Just found this forum, and have been flicking through a few of the older posts.
I started out networking for around 2 years, It was a way of getting our name noticed, but overall found when I totalled up the cost of networking, paying for breakfasts & fuel travelling , then compared it to the amount of work gained, it was actually a small loss.
Tried a local radio advert for 6 months, everyone commented on liking our catchy tune, but it was expensive and didn't rake in the customers.
Tried a few different local magazines and weekly newspaper ads, costly and got almost no response from these.
We as a company now mainly get our work from people searching the internet and finding us (Usually in the top area of the first page on google). We have to constantly up date web pages to keep it fresh and write our own blogs.
I estimate that now 50% of business comes from the internet and the other 50% comes from repeat customers and referrals.
I still do a little leafleting if it is a slow day.