Marketing Campaign Tracking Made Simple

Build comprehensive marketing tracking systems in spreadsheets using AI. Track campaigns, measure ROI, and optimize your marketing spend—all without complex software.

Why Track Marketing in Spreadsheets?

Marketing analytics platforms are powerful but often expensive and inflexible. Spreadsheets offer a middle ground: customizable, affordable, and familiar to everyone on your team.

With AI assistance, you can build marketing tracking systems that rival dedicated platforms—with complete control over your data and structure.

Essential Marketing Metrics to Track

Before building your tracking system, understand which metrics matter:

Top-of-Funnel Metrics

• Impressions: How many people saw your content
• Reach: Unique individuals exposed to your marketing
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): Percentage who clicked your ad or link
• Cost Per Click (CPC): How much each click costs

Mid-Funnel Metrics

• Leads Generated: Number of potential customers captured
• Cost Per Lead (CPL): Spend divided by leads
• Lead Quality Score: How likely leads are to convert
• Conversion Rate: Leads that become customers

Bottom-Funnel Metrics

• Customers Acquired: Closed deals from marketing
• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Total cost to acquire a customer
• Revenue Generated: Sales attributed to each campaign
• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): Revenue divided by ad spend
• Customer Lifetime Value (LTV): Long-term value of acquired customers

Building a Multi-Channel Tracker

Most marketing teams run campaigns across multiple channels. Here's how to structure a comprehensive tracker:

1. Campaign Master List

Create a central table with all campaigns:

• Campaign ID (unique identifier)
• Campaign Name
• Channel (Google Ads, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.)
• Start Date and End Date
• Budget Allocated
• Campaign Objective (Awareness, Leads, Sales)
• Target Audience

2. Daily/Weekly Performance Data

Track performance over time:

• Date
• Campaign ID (linked to master list)
• Spend
• Impressions
• Clicks
• Leads
• Conversions
• Revenue

3. Calculated Metrics Sheet

Automatically calculate key metrics from your raw data:

• CTR = Clicks / Impressions
• CPC = Spend / Clicks
• CPL = Spend / Leads
• Conversion Rate = Conversions / Leads
• CAC = Spend / Conversions
• ROAS = Revenue / Spend

Campaign Comparison & Attribution

Once you're tracking campaigns, you need to compare performance and understand which efforts drive results.

Cross-Channel Performance

Create a summary view comparing all channels:

• Total spend by channel
• Leads generated by channel
• CPL by channel (which is most efficient?)
• Conversion rate by channel (which leads convert best?)
• ROAS by channel (which drives most revenue?)

Attribution Models

When customers interact with multiple campaigns before converting, how do you attribute the success? Common models:

• First-Touch: Credit the first campaign a customer interacted with
• Last-Touch: Credit the final campaign before conversion
• Linear: Split credit equally across all touchpoints
• Time Decay: More credit to recent interactions

AI Prompt: "Build a multi-touch attribution model showing how each campaign contributes to conversions using linear attribution"

Budget Allocation & Forecasting

Use historical performance to optimize future spending:

Budget Optimization

• Allocate more budget to high-ROAS channels
• Calculate optimal spend mix to hit revenue targets
• Set spending caps based on CPL or CAC thresholds
• Track budget vs. actual spend by campaign

Performance Forecasting

Based on current trends, project future results: "If we maintain current spend levels, how many leads and conversions can we expect next quarter?" Ardin can build forecasting models based on your historical data.

Building Your Marketing Dashboard

Create an executive dashboard that summarizes everything:

• KPI Summary: Total spend, leads, conversions, revenue
• Trend Charts: Performance over time
• Channel Breakdown: Spend and results by channel
• Top Performers: Best campaigns by ROAS
• Underperformers: Campaigns needing attention
• Month-over-Month: Growth trends

AI Prompt: "Create a marketing dashboard with KPIs, trend charts, and channel performance summaries. Make it update automatically when I add new data."

Real-World Example: SaaS Marketing Tracker

Here's how a SaaS company might structure their marketing tracker:

1. Campaigns Sheet: All campaigns with budget and dates
2. Weekly Data Sheet: Performance metrics imported from ad platforms
3. Lead Quality Sheet: Tracking which campaigns generate demo requests vs. just signups
4. Attribution Sheet: Multi-touch attribution showing customer journey
5. Channel Summary: Rolled-up performance by channel
6. Executive Dashboard: High-level view for leadership

Ardin can build this entire structure from a single prompt: "Create a SaaS marketing tracker with campaign management, weekly performance tracking, lead quality scoring, and an executive dashboard"

Next Steps

Stop juggling multiple tools and platforms. Build a centralized marketing tracking system that gives you complete visibility and control. With Ardin's AI assistance, you can have a professional-grade tracker up and running in minutes.