Ethical alternatives to advertisements for promoting a product or a service?
We all hate ads, primarily because it is an unethical usage of our data for profits. So, if a person does not want to pay companies like Google, Meta and Microsoft, what alternatives are there to advertise or promote a product or service?
Sure, there are options like posting on online forums, groups and email marketing, but the results do not come anywhere close when compared to paid ads. Are there privacy respecting companies that provides ad placement services? DuckDuckGo uses Microsoft ads, Mojeek didn't reply and Qwant isn't available in my country.
Say, I provide a service to a specific type/group of people, what is the most efficient and ethical, and least annoying way to reach them? Say, I own a restaurant or something. How do I attract more customers? I am willing to pay, but to not data-hungry companies.
In my experience, the forums and groups are far superior to paid ads. I think that's why people these days append "reddit" to the end of their google searches. They don't want a listicle of the top 14 Tea Kettles of 2023, they want a discussion about the Tea Kettle someone bought 15 years ago, how it's still serving all their needs today, what brand that is, what features they like/dislike, and what fatal flaws it has.
That's not info that a paid ad ever wants me to have at my disposal; they want me to know just enough to believe that their brand new shiny product is the hammer for my nail.