According to:  The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.  2000.

advertising

SYLLABICATION: ad·ver·tis·ing

NOUN: 1. The activity of attracting public attention to a product or business, as by paid announcements in the print, broadcast, or electronic media. 2. The business of designing and writing advertisements. 3. Advertisements considered as a group: This paper takes no advertising.

AS DEFINED BY RIDDELL AND RIDDELL: Advertising is the art of differentiating your business in a positive way from all other similar businesses. Attracting and retaining customers for Monterey County businesses is a goal that we have been excelling at for more than two decades.