Many businesses are looking for ways to increase their advertising while minimizing their advertising budget. As the public tightens their purse strings it’s important to give them incentives to spend and effective invitation to direct them to your product rather than your competitors. Since your purse strings are also tightened, you can reduce the cost of your mailings by using a continuous ink supply system, or CISS.

Advertising by mail can be inexpensive and bring in new clients that will become dedicated customers if it is done properly. Nearly everyone has seen mailing addressed to “Occupant” and we all know that most of those mailings go directly into the nearest trash can. The problem with most of this type of advertising is that it is not targeted to those that may be interested in what you have to offer. But, other than going door to door and asking questions, how do you direct advertising to those that would be interested?

The answer lies in accessing the demographic data that’s available to the public. The real estate has done a good job of getting that data for you by studying the neighborhoods in which they have listings. Look up any home on an MLS (multiple listing service) site and you’ll be able to see how many schools are nearby, their ratings, and the grade levels they include. With this information you can get a good idea of the median age of the neighborhood and the same page should give you the median selling price of the surrounding properties. You will be able to estimate the income of the area and whether or not it is populated mostly be young families, middle-aged couples, singles, or retired couples and individuals.

There are other ways to get information, too. You can also go to the United States Census Bureau website and use their “Factfinder” tool to glean the demographics about an area. You can also visit the SBA (Small Business Administration) in your city or town and they will help you find the statistics you need. While you’re there, they’ll be more than happy to help you fine tune your advertising and business plans, free of charge in most instances.

Once you locate your target demographic you should address your advertising to each resident by name. That alone usually gets the mailing opened. Avoid graphics on the envelope and make your message inside short and sweet. Give them an incentive to patronize you such as bringing in the letter for a percentage off their first order. This serves the double purposes of encouraging new customers while the returned letters show you how effective your campaign has been.