There are books on how to do this. I used a book that had all the advertising agencies in the Wash DC area listed, back when I was looking to get into the field. Never did get into it, myself, it seemed like a closed-mouthed lot & I needed $ so I got into other things.
You could try to get an in with your local TV or radio stations to do some free-lance ads for them on the cheap until you get established. Go ahead & do some stuff on spec, & try to sell it to local businesses. If your ad gets air-time, ppl will get interested in you quickly, I'd imagine. Make up a nice campaign for Coke, & play it for ppl & tell them you offered this to Coca Cola, but they had contracts elsewhere & couldn't use it. Make sure that your spec work is top notch & creative & uses good copy, something that sticks in ppl's minds. Anything you can do to impress ppl will help. Look like a pro, act like a pro, & make your work polished. That's what I'd do if I were going to do it again.
I did talk to a couple local ad agencies, & that's the advice they gave me. Well, there was also that other one about using more professional recording equipment...
