for products I think flyers work out best for services then business cards but for anything other than that like a forum or blog then word of mouth would be better
Quickly approaching the middle age years of my life ... my desire to hang out at bars is somewhat behind me ... Interesting idea though ... depending on the product ...
The best free marketing is article marketing. Submit to the top article directory Ezine Articles and you will generate a ton of long term traffic to your site. Plus the leads are higher quality than paid advertising. I have generated thousands of visitors and also generated thousands of dollars from doing this.