If the shape of the object is flat/spherical/"tubular" I'd go with this approach:
1) Add/create a text-object (it's somewhere under the Add menu, don't remember if it's just called "Text").
2) Type in the text you want, load/select a font and set an appropriate size for the text.
3) Convert the object type to "mesh".
4) Extrude the created text as you see fit.
I almost always use the "subsurf" modifier when modeling and the only problem I've had so far with this technique is how to create a "fatter" border around the edge of the extruded text so that it's properly/evenly rounded off by the "subsurf" modifier.
What I do is I extrude it one extra time, select the polygons that were created by that operation and extrude(push/pull) those polygons based on their individual normals..
That way you can create a contour that is X units outside/inside the text curvature.
The only problem with that is the sharp angles where the extruded polygons overlap eachother.. but that can be fixed by moving/joining vertices manually to fix the "trouble-areas".
If you find a better, more efficient way to model extruded text:
please let me know.
Oh.. and if you're not familiar with the warp (Shift+W) and other ways of transforming that flat text to a certain shape;
just mess around a little with every function under Mesh/Transform to get a grasp of what is possible.
(Transforming a flat mesh to a tube or sphere just takes a few clicks.. and then there's the option of using curves to shape/extrude stuff but I haven't fully grasped that part yet).