FWIW I've seen exactly the same confusion that you describe in small businesses. I worked with the Yellow Pages for a while and went out in the field with their sales guys. They confirmed that most SMEs only think about advertising when the Yellow Pages sales girl walks through the door each year.
I would guess that a plug 'n play - put money in, get customers out for SMBs would do incredibly well. I'm not sure what it would take to deliver it but even if there is a service that's out there that does this, most SMBs do not know about it.