Is Your Marketing Working? A One-Hour Self-Check for Small Businesses

Most small business owners I speak to can't say for certain whether their marketing is working. It isn't that they're not paying attention. When you're running the business, marketing gets done in the gaps, and nobody stops to check what it's actually producing.

This is a one-hour self-check you can do yourself. You'll need a laptop, your phone and a notepad. There are seven checks, each takes about ten minutes, and you don't need to understand analytics to do any of them. At the end, you'll know what's working, what isn't, and the one thing worth fixing first.

I run these same checks as part of my Marketing Health Check, so this is the same thinking, trimmed down so you can do it without me.

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Three signs your marketing is working

If you only want the short answer, marketing that's working usually shows three signs:

• The right enquiries keep coming. Not just more enquiries, but a steady flow from the kind of customer you actually want.
• You know where they come from. You can say which channels bring people to you, rather than guessing.
• It pays its way. What it brings in comfortably covers what it costs you, in money and in time.

If you can't say yes to all three with confidence, the checks below will show you why.

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First, decide what "working" means for you

Before you start, write down one sentence: what do you want your marketing to do? For most small businesses it's one of three things: bring in more enquiries, bring in better-fitting customers, or make sales more predictable so you can plan.

Pick one. If you can't, that's your first finding, and it's a useful one. Marketing that tries to do everything usually measures nothing.

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Check 1: The stranger test (10 minutes)

Search for your business the way a customer would. Use a private browsing window, because Google personalises results based on your history.

• Search your business name. Does your website come first? Does your Google Business Profile show, with the right opening hours, phone number and address?
• Search for what you sell plus your town, for example "bakery Waterford" or "accountant Cork". Do you appear? Who does?
• Read your last five Google reviews. Do they sound like the customers you want more of?

Pass: you appear for your name and your profile is accurate. Partly: you appear for your name only. Not yet: neither.

This matters because for many local businesses, the first impression isn't your website. It's what Google shows before anyone clicks. If your profile needs work, my Google Business Profile setup guide for Ireland walks through it.

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Check 2: The ten-second website test (10 minutes)

Open your homepage on your phone. Hand it to someone who doesn't know your business, give them ten seconds, then take it back and ask three questions:

1. What does this business do?
2. Who is it for?
3. What would you do next?

If they hesitate on any of them, your website is making visitors work too hard. In my experience, visitors rarely stay to work it out.

While you have it open, check two more things. Is there one clear next step near the top, such as a button to call, request a quote or book? And does the page load quickly on mobile data, not just on your home wifi?

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Check 3: Where did your last five customers come from? (10 minutes)

Don't guess. Ask them, or look back through your emails and messages. Write down how each one found you: Google, a recommendation, social media, a leaflet, something else.

Then compare that list with where your marketing time goes. If four of the five came by recommendation and you spend most of your week on Instagram, that tells you something. It doesn't mean Instagram is wrong. It means your effort and your results aren't pointing the same way.

Five customers is a small sample, and I wouldn't rebuild your whole plan on it. Treat it as a prompt for a better question, not a verdict.

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Check 4: Does your message match everywhere? (10 minutes)

Open your website homepage, your Google Business Profile and your main social profile side by side. Read the first line of each.

Do they describe the same business, for the same people, in the same tone? Small businesses often find they have three slightly different businesses online: the one on the website, the one on social media, and the one in the owner's head.

Pass: all three say the same thing. Partly: same business, different wording. Not yet: a visitor couldn't tell they belong together.

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Check 5: Do AI tools know you exist? (10 minutes)

More people are asking ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity for recommendations instead of searching Google. Try it. Ask each one three things:

• A question a customer would ask, such as "Who are the best [your service] in [your town]?"
• A question about your business by name.
• A question about the problem you solve.

Note whether you're mentioned, whether the details are right, and who is mentioned instead.

The answers can change from one day to the next, so treat this as a snapshot, not a score. It's still worth knowing where you stand. In team.blue's State of European Business 2026 survey, published for Ireland by its Irish hosting brand LetsHost, 72.2% of Irish businesses said they expect AI to change how customers discover them online, but only 23.5% felt prepared for that change.

