The alternative is using trackers and advertising to people via social and search. But I've spent the past few years replacing all the big tech services with self hosted FOSS alternatives because I believe this kind of marketing is even worse in terms of invasiveness.
There's so many ethical issues with running businesses that it becomes difficult to not cross one personal moral line or another.
"So many ethical issues with running businesses" - indeed!
I'm fortunate in that my business is fairly niche and localised (I have about half a dozen competitors in a city of just over one million people) so I can mainly rely on organic search results, shop signage and word of mouth. I've tried social media and other things and haven't found they're worth the effort. On the other hand, my wife is pretty much able to run her entire business through Instagram, without even using hashtags.
