What are the potential challenges and solutions when interpreting data from a marketing dashboard with more than 20 individual inputs?

There are several alternative methods to track ROI over a period apart from using a marketing dashboard. These include:

1. Using Google Analytics: This tool can help you track the performance of your marketing campaigns and calculate ROI.

2. CRM Systems: Customer Relationship Management systems can track sales and customer interactions, helping you calculate ROI.

3. Excel Spreadsheets: Although more manual, you can track expenses, sales, and calculate ROI using spreadsheets.

4. Financial Software: Tools like QuickBooks can help track expenses and revenues, allowing for ROI calculations.

5. Custom Reporting: Depending on your business, you may have custom reporting tools available that can track ROI.

Global companies like Apple and Google can optimize their marketing dashboards to track budget vs actual spent by implementing a few strategies. First, they can customize their dashboard to track key performance indicators (KPIs) that are relevant to their marketing goals. This could include metrics like ROI, customer acquisition cost, and conversion rates. Second, they can use dropdown fields to filter data and make the dashboard easier to interpret. For instance, they can filter by media platform or marketing channel. Lastly, they should limit the number of inputs tracked to avoid overwhelming the dashboard. A focus on 5 to 10 key inputs can help maintain clarity and usability.