Where did the marketing budget go? Fixing ad spend tracking

Finance asks where the marketing budget went, and suddenly you’re stitching together answers from five different dashboards.

You know the money was spent. You’re just not sure what it actually delivered.

That’s the ad spend tracking problem.

In this video, we break down why ad spend tracking keeps slipping out of marketers’ control, how platform algorithms quietly work against your budget plans, and what it really takes to track ad spend in a way finance, leadership and your future self can trust.

You’ll learn:
What makes ad spend tracking actually valuable (and why most teams get it wrong)
Why platform-reported metrics don’t protect your budget
Three ways to track ad spend — from spreadsheets to automated, cross-channel tracking
How to link spend to ROI so budget conversations shift from defense to growth

If you want to stop guessing, protect your budget and prove where every dollar goes, this one’s for you.

Timestamps

00:00-00:38 — The ad spend tracking problem
00:39-02:06 — What makes ad spend tracking valuable
02:07-04:36 — Three ways to track your ad spend
04:37-05:33 — Aligning ad spend with business outcomes
05:36-06:01 — Allocating budget based on demand
06:02-06:33 — Making ROI part of daily decisions
06:34-07:46 — Building alignment with finance
07:47-08:44 —Taking control of your ad spend


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