Gary my advertising is a bit different then in the traditional sense, my website does it's job admirably,......but it's been all word of mouth since I was 14 yrs old playing in bands, nothing is better then that in this business,....
the NH circuit is just a small part of my jobs, in the past I have fired a few of them for various reasons also only to have them call back to book and I happily refuse, too many fish in the sea fellas, ..
but they work great as an enjoyable fill in during the week many times,..agents have their place if you like to go cold into an alien audience to perform not fun. My agents provide maybe 5% of my jobs and I have the best in the business, again a nice fill in, I never used any souvenir crap or sell CD's at gigs seems too tacky for me, ....heck I never even liked tip jars,....just pay me what I ask for and I go home happy.
There is NO magic formula just do what works for you, find YOUR Niche`,and if it fails, get up and try it again & again year after year! Listen and play what the people want not what YOU want...give 150% every gig and you'll be fine.