The number one question facing all marketers. is: How do I advertise. Big businesses advertise to create name recognition and future sales. They already know that they are losing customers to their competitors, the most they can hope for is to win more customers from them than they lose. They have hugh advertising budgets for this one reason. A small business can't afford to do that. Instead, you have to design your advertising to produce sales now. One way to accomplish this is to always include an offer in your advertising--and an easy way for prospective customers to respond to it. Making it a Free Offer will better improve your chances of the prospect contacting you. Be sure to tie it into your main product or service, but if you can't, make it helpful, so they'll come back to you because they will now trust your expertise. Another way is to track your efforts. Always know where your customers are coming from. This will avoid your wasting money on unproductive efforts. Lastly, I would say, don't overlook free advertising sites, but remember, you "get what you pay for", so include some paid for advertising too.