There’s a great rule of thumb for whether or not you are marketing effectively:
Is anyone complaining?

Of course the number one rule of thumb is “Is the phone ringing.”

But It’s a fact that if no one is complaining about your marketing, probably no one is noticing it.

Marketing that no one notices is not going to be effective. Duh.

So you could say if you are going to do marketing, you need a bit of a thick skin.

After many years in this business, I am convinced that there are people just waiting for an opportunity to give someone a hard time. You might say it is a mild form of sociopathy – just not enough to get someone arrested or committed. These are people mad at the world, and if your postcard, TV commercial, or whatever reaches them, they sort of mentally rub their hands in glee over the thought they might be able to make someone else’s day as miserable as theirs.

I am far from a pessimist. In fact, studies have shown I’m one of the most optimistic people you will ever meet. So this is far from meant to discourage you! Quite the contrary! Ignore the tiny percentage of complaints you get, and if you aren’t getting any complaints at all – consider increasing the volume of marketing outflow, or changing your imagery or copy to make your promotional items more noticeable, more outrageous, wittier or more startling.

Dull marketing is bad marketing.

Low volume marketing is poor marketing.