The Value of Marketing

Those of us directly engaged in marketing (and this should be anyone interested in growing their business), often struggle to justify our efforts and budget.  IMHO, marketing is both art and science.  Many components can be challenging to tally.  When you're working to keep your company "front of mind" it doesn't always mean your clients/prospects immediately dash to your site, place an order, or comment on your blog post.  But repetition is key and keeping your brand front of mind consistently, over an extended period of time, is how real results begin to materialize.  
 
If you're not marketing to your clients/prospects, you can bet someone else is.  Marketing requires constant fine-tuning, measurement and editing.  There are times when the dead wood in a campaign is obvious,  some efforts may simply take longer to show results, and some pet projects that you were absolutely sure would be a winner land face-down with no hope of redemption.  
 
The question remains, when a prospect is shopping for your product or service do they think of you?