I started my business 20 years ago. My first marketing was distributing fliers myself. I chose some of the more affluent neighborhoods in the city of Boston: Beacon Hill; the Back Bay; the South End; Charlestown; as well as in nearby Cambridge. I was looking to combine buying power, high value homes very close together, such as renovated attached 19th-century townhouses, 4 stories high, with a owner-occupied condo on each floor. I realize that not everyone lives close to such resources. As I started marketing to not such "low-hanging fruit", I started having fliers inserted into weekly community newspapers in the additional neighborhoods and towns I hoped to find customers in.
I still have customers today, 20 years later, from these efforts. Many locations got only one flier from me, although marketing professionals will advise that prospects need to see your message 5 or 10 times before calling you.

Today, however, print media is declining in impact.
The internet is king. A good content-rich website, using well chosen keywords, is a must for any business. I'm not sure about social media. It works for some companies, but it is very time consuming to make it work right, I have read. www.ocibr.com is a website on marketing for carpet cleaning companies. Go and have a look.