Getting it out there...

I'm thinking, this morning, on advertising and getting your message out there. I've recently began taking a more proactive initiative in getting my business off and running, so obviously Advertising has been on my mind quite a bit. And looking around at the internet and tv, and even radio, I begin to wonder what is the best course of action. Do I go for the free avenues of expression or do I get out and pay for the splattering of my message all over town? I'm thinking the free route is more viable. And besides, if you did enough, search the internet, there are thousands of ways to market yourself and get your message out there. Hell, I'm doing it right now. As I type these words, hopefully, someone is reading a previous post and thinking that I may actually have something to say that is worth paying attention to. And this will lead to others doing the same, and eventually someone contacting me about some work. After all, I am attempting to create sort of a Living Portfolio, if you will. A constant work in progress. And just like any design challenge, it has to develope in it's own way and become a complete "thing".
I love that term, "thing". One of my first Architecture classes in college was with an eccentric professor who told us not to design a building, but to design a "thing". Of course, we all thought he was crazy, but figured, "hey, we're freshmen. let's have fun with it". And so we did. My design of course came out as a house (mostly because that's what i set out to design in the first place), but an interesting process nonetheless.
I think advertising can be looked at in much the same manner. You have a design challenge - How best to get your message out to the people that will bring you work - and finding the most suitable solution to that end is dependent on your specific target and market (i have a business major in the family). And of course you want to get the most exposure for the least ammount of expenditure. Because we're all here to make money, right?
Well, those are my thoughts for the day.