If you really want to cultivate a big market, think small.

There are 23 million small businesses in the United States with 500 or fewer employees, constituting 99.7 percent of all businesses, according to the Small Business Administration.

And the best way to reach this $8.6 trillion market, according to a recent study, is through direct mail.

Experian, a global information solutions company, recently conducted a wide-ranging study of 1 million companies with fewer than 25 employees and found that small business owners are 20 percent more likely than the general public to buy from direct mail for both business and personal needs.

That’s encouraging news for marketers – particularly those offering financial services and upscale catalog items, because small business owners are 50 percent more likely to make their purchases via mail in these areas.

Small business owners are uniquely positioned to make the purchasing decisions. They operate in a very different environment than the corporate customer because they often blur the lines between personal and business endeavors when making business decisions. They frequently use personal funds to make business purchases and are often motivated by personal reasons to make those purchases.

In addition, the study found that small business owners may not be the people many marketers have assumed them to be.

“We all know that profiling the business owner is one of the most effective ways to hit the right market, but

“Our study results may just change widely held beliefs that might have companies marketing their products to the wrong market or even in the wrong way.”

Experian’s study leveraged demographics such as age, income and household makeup to develop a profile of the small business owner.