5. Would you rather save time than money? Let's face it. Running an ad is easy. Other marketing methods are more time-consuming. If you want your marketing to be easy, then advertising is about as easy as it's going to get. (Now there is a caveat to this one, because you can hire people to do some of those marketing tasks, such as updating Web sites, running PR campaigns, etc. However, not everything can be hired out so you still might be stuck spending time you don't have.)

6. Are you planning to test a new campaign or a new product/target market? Running small, inexpensive ads can be a good way to test certain marketing aspects before launching big, expensive, time-consuming campaigns. If you want to penetrate a new market or if you have a new product to launch or a new marketing message to try, buy some ads and see what response rate is. Another strength of advertising is control -- you have total control over your test.

7. Do other marketing approaches never quite measure up? It happens. Advertising in one or two specific media outlets seem to generate more sales and more leads then anything else you've tried. If that's case, then don't mess with it. As old saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Creativity Exercise -- Advertising and your business

Is advertising right for your business? Try this exercise and see.

1. What's your biggest marketing challenge right now? Write it down.

2. Go through above list of questions and ask yourself each one. Does it apply to your situation? If it does, write that down too.

3. Do some brainstorming. In what ways can you use advertising to solve your marketing challenges? What media would work best? Online? Print? Radio? Television? Direct mail? Something else? Make up an ad for a variety of media.

Now do exact opposite. Think of ways advertising WON'T work for your business. Brainstorm at least 25 reasons why advertising won't work for your specific situation. Be silly. It's a good way to loosen you up.

4. Go back and reread both your pro and con lists. Now read your ads. Do you like what you came up with? Do any of them resonate with you, even now after coming up with your list of objections?

You may have just come up with your next advertising campaign.

Humor in advertising tends to improve brand recognition, but does not improve product recall, message credibility, or buying intentions. In other words, consumers may be familiar with and have good feelings towards product, but their purchasing decisions will probably not be affected. One of major keys to a successful humorous campaign is variety, once a commercial starts to wear out there’s no saving it without some variation on concept. Humorous campaigns are often expensive because they have to be constantly changed. Advertisers must remember that while making customer laugh, they have to keep things interesting, because old jokes die along with their products.