Source: Featured Blogs - Forrester
B2B marketers have built entire attribution stacks around engagement metrics and purchase signals, but Forrester argues these vanity metrics obscure the real question: does the buyer prefer *your* company over competitors? This distinction matters because it exposes a billions-dollar problem in how companies allocate marketing budgets—they're optimizing for visibility and interaction rather than defensible competitive advantage, which leaves them vulnerable to category commoditization and margin compression. The structural consequence: performance marketing as traditionally practiced rewards noise over preference, forcing brands to rethink how they measure and build demand.