There are four aspects to evaluating the effectiveness of your marketing activities–external factors, cost-benefits, feedback, and long term perspective.

When developing and marketing products and services, it is critical to clearly understand and communicate the offering’s features and benefits.

If you’re building a company for growth, don’t ignore public relations but don’t overdo it. The author says PR is much more than press releases-it’s also about building relationships with investors, industry experts, and reporters to educate them about your product and industry.

Shannon Henry, former writer of The Washington Post’s “The Download” column, gives advice as a journalist to entrepreneurs about working with the media to generate publicity. This includes researching the publications you’re interested in and making sure to give reporters a “news hook” about your firm.