--- title: "How to tell if your marketing is working · Ingenious Hub" description: "A simple method for a small business: one goal, tagged links, enquiries counted by source, a question at first contact and a monthly one-page review." canonical: https://www.ingenioushub.com/notes/how-to-tell-if-your-marketing-is-working updated: 2026-11-05 publisher: Ingenious Hub (https://www.ingenioushub.com) --- Marketing # How to tell if your marketing is working Decide one goal, tag every link you share, count enquiries by source, ask each new customer how they heard of you, and spend an hour a month on a one-page review. Do not trust a number that does not connect to an enquiry or a sale. By [Daitiva Sharma](https://www.ingenioushub.com/studio) 5 Nov 20264 min readReads at about Class 7 **In this article4 min read** 1. Step 1: decide one goal 2. Step 2: tag your links 3. Step 3: count enquiries by source 4. Step 4: ask how they heard of you 5. Step 5: a monthly one-page review 6. What not to trust 7. When you do need help 8. When you do not need a studio Many small businesses spend on posts, ads or an agency and then cannot say whether it helped. They are told about reach, impressions and followers, and none of that tells them whether the phone rang. You do not need a dashboard to fix this. You need a short routine and the habit of writing things down. ## Step 1: decide one goal Pick the one result that matters this quarter. For most small businesses it is the number of enquiries, or the number of orders, or the number of visits to the shop. Write it in one line. Everything else, such as followers or page views, is only useful if it moves that line. If you have two goals, you will measure neither well. ## Step 2: tag your links When you share a link to your website, add a small tag that says where it came from. These tags are [UTM parameters](https://www.ingenioushub.com/glossary/utm-parameters): short labels for the source, the medium and the campaign. Your website analytics then show how many visitors came from your Instagram bio, from a newsletter or from an ad, instead of lumping them together. Our [UTM link builder](https://www.ingenioushub.com/tools/utm-link-builder) makes the tagged link for you. Use the same spelling every time, because 'instagram' and 'Instagram' can show up as two different sources. [UTM parameters](https://www.ingenioushub.com/glossary/utm-parameters): UTM parameters are short tags added to the end of a web address, such as utm_source and utm_campaign, that tell analytics tools where a visit came from. ## Step 3: count enquiries by source Keep a simple sheet, on paper or a spreadsheet, with one row per enquiry: date, name or initials, how they reached you, what they asked for, and what happened. Include calls and WhatsApp messages, which analytics cannot see. At the end of the month you can count how many came from each route and how many became customers. A simple enquiry log | Date | Source | What they asked | Result | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 3 Nov | Google profile call | Quote for a signboard | Visited, order placed | | 5 Nov | Instagram message | Catalogue | No reply after two follow-ups | | 9 Nov | Referral | Brand design | Meeting booked | | 12 Nov | Website form | Price enquiry | Not a fit | ## Step 4: ask how they heard of you This is the oldest method and still one of the best. Add one question to your enquiry form and say it aloud on calls: 'How did you hear about us?' Let people answer in their own words. Their answers will often include sources your tags cannot see, such as a friend, a signboard or a talk. When a tagged click and a person's own answer disagree, note both. They tell you different things. The tag tells you the last click, and the person tells you what first made them look. The idea of crediting a result to a source is called [attribution](https://www.ingenioushub.com/glossary/attribution), and no method of it is perfect. [Attribution](https://www.ingenioushub.com/glossary/attribution): Attribution is the method of assigning credit for a sale or enquiry to the marketing touchpoints that led to it. ## Step 5: a monthly one-page review Once a month, spend an hour and fill one page with the same headings each time: - Enquiries this month, and by source. - How many became customers, and your [conversion rate](https://www.ingenioushub.com/glossary/conversion-rate) from enquiry to customer, if you have enough numbers to say anything. - What you spent and what you did, for each route. - What you will stop, keep and try next month. One change at a time. Keep the pages. After a few months you will see patterns that no single report shows, such as a quiet season, or one source that brings fewer enquiries but better customers. Judge a route over several months, not a week. Our [Google listing check](https://www.ingenioushub.com/tools/google-listing-check) is a good place to look if search is part of the picture. ## What not to trust - Follower counts, likes and reach on their own. They are easy to raise and may never bring an enquiry. - A report that has no link to enquiries or sales, however nice it looks. - A single month in a small business, where a few people can swing the numbers. - A source that credits itself. Ad platforms report results using their own rules, so compare their numbers with your own log. - Promises of a rank or a result by a fixed date. Our note on [how to read an SEO quote](https://www.ingenioushub.com/notes/how-to-read-an-seo-quote-in-india) shows what to ask for. ## When you do need help If you spend on paid ads, run several campaigns at once or want tracking set up properly on your website, a specialist can set that up and read it with you. See our [performance