Successful Marketing is massively creative. The true power lies in how you can use your imaginative and creative skills. The biggest revenue i've ever generated has come in the form of FREE marketing. It's not always easy, you do need to be ruthless and you do need to put in the effort.
Not sure what you mean by free marketing, anyway - there is a great deal to be done in the way of free marketing. The whole area of SEO is "free". But if you mean "free traffic"-type sites, I would have to agree I have never seen the value of them. "Traffic" is another word for human beings - they are not just some impersonal force which obeys the "the more the better" rule.