Viral marketing and word of mouth. You can do this by having something really interesting and unique to offer. Approach an influential blogger and let the person know about your site. Or issue a press release and alert media writers and editors about your release.

If you are offering something SPECIAL, word about the business will spread very fast. The key is to target the INFLUENCERS — those who can spread the word for you fast.

One of the classic viral marketing example is Hotmail, which spread so fast because of the link at the bottom of its emails. The movie Snakes on a Plane spread so fast on the Internet too (too bad nobody cared enough to go watch it in the movies)

Participating in Discussion forums.
Here's a directory with hundreds of marketing forums listed.

Traffic Exchanges

Submit articles to article directories.

I'm sorry but this is not really an attainable feat.

You are going to need some patience and a lot of money to be successful at getting your name out there. What exactly is it that you do?

Textlinks. This will also bring your organic ranking on search engines up.

Your right. PPC is the way to go.

you will get listed in the search engines in no time,
get good looking business profiles
start your own business blog
post coupons
specials
jobs
get promoted to the local customers
It is easier than figuring out SEO and PPC trust me
and it is FREE