Just remove the cost from the return, then divide the return by the amount spent – in this example, our return is Rs 20,000 and our expense is Rs 10,000:
(20,000 – 10,000) / 10,000 = 1.00
This will yield a decimal that can be converted to a percentage (in this example, 100%). You probably already know this, but if it’s a positive figure, congratulations: your action generated more money than you spent. If it’s negative, the effort was probably in vain.

The fundamental statistics
The ROI calculation itself is rather simple. If you keep reliable records, calculating how much you spend should be straightforward as well. For the most accurate reflection, add up all time spent, salaries paid, agency fees, media spend, design costs, and anything else you can think of.
The most challenging aspect of content marketing is calculating the return.

Generating leads
Certain forms of information are easier to identify the return on than others. You’re in luck if your content is hidden behind a lead-generation form that needs users to provide their information before viewing the download. It is as easy as matching the lead value to the downloads to determine the amount of business it generated. It may be worthwhile to do this for both prospective lead value (whether earned or lost) and actual sales value. This manner, you can demonstrate the value of your content while leaving it up to the sales staff to complete the deal.
This strategy may be seen in action with Hubspot’s Full Collection of Content Creation Templates. If you want to download them, you must first identify yourself to Hubspot, and you can bet they will contact you shortly thereafter. If your lead-generation form is linked to your client database, as Hubspot’s will be, the procedure becomes more simpler.

Alternate methods of calculating return

It’s more difficult with other forms of material.
Without that final conversion, blogs, videos, articles, guest posts, infographics, case studies, and other pieces of content will all contribute to sales in different ways. You’ll have to be more creative to determine the ROI for them, as there are several methods:

Engagement
For some, the quantity of engagement generated by a page is a solid sign of its worth. A larger number of page visits, time spent on the site, and a reduced bounce rate are all signs of engagement. The more engaged your users are, the more likely they are to contact you or make a purchase from you.

SEO efficiency
Your content might be incredibly beneficial in terms of enhancing your search results and bringing traffic – and, eventually, purchases – to your website. To calculate the return on particular pages or pieces of content, divide the number of page views by the total number of page views and multiply by the total amount of business driven by natural search. This can also apply to certain portions of your website, such as your blog.

Backlinks
Backlinks are essential for optimal SEO performance. If backlinks are one of your objectives, they can be utilised to assess the worth of content. The amount of backlinks is significant, but so is the quality of the sites that connect to you.

Metrics for social media
Because content is the lifeblood of effective social media, the volume of commerce generated by social links is frequently a good sign of excellent content. Keeping track of different posts’ likes, shares, and views is also a fantastic way to demonstrate the worth of varied material.

Models of attribution in Google Analytics

There are several methods to attribute the value of your sales to the marketing activities that produced them. It’s a complicated trip since people switch between channels for an extended length of time before making a purchase.
Google Analytics is a fantastic free tool for assessing the effectiveness of content. Its Page Value measure assigns a monetary value to each page based on its contribution to sales. The greater the number, the greater the value.
If you have e-commerce tracking set up, you may additionally analyse your marketing performance using several attribution models. Standard models include initial click, final click, time decay, and linear. There is also the opportunity to design your own model. It’s useful to examine your content using various models to see how and where it contributes so that you can optimise it.

Begin simple.
Assessing the ROI on content marketing may be as complex or as straightforward as you wish. Our recommendation is to start small and work your way up. It is preferable to have a baseline statistic that everyone knows and provides a starting point rather than wasting time and work on a more exact figure that is probably not worth the effort. Once you’re certain, you may work towards an exact and practical ROI number.