In the simpler days of print media, there were more familiar ways to target and validate your audience, and confirm their receipt of your messaging. Or so it seemed… We purchased targeted lists that were purported to be verified, sent many communications via first class mail for attention, and even created visually appealing mailing pieces. We assumed that if a mailing wasn’t returned for a bad address, it must have been received and viewed by the recipient. Of course, that was a bit of a stretch at best. How much of the ‘snail mail’ that you receive do you actually open and review? The common wisdom at the time was that if you received between 2-5% response rate to a print mailing, you were doing great.

Enter one-to-one marketing programs, utilizing data analytics to ferret out what was determined to be your audience’s specific wants and desires. With this methodology, the response rates have reportedly reached as high as 50% in some campaigns. Even with the extra production costs, this is truly a better way to get the attention of your audiences with a much higher ROI.

In the world of the web, there are two primary ways to get the attention of your target audience: Search, and Ads.