i think no 1 will be social media but i need to know ways to promote a service or product on social media network.
I think there is no best method for advertising, it's based on your strategies and goal, usually you need to combine many tools to run a campaign such as GG adwords, FB Ads, Email,...
It all depend who is your target market , what problem your product can solve and what it is . Facebook Ads are good for getting leads !
Word of Mouth is quite hard to achieve, but in my opinion, it's the most credible way that can turn you into a millionaire in no time. Other than that, I'll vote for the niche websites. Since, they already have your "very" targeted customers. If you can do advertise on them, it would be the best thing you'll ever do. I've personally tried it, and earned thousands of dollars through it too, rather comfortably. But, I'd the experience, and I wasted many years behind it. Just do some "Banner Advertising" on the niche blog where you targeted audience resides; it will payback a lot more than your expectations. But, again, lots of factors are involved. You've to know what you're offering, you need to learn copywriting skills, and you've to understand the consumer psychology. Furthermore, Google Adwords are great, without doubt. But, they're quite expensive. That's why, I won't recommend this path, if you're rather new in the internet marketing regime.
Advertising is a big network. From the beginning, you can start with the social media marketing because it's always strong and powerful. So concentrate on build and developing your social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, youtube etc., and then you can followed by SEO process.
you need to use multiple points of contact to reach your target market via FB ads, Google Adwords, Social Media and even direct mail.
There's no best marketing strategy. It depends on a lot of factor (e.g. target, goals, objective, industry etc.) Some marketing strategies work well for certain industries that may not to others. Social media marketing is good for industries in the health and fitness niche. Search engine marketing is effective for ecommerce sites selling tech products. So really, in assessing which strategy works best, it's important that you take into account all the important factors material to your online business. My two cents.
In my opinion nowadays people use Social Media as one of the best channels for advertising, but the meaning of print ads shouldn't be underestimated. A lot of large advertising companies have come up with brilliant ideas for print ads. I am not sure if posting a link is allowed here, but since it is just an informative one, I will try. Here you can see some creative ideas for print ads: http://www.boredpanda.com/creative-print-ads/
It depends on your goals really. Hit Facebook and social media channels if you want to target demographics. Use search engines if you want to target intent. Understand how the ad platform collects data and how it presents its ads to users and you should be able to choose the best advertising method for your needs.
It depends on your needs and your targeting audience, social media advertising is one of the best ways to reach your target audience.
Without any second thought, I would say email marketing is the best marketing strategy for advertising. It is versatile, produces quick results and does not even burn your pocket. You can use hybrid email marketing tools for the same as they are really good at sending bulk emails at a greater speed to the subscriber's inbox, that does not even get marked as spam. Plus, such tool are really cost effective as one can optimise his/her email marketing budget as per the pocket size and business needs.