work](https://www.ingenioushub.com/services/performance). Ask any agency to report against your enquiry log, not only their own tools. ## When you do not need a studio For a business with a few channels and a few enquiries a week, the steps above can be done by you with a notebook. Bring in help when the volume grows past what you can track by hand or when the spend is large enough that a wrong guess is expensive. About the author [Daitiva Sharma](https://www.ingenioushub.com/studio) is the founder of Ingenious Hub, a brand and design studio in Jaipur. A designer, brand strategist and photographer, he has worked in design since 2007, leading design teams before founding the studio. [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/daitiva) Disagree, or want to argue the point? hello@ingenioushub.com Share this note - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ingenioushub.com%2Fnotes%2Fhow-to-tell-if-your-marketing-is-working) - [X](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ingenioushub.com%2Fnotes%2Fhow-to-tell-if-your-marketing-is-working&text=How%20to%20tell%20if%20your%20marketing%20is%20working) - [WhatsApp](https://wa.me/?text=How%20to%20tell%20if%20your%20marketing%20is%20working%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ingenioushub.com%2Fnotes%2Fhow-to-tell-if-your-marketing-is-working) - 4 min read Share this note - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ingenioushub.com%2Fnotes%2Fhow-to-tell-if-your-marketing-is-working) - [X](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ingenioushub.com%2Fnotes%2Fhow-to-tell-if-your-marketing-is-working&text=How%20to%20tell%20if%20your%20marketing%20is%20working) - [WhatsApp](https://wa.me/?text=How%20to%20tell%20if%20your%20marketing%20is%20working%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ingenioushub.com%2Fnotes%2Fhow-to-tell-if-your-marketing-is-working) - ## Tools and terms for this note Try it yourself, free - [UTM link builderTag a link so Google Analytics shows which place sent each visit.](https://www.ingenioushub.com/tools/utm-link-builder) - [Google listing self-checkEleven questions on what a local customer sees on your listing, then three fixes.](https://www.ingenioushub.com/tools/google-listing-check) Words used in this note - [UTM parametersMarketing](https://www.ingenioushub.com/glossary/utm-parameters) - [Conversion rateWeb and UX](https://www.ingenioushub.com/glossary/conversion-rate) [The full glossary](https://www.ingenioushub.com/glossary) ## Keep reading More on [PR and growth](https://www.ingenioushub.com/notes/topic/pr-and-growth) - [Logo or brand identity: which do you need?Branding · 5 min read](https://www.ingenioushub.com/notes/logo-or-brand-identity-which-do-you-need) - [How to write website copy for your businessMarketing · 4 min read](https://www.ingenioushub.com/notes/how-to-write-website-copy-for-a-small-business) - [How to get more Google reviews in IndiaMarketing · 4 min read](https://www.ingenioushub.com/notes/get-more-google-reviews-for-a-small-business-in-india) - [Local SEO checklist for a Jaipur businessMarketing · 3 min read](https://www.ingenioushub.com/notes/local-seo-checklist-for-jaipur-businesses) - [Instagram profile setup for small businessMarketing · 4 min read](https://www.ingenioushub.com/notes/instagram-profile-setup-for-small-businesses-india) - [Choosing a digital marketing agency in IndiaMarketing · 4 min read](https://www.ingenioushub.com/notes/how-to-choose-a-digital-marketing-agency-in-india) [All notes](https://www.ingenioushub.com/notes) The argument, applied ## Allegiance Education: From a classroom to a national institute. Repositioned through identity and messaging, with admissions assets that look the part of a top-tier institute. [Read the case study](https://www.ingenioushub.com/work/allegiance-education) [All work](https://www.ingenioushub.com/work) [ *(image: Allegiance Education: From a classroom to a national institute.)* ](https://www.ingenioushub.com/work/allegiance-education) ## Where this thinking goes to work - [Performance MarketingKnow what each enquiry costs.](https://www.ingenioushub.com/services/performance) ## More on this topic. Something we haven’t covered? [Ask us](https://www.ingenioushub.com/contact?from=notes-how-to-tell-if-your-marketing-is-working). **What is the simplest way to track marketing?** Pick one goal, tag your links, keep a log of every enquiry with its source and ask each new customer how they heard of you. Review it once a month. **What is a UTM tag?** It is a short label added to a link that tells your analytics where a visitor came from, such as a campaign or a platform. Use the same spelling every time so the sources do not split. **Why ask customers how they heard of me?** Because analytics cannot see calls, word of mouth or a signboard. A person's own answer often shows what first made them look, which a click record misses. **Are followers and likes useful?** Only if they connect to your goal. On their own they can rise without bringing a single enquiry, so check them against your log. **How long before I can judge a campaign?** Usually several weeks to a few months, depending on how often customers buy. One week of figures from a small business rarely shows a real pattern. ## Want this applied to your brand? [Start a project](https://www.ingenioushub.com/contact?service=performance&from=notes-how-to-tell-if-your-marketing-is-working) [See what Performance Marketing starts at](https://www.ingenioushub.com/pricing#price-performance) [Free brand audit](https://www.ingenioushub.com/brand-audit) Based in Rajasthan? [Digital Marketing Agency in Jaipur](https://www.ingenioushub.com/digital-marketing-agency-jaipur) Source: https://www.ingenioushub.com/notes/how-to-tell-if-your-marketing-is-working