How do I track my marketing ROI?
- ROI compares what a marketing activity cost against what it returned.
- Ads and promos offer the clearest, most measurable returns.
- Some channels (branding, social) resist exact attribution.
- Track what you can; estimate the rest honestly.
- ROI data tells you what to repeat and what to cut.
Track marketing ROI by tying spend to results wherever attribution is possible: ad platforms report cost and sales directly, and promos show a measurable sales bump against their cost. For channels that build awareness over time — social, branding, some PR — accept that exact attribution is impossible and judge them by reasonable signals (list growth, reach) rather than forcing false precision. Use the data to double down on what returns and cut what does not.
Chapter i·Why it matters
Marketing budgets are limited, and without tracking ROI authors keep spending on what feels active rather than what works. Measuring the attributable channels (ads, promos) shows exactly where money pays off, while honestly estimating the unmeasurable ones prevents both wishful thinking and the opposite error of abandoning slow-building brand work. ROI tracking turns marketing from guesswork into a feedback loop that compounds across books.
Chapter ii·What to include
- Cost-vs-return tracking for ads and promos.
- Platform reporting used for attributable channels.
- Honest estimates for unmeasurable channels.
- Signals (list growth, reach) for brand work.
- A repeat-vs-cut decision from the data.
- Avoidance of false precision.
Chapter iii·Example
An author tracks that $200 in ads returned $320 in attributable sales (keep) and a promo paid off well, while a month of daily social posting shows no measurable sales but real list growth (judge by that). She doubles ad spend, repeats the promo, and keeps social for awareness — decisions driven by ROI where she can measure it.
Chapter iv·Related questions
WriteLoom's Market studio keeps spend and results side by side, so you can see which marketing pays off and which to cut.
See the Market studio