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    Marketing

    Content ROI Estimator

    Estimates the return on investment for content marketing assets by tracking production cost against traffic, leads, and revenue attributed to each piece. Compares performance across content types to identify what formats deliver the highest return.

    Marketing - Content ROI Estimator.xlsx

    Excel (.xlsx) — No macros — Works in Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice

    Download Free

    What This Spreadsheet Solves

    • No way to tie content production costs to revenue outcomes
    • Cannot compare ROI of blog posts vs. whitepapers vs. videos
    • Content budget decisions are based on engagement rather than revenue
    • Difficult to justify content spend to finance without ROI data
    • No framework for prioritizing which content to produce next

    Who This Is For

    • Content marketing managers justifying budget
    • SEO managers evaluating content investments
    • Marketing directors comparing content vs. paid channel ROI
    • Freelance content strategists reporting to clients

    Inputs

    • textContent Title / URL
    • textContent Type
    • $Production Cost
    • #Attributed Leads
    • $Attributed Revenue
    • datePublish Date

    Outputs

    • ROI per content piece
    • Revenue per dollar spent on content
    • Average ROI by content type
    • Cost per lead by content piece
    • Cumulative content portfolio ROI

    How Calculations Work

    ROI per piece is (Attributed Revenue - Production Cost) / Production Cost * 100. Content is grouped by type to compute average ROI per format. A time-decay option in CONFIG lets you weight recent attribution more heavily. The portfolio view sums all costs and revenue to show overall content marketing ROI.

    Example Use Case

    Scenario: A team publishes a blog post ($400 cost, 12 leads, $3,600 revenue), a whitepaper ($2,000 cost, 8 leads, $6,400 revenue), and a video ($3,500 cost, 20 leads, $5,000 revenue).

    Result: Blog ROI: 800%, $30 CPL. Whitepaper ROI: 220%, $250 CPL. Video ROI: 43%, $175 CPL. Blog posts deliver the highest ROI; video production cost reduces returns despite strong lead volume.

    What You Get — 5 Sheets

    READMEExplains content ROI methodology, attribution assumptions, and how to compare content types.
    INPUTOne row per content asset with title, type, cost, leads, revenue, and publish date.
    LOGICComputes ROI per piece, CPL, groups by content type, and calculates portfolio totals.
    OUTPUTRanked content table by ROI. Summary section by content type with average ROI and total spend.
    CONFIGAttribution window setting, time-decay toggle, content type categories, and currency format.

    Technical Details

    File Format:.xlsx (Open XML)
    Macros:None — pure formulas
    Compatibility:Excel 2016+, Google Sheets, LibreOffice
    Input Cells:Clearly marked with blue background
    Formulas:All outputs are live Excel formulas
    Protection:LOGIC sheet formulas protected, INPUT cells editable

    Frequently Asked Questions

    How do I attribute revenue to a content piece?

    Use your analytics tool's attribution model. Enter whatever revenue your system credits to the content URL or campaign tag.

    Should I include distribution costs (e.g., paid promotion)?

    Yes. Add promotion spend to the production cost so the ROI reflects total investment.

    What about content that generates leads over many months?

    Update the attributed revenue periodically. The publish date field helps you see how ROI evolves over time.

    Can I compare content across different time periods?

    Yes. Filter by publish date on the OUTPUT sheet to compare quarterly or yearly cohorts.

    How does the time-decay option work?

    When enabled in CONFIG, revenue attributed more than N months after publish is discounted by a configurable percentage to reflect diminishing returns.

    Download Content ROI Estimator

    Ready to use immediately. Enter your data in the INPUT sheet, see results in OUTPUT.

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