You are your advertising campaign.

When a prospect calls or comes into your business, have you planned and determined exactly how they will be treated? Have you considered what you will say to them and how you want to make them feel? You probably have. You want them to have a very intentional experience with your business.

It's just as important to think through the creation of your communications campaign and your advertising. Because to a potential customer, every one of the ads and messages you create IS your business. The language it uses, the imagery, the personality it conveys; even the way your ad is crafted (fonts, layout, type treatments) is a representation of your business. In fact, simply having a well-crafted ad, website, TV spot or logo says something to your target about your offering. It might communicate that you are thoughtful, that you understand their needs, that you take time, that you are precise - basically, that you respect your prospect's time, money and intelligence.

Unfortunately, we all see communications that, whether implicitly or explicitly, communicate a lack of care by having a lack of craft. It takes time to create a good campaign - not just in strategy, but in execution as well. And it's all too frustrating to see a solid strategy executed ungracefully.

Think about the person your ad needs to talk to, what they will want to know about you, and how you want them to feel about you. Then spend just as much time crafting the message as you did developing the strategy. Why? Because the executions are what your prospects will see. And you want them to see you.

After all, your advertising is your business.