While on a consulting call with a client today he shared with me how much he appreciated the time we spend on the phone. What was interesting to me is what we were talking about. He needed to put some content on his website. He had done a wonderful job in preparing it. He had done a wonderful job in organizing it. What he had not done a good job at was putting it online. He had everything he needed, except a nudge. So much of success is about action. If you feel like your marketing and advertising is not working right or is stagnant it’s most likely because there is no action. Norman Vincent Peale said, “I’d rather attempt to do something great and fail than to do nothing and succeed.” Take that first step and don’t be afraid…of success!

So how do you know if the money and time you are investing in your marketing and advertising is working? It’s quite simple when you understand the purpose of your efforts. Advertising has one job and that is to communicate your message. What that message communicates determines if someone will come to your business, visit your site or give you a call. At this point, you still have not made the sale but advertising has done it’s job. Now you have to do the rest. So how to you know if your advertising efforts are working, do more people come in to your store than before? Do more people call? Do more people visit your website? It really is that simple. The problem, most companies don’t know how many people are connecting with them today so they won’t be able to know if that number goes up or down. Know your baseline and you will know if your advertising is working.