Do your advertisements and other marketing material work.. and by that I mean, does it produce real results?   Two simple tests for this:

1) Do you get measurable, actionable responses?

or

2) Are they memorable to people you don't know?

First off, forget what your friends and families say about your material.  They want to be encouraging AND they stopped to look at it because YOU ASKED... not because the material would have caught their eye in a newspaper, magazine, TV or billboard.

Actionable responses would be phone calls, emails, visits from a qualified potential consumer (or potential employee if you are advertising a job opportunity). 

• How many responses from qualified people do you get and for what cost?   Do the math... what is the cost per qualified lead?  
• What percent of the qualified leads produce revenue? 
• What was your goal number of qualified responses for each ad?
• Most Importantly... Do you know the answers above for every marketing piece you buy?

If you cannot answer these questions AND be very comfortable with the answers, you may want to reconsider your approach ASAP!

Regarding memorable ads.  We all remember our own ads.  The question as to whether it is really memorable is this... can you find someone you don't know well and ask them to tell you about any of your ads from more than 2 months ago?  

If not, it is not memorable.  Sorry.  And it is likely not even very noticeable either.

Now take the ad to the right from New York. Self-storage is inherently BORING, but the ad is memorable and is actionable! 

I submit that most people ignore most advertisements.  You see thousands every day and ignore most or all of them.  Guess what?  Same thing happens to your ads most of the time.

If you want to advertise, great.  Some people find success.  Just be sure you have a plan and way to measure.  Do NOT just "do what everyone else does" and expect to have better results than "everyone else."  Be better, whether it is with smarter marketing plans or a strong, active focus on relationships.