Description
Budgets drift in the gap between the plan and the invoice
Most marketing budgets are set once, in a spreadsheet nobody opens again until the numbers are due. By the time an overspend shows up on a report, the money is already gone — and it’s rarely clear which campaign actually did it.
This kit closes that gap. Log spend as it happens against the budget you actually set, and see an over-budget campaign the week it happens, not the quarter after.
What you get
1. A 10-sheet Excel workbook
- Start Here — how the sheets connect
- Campaign Budget Log — every campaign’s planned budget, channel, and dates
- Spend Log — every dollar spent, logged against its campaign
- Budget vs Actual by Campaign — planned vs spent, with variance calculated for you
- Spend by Channel — where your budget actually goes, by channel
- Monthly Spend Summary — spend trend by month, with a chart
- Channel ROI Snapshot — a quick read on which channels are earning their budget
- Over-Budget Alerts — flags any campaign that’s gone over, automatically
- Campaign Lookup — type a campaign name, see its full budget record
- Dashboard — total budget, total spent, variance, and your most over-budget campaign, live
2. An 11-page companion guide (PDF)
How to set a campaign budget that means something, how to read the Budget vs Actual report, what the Over-Budget Alerts tab catches that a monthly report misses, and a short weekly review routine.
3. A Notion template
An importable Notion workspace mirroring the key tracking tables, with a quick-reference section and a next-actions checklist.
Built for
- Marketers running more than two or three campaigns at once who have lost track of which one is overspending
- Agencies or freelancers managing client ad budgets who need a clean record to show for it
- Anyone who sets a quarterly marketing budget and wants to know mid-quarter, not after, if it’s slipping
- Teams who split spend across several channels and want one source of truth instead of five platform dashboards
What’s in the file
- 1 x Excel workbook (.xlsx) — formulas live and editable
- 1 x PDF companion guide, 11 pages
- 1 x Notion import file (Markdown) — key tables ready to import
- Delivered as a single ZIP, available immediately after payment
Compatibility
Microsoft Excel 2016 and later, Microsoft 365, Google Sheets, and LibreOffice Calc. Works with any currency, any channel, and any naming convention — you enter your own data rather than being locked into a fixed list of platforms or categories.
This is a planning and organization tool. It does not constitute tax, accounting, legal, or financial advice. Results depend on the accuracy of the figures you enter.
Frequently asked questions
Does it pull spend from my ad platforms automatically?
No — you enter spend yourself, which takes a few minutes a week and keeps the numbers accurate regardless of which platforms you use.
How many campaigns can I track?
The log ships with room for 40 entries and a dropdown list you extend yourself — copy a row down to add more.
Will this work in Google Sheets?
Yes. Upload to Google Drive and open with Google Sheets — formulas and dropdowns carry over.
Can I track more than one client or brand in it?
Yes — add a client column to the Spend Log and filter by it, or duplicate the workbook per client if you prefer them kept fully separate.
Is this the same as the Marketing ROI Tracker?
No. This one is about staying inside budget as you spend. The ROI Tracker is about what that spend actually returned — they pair well together.
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