Publishers sometimes invite open submissions for their titles, so submitting work to these books and magazines is a great way of getting your work into people’s hands. This item then becomes a useful promotional tool in itself. And if your the kind of restless creative mind who produces all sorts of self-initiated work, it’s not even going to demand a great deal of extra graft.
If your promotional efforts are going to pay off, they have to be leading to a consistent point – that is your brand. Colour schemes, typography, logo and tone are a few examples that can be used to bring consistency to how people perceive you. You have to know what you’re selling. Once you have that clear in your head, it will be much easier to devise clever promotional campaigns.
Sign up to design blogs and comment on other people’s work. There are lots of design forums out there and plenty of ways to get involved with the design community. Not only with this keep you up to date with what’s going on, it will help to create awareness of your opinion. The more your name and web link is out there, the more likely people are to see it and visit it.