How often do you advertise your business?

Not at all. All word of mouth, personal selling, and use of LinkedIn posting. It's true that large corporations pay a fortune for advertising, and that may keep them top of mind, but does that make them "top of heart"? I doubt it. For example, FNB is one of the top 3 hated companies in my life, and if I thought it was worth the effort, I'd dump them, but alternative choices and the extra hassle are not worth it. So, as a hostage, all I do is give them a hard time, create terrible publicity through my ratings, and actively discourage others from starting any business with them. Any slogans like "How can we help you" are thrown right back in their faces, and if they had any sense, they would facilitate me opening an account with one of their rivals. So it's just all a huge waste of money for them, and guess who has to pay?

I think most SMES do not spend or allocate enough revenue towards advertising. Mainly because of costs and lack of consistent cashflow. i would really like to see this change, maybe have a forum where all parties can unite and share ideas. As for me, I have spent money, but on the wrong target market and had to re-evaluate the process of identifying good solid potential leads