How to Track Content Production Costs, KPIs, and ROI — by Content Type

Content marketing is often one of the most valuable levers in B2B marketing, but it can also be one of the hardest to measure. Many teams invest heavily in producing blogs, white papers, webinars, videos, and more without a clear, consistent method for tracking performance, costs, and return on investment (ROI).

To maximize the business impact of your content marketing program, it is critical to implement a systematic approach to tracking content production, costs, KPIs, and ROI. This article presents a practical framework that you can implement using a simple spreadsheet with five key components: Content Tracker, Costs Tracker, KPIs Tracker, ROI Dashboard, and Benchmarks Reference.

Spreadsheet Structure — Tabs and Purpose

1. Content Tracker (Master View)

Purpose: High-level overview of content produced and performance at a glance.

The Content Tracker is your master list of all content assets, past and present. It provides visibility into what is in production, what has been published, and how each piece is performing in terms of business impact.

Columns:

  • Content Type

  • Content Title

  • Date Published

  • Author/Freelancer

  • Status (Planned / In Production / Published / Archived)

  • Cost

  • Pipeline influenced (latest)

  • Revenue attributed (latest)

  • ROI %

This tab is typically owned by the marketing lead or content operations manager and should be kept up to date as content progresses through planning, production, and distribution.

2. Costs Tracker

Purpose: Detailed tracking of production costs.

The Costs Tracker allows you to monitor actual content production costs in granular detail, including freelance and agency costs. It is essential for calculating true ROI later in the process.

Columns:

  • Content Type

  • Content Title

  • Freelancer/Agency

  • Hours Worked

  • Hourly Rate

  • Total Cost

  • Paid (Y/N)

  • Notes

Finance or operations teams typically fill in this tab as invoices are paid. For agency work billed as a flat project fee, simply enter the total cost directly.

3. KPIs Tracker (By Content Type)

Purpose: Monthly/quarterly monitoring of key KPIs by content type.

Each major content type should have its own tab for tracking KPIs. This enables clear comparisons between content formats and helps identify where to scale or optimize. The following content type tabs are recommended:

  • White Papers

  • Case Studies

  • Webinars

  • E-books

  • Reports

  • Blog Articles

  • Videos

  • Podcasts

  • Newsletters

For each content type tab, recommended columns include:

  • Content Title

  • Date Published

  • Downloads / Views / Registrations (varies by content)

  • Form conversion rate (%)

  • Time on page (where applicable)

  • Engagement (polls, Q&A, likes, shares — varies)

  • Lead quality (% MQL)

  • Sales team usage (where relevant)

  • Pipeline influenced ($)

  • Revenue attributed ($)

  • Notes / Comments

A marketing analytics specialist typically updates this data monthly or quarterly, pulling from tools such as Google Analytics, HubSpot, Salesforce, YouTube, podcast platforms, and marketing automation platforms.

4. ROI Dashboard (Auto-Calculated Summary)

Purpose: Visualization of content ROI trends over time.

The ROI Dashboard is the executive-facing summary that brings everything together. It auto-calculates trends based on data from the KPI Tracker and Costs Tracker. This is the most valuable tab for marketing leaders, CMOs, and executive stakeholders.

Sections:

  • ROI % per content type (last 12 months)

  • Pipeline influenced per content type

  • Revenue attributed per content type

  • Content cost trends

  • Performance vs benchmarks (automated comparison — Green = high performance, Red = low performance)

ROI is calculated for each content piece and each content type using the formula:

ROI % = (Revenue Attributed – Content Cost) / Content Cost * 100

By comparing both ROI % and pipeline influenced, you can see which content types drive the most business impact relative to cost.

5. Benchmarks Reference

Purpose: Internal benchmarks table for quick reference.

The Benchmarks Reference provides clear, shared definitions of what "low" and "high" performance looks like for each KPI. This ensures consistency across the team and enables automated performance comparisons in the dashboard.

Columns:

  • Content Type

  • KPI

  • Low Performance Threshold

  • High Performance Threshold

  • Current Avg. Performance (auto-updated from KPI tabs)

Benchmarks should be based on industry standards and internal historical performance data. They are critical for helping the team understand where to focus optimization efforts.

How This Is Used In Practice

  • Costs Tracker: Finance or Ops fills in as freelancers and agencies are paid.

  • Content Tracker: The marketing lead owns this tab and keeps it updated with content status and performance.

  • KPIs Tracker: The marketing analytics person fills in monthly or quarterly data from tools such as Google Analytics, HubSpot, Salesforce, YouTube, podcast platforms, and others.

  • ROI Dashboard: The dashboard auto-refreshes and is used for reporting to leadership and for content planning decisions.

  • Benchmarks: Benchmarks provide clear expectation-setting for the team and leadership, helping guide performance reviews and optimization priorities.

Next Steps

If you would like, I can also:

  • Generate the Google Sheets or Excel template for you

  • Show example formulas for calculating ROI per content piece

  • Add filters for date ranges, content owners, campaign tags

  • Suggest automations such as auto-pulling in Google Analytics or HubSpot data

ContentFrancesca Tabor