Mailing to businesses

I'm preparing a letter of introduction to businesses. I'm not sure of what info to include. Do I just say hi I'm a face painter hire me?? I was thinking of suggesting why they would benefit from hiring me.

Include:
who you are,
what you do,
what you offer,
what you can do for them,
a tease/hint to your specials (cost),
some testimonials from your previous gigs,
a few samples,
how to contact you,
web address and phone number

Another thought, you should call the companies to find out who to send the letters to. I know when I get generic addressed letters, I normally throw them away. Dear Sir or Madam or To Whom It May Concern are the kiss of death for bulk mailings. Letters address to an actual person or the best.

I've got templates of various letters on my CDs and in my book that are ready to use - all you have to do is personalize them... and there are also some forms you can use on my free resources page too (the link is in my signature.)

Depending on who/what type of business you are targeting you need to tell them what you can do for THEM... so think about what your services will do - bring in more families for example.

www.vistaprint.com

They even mail the letters or postcards for you if you want for $15
It's worth it!

I completely forgot about vistaprint. Thanks for bringing that up. I have used them in the past and was happy with whaqt I got.

They mail them for you? Do you provide the mailing list or do they have them for your area?

They can mail to your own list or for your zip code or for target markets!
Just one word to describe : AWESOME
They keep sending me offers and more offers of free stuff!!! and I can't resist...

OMG! I just looked into this and how cheap! I was just about ready to nix postcards from my marketing mix because it was so outrageous!

How are the quality of the lists?

I ordered cards from Vistaprint, there were very nice & free! I should've put more thought into them but, hey. I've been handing them out instead of mailing.

I can't seem to find where it is that they will mail them for you? Is it not an option on the Canadian site? I'd love to do a postal code blast....

wow - what a great tip... I always use vista print and never knew this exsisted. Thanks!