If you're seeking to increase sales within a specific geographic region, you might want to consider "saturating" your market. A saturation mailing is a targeted offer to the true customer base of a business. It is inexpensive both in preparation and postage, and can reach customers very quickly.

John Hull, vice president of technical services for Melissa Data, offers several tips for creating a successful saturation mailing. Among them:

* Presort the addresses in "walk sequence" -- that is, in the order in which the carrier on a given route will deliver them. This can save you a lot of money.

* Think locally. While you can buy lists that are sorted by age, household income, home ownership, and a number of other criteria, these tend to be much more expensive than the lists needed for a good saturation campaign -- namely, every address within, say, a five-mile radius. Cheaper lists mean you can afford to mail more pieces.

* Keep in mind that a good saturation mailing works on several levels. It can draw new customers with discounts, but it can also reactivate former customers with value-adds, free delivery, and other incentives. It can even serve as a simple reminder that someone hasn't visited your store in while; sometimes in a local market, that's enough to keep you top of mind.