Direct mail or mail order of products whether sold by phone, internet or catalog. This includes sales letters (like Publishers Clearing House), brochures, fliers, postcards and any other sort of printed materials you can send through the U.S. Postal Service to elicit a mailed, telephoned, faxed or e-mailed customer response.

The Internet ranks as the most exciting mail order vehicle since the invention of the catalog. More and more mail order entrepreneurs (etailers) are turning to the Internet as a supplement to their catalogs or are foregoing paper catalogs altogether. Potential customers have come to expect companies to have a Web presence, especially for any computer-related product or service. But even if your company isn't technology-based, a Web site makes sense. Everything from gift baskets to insurance to concrete--even airplanes--can be purchased online, and people who are Net-savvy use the Web the way they would their local Yellow Pages.

TV commercials are another form of mail order: you know, the ones that advertise knives that slice through concrete or the greatest recording hits of your parents' generation and provides the ordering information on screen. TV advertising can be less expensive than you might guess. The price of TV time depends on various factors, including the size of the market, the length of your ad, the time of day or night your ad airs, the program rating and how much advertising you buy. Prices also vary according to whether you're advertising on a local independent station, a network affiliate, a cable channel or public access television.