For those who are on a limited marketing budget, free advertising is the way to go. Now, let me first get it straight that NONE can replace paid advertising such as pay per click and magazine ads. However, marketing newbies (who haven't built leverage in their business yet) need to employ free advertising in their business is some way. It is also a great way to train yourself and sharpen your ad and content writing skills.

Social networking is the best free advertising tool I ever came across. When I started in sales way back in 2001, social networking sites are not yet popular.We did cold calling back then. Today, social networking sites can bring you in front of millions of excited prospects. The best way to gain new prospects thru social networking sites is by making genuine, sincere connections everyday and increase your so called "friends list". Once you have people in your friends list, you may freely send them info about your business and they become your prospect -- possibly throughout a lifetime.

Forums and user communities is another great platform to promote your business. Most forums are free to participate in. The key is to post regular content that generates user interest and combine them with links for your business offers and websites.

Video advertising is the way of the future. And the future is now. Youtube, Myspace, Yahoo and Google video are the trend nowadays and I believe the Web 2.0 trend may never end. Whether you live in New York city or in the most remote town in the world, you may post 1 or 2 minute videos and get hundreds of subscribers in a single day. Video blogging is a great way to draw a massive crowd and convert a huge percentage of them to your business.