If you're not mentioned, you're in good company. If you're mentioned with the wrong details, fix that first. A sensible starting point is making sure your website and profiles all state the same facts about you. I cover this in more depth in my guide to GEO for Irish SMEs.

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Check 6: Do you know your numbers? (10 minutes)

You don't need a dashboard. You need three numbers, and you should be able to say them without looking anything up:

• How many enquiries did you get last month?
• How many of those became customers?
• Roughly where did the enquiries come from?

If you can't answer all three, you're not alone. In the same team.blue survey, only 10.8% of Irish businesses said they accurately track how website visitors become customers.

The fix is low-tech: keep a simple tally in a notebook, a spreadsheet or a note on your phone. One line per enquiry: the date, where it came from and what happened. Ask "How did you hear about us?" on every enquiry. That one question gets you most of the way.

Two free tools are worth switching on. Google Business Profile shows you calls, direction requests and website clicks. Google Search Console shows which searches bring people to your site. Google Analytics is useful too, but it's optional at this stage.

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Check 7: Does your marketing fit your week? (10 minutes)

This is the check most lists skip. Add up the hours you actually spend on marketing in a typical week, then compare that with the hours you genuinely have free.

A marketing plan you can't keep up isn't working, however good it looks on paper. I've worked with clients whose previous agency had left them with about ten hours of marketing work a week, which was never realistic alongside running the business. The plan wasn't wrong. It just didn't fit the person who had to carry it out.

Pass: your marketing fits comfortably into the time you have. Partly: you manage it, but it squeezes out other work. Not yet: it regularly falls behind.

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How to read your results

For each check, here's what good looks like, and the first thing to do if you're not there yet.

• 1. Stranger test. Good: your site and an accurate profile appear for your name and for your service plus town. If not: fix your Google Business Profile first.
• 2. Ten-second test. Good: a stranger can say what you do, who it's for and what to do next. If not: rewrite the top of your homepage and add one clear button.
• 3. Customer sources. Good: you know where your last five customers came from. If not: start asking "How did you hear about us?"
• 4. Consistent message. Good: your website, profile and social tell the same story. If not: choose one description and use it everywhere.
• 5. AI check. Good: you're mentioned, with correct details. If not: make your website and profiles state the same facts.
• 6. Your numbers. Good: you can state last month's enquiries, customers and sources. If not: start a simple tally.
• 7. Time fit. Good: the work fits the hours you have. If not: cut back to the one or two activities that produce enquiries.

Don't chase a score. Pick the single check where you came out weakest and work on only that for the next month. Fixing one thing properly beats starting seven. Then run the whole check again in about three months.

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When a self-check isn't enough

A self-check shows you where the problems are likely to be. It can't tell you how serious they are or what to fix first, because you're judging your own work and you're close to it.

That's what my Marketing Health Check is for. Before we talk, I review your website, your social channels, how you show up in search and in AI tools, and what your messaging is actually saying to customers. We go through what I found on a 90-minute video call, and within five working days you get a short written report in plain English, with the three things that will make the biggest difference, in order. It's a fixed fee of €249. Plenty of people take the findings and act on them themselves, which is a good outcome. If you'd like help going further, the Health Check fee comes off the price of a full Marketing Strategy package.

If you're not sure it's right for you, book a free consultation first and we can talk it through.

Request a health check

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Frequently asked questions

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How do I know if my marketing is working?

Look for three signs: a steady flow of enquiries from the right kind of customer, a clear idea of where those enquiries come from, and returns that comfortably cover what your marketing costs you in money and time. If you can't confirm all three, start by noting where every enquiry comes from.

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How often should I check my marketing?

I'd suggest every three months for a small business, and again after any big change such as a new website or a new plan.

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What is a marketing health check?

A short, focused review of the main parts of your marketing, to find what's working and what isn't.

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Do I need Google Analytics to know if my marketing is working?

No. A tally of enquiries and their sources, plus Google Business Profile insights and Google Search Console, is enough to start with.

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What should I do if my marketing isn't working?

Don't change everything at once. Choose the one check where you scored weakest, fix that, and give it a month before judging the result.