy, delicious spaghetti bowl. Every noodle (channel) touches another. One bite of email might’ve made your audience crave a helping of TikTok. A sprinkle of SEO got them Googling you at midnight. And that one oddly specific meme on LinkedIn? Yeah, that’s the parmesan. You can’t just measure the fork, you’ve gotta taste the whole damn dish.

So, here’s how to ditch the guesswork and become a marketing influence detective (trench coat optional):

• Measure the real performance of every channel – not just the one hogging the credit. Just because a customer clicked on your ad right before converting doesn’t mean the ad alone closed the deal. Maybe it was your podcast that warmed them up. Or that freebie lead magnet that looked like it was made in Canva… because it was. (No shade babe, we’ve all been there.)

• Spot the campaigns and keywords that drive action, even if they don’t convert immediately. Influence doesn’t always show up in the metrics right away. But trust, that email series you almost scrapped is working behind the scenes like a backstage crew at Beyoncé’s tour. Quiet, essential, and underpaid (jk… sort of).

• Look at the full impact of your content, ads, events – the whole customer journey. You wouldn’t judge a Netflix series by one random episode… So why are you judging your strategy by one click? Map it out. Find the patterns. Make peace with the fact that your blog post from three months ago is finally pulling its weight. (Late bloomers need love, too.)

• Give credit (and budget) where it’s due. The silent MVPs of your marketing might not be flashy, but they’re pulling conversions like champs. Time to give them the credit (and coin) they deserve. Yes, I’m talking about your high-bounce blog that somehow makes everyone Google you 10 minutes later.

The bigger picture

Understanding the full story of how people decide to buy, click, or come back for more is what it's all about. Stop obsessing over the final touches and start appreciating every part of the journey. That way, you unlock smarter strategy, stronger results, and way fewer WTF moments in your reporting. Influence is the insight that helps you market like you actually know what you’re doing – because now, you do.

-Sophie Randell, Writer