Many businesses today rely on the “spray-and-pray” approach - a simple model but a highly ineffective one. Blast generic messages to the widest possible audience. Then, hope that a fraction would convert.
It did work a decade ago. But today’s customers are more empowered and far less forgiving of such an irrelevant outreach. They expect brands to recognise their preferences and anticipate their needs.
Personalisation is the bare minimum today, and the death of spray-and-pray marketing isn’t imminent; it has already arrived. The real question is whether brands are ready to evolve, or risk being tuned out entirely. But before we answer that, let’s see how spray-and-pray marketing works and how it differs from personalisation-based marketing.
To understand the concept better, let us consider an example in the media industry. A spray-and-pray marketing involves blasting a single campaign across every available digital screen in a city or region. There is little regard for the nuances of time, location, or audience.
For example, a retail brand might run a generic “Mega Sale – Up to 50% Off” ad on every high-traffic screen, from airport terminals to metro stations to shopping malls. The logic is: the more eyeballs on the ad, the higher the chance of conversions. This method prioritises visibility and reach above all else.
Here are 4 reasons why a spray-and-pray marketing tactic doesn’t make any sense today:
Overall, spray-and-pray marketing is like shouting in a crowded room: many hear it, few remember it.
Let’s go back to the same retail example. Now imagine if, instead of running a single blanket ad, the retail brand tailors its campaigns dynamically. For instance,
As you can see, each variation speaks directly to the people most likely to act on it in that specific context.
Personalisation-based marketing makes use of contextual and real-time data to deliver the right message at the right place and time. It also uses capabilities like geo-targeting, audience analytics, weather triggers, mobile data integration, etc., to serve contextual ads.
Now, as opposed to the spray-and-pray method, here’s why this model works every time:
Here’s a quick summary of all the differences between the two models:
|
Aspect |
Spray-and-Pray Marketing |
Personalisation-Based Marketing |
|
Approach |
Mass messaging sent to a wide audience without segmentation |
Tailored messages crafted for specific customer segments or individuals |
|
Targeting |
Broad, generic |
Narrow, precise, and data-driven |
|
Customer Relevance |
Low – messages often irrelevant to most recipients |
High – content resonates with customer interests, behavior, and needs |
|
Cost Efficiency |
Often wasteful due to high spend with low returns |
More efficient as campaigns target the right audience |
|
Conversion Rate |
Typically low |
Significantly higher due to relevance |
|
Customer Experience |
Impersonal, can feel spammy or intrusive |
Builds trust, engagement, and long-term loyalty |
Spray-and-pray might get you noticed, but personalisation gets you remembered. Here are 4 simple steps to make the transition:
The core of personalisation lies in knowing your audience at a deeper level. Knowing your audience here means more than just identifying their age groups or gender. You need to thoroughly understand their motivations.
To do this, you need to analyse different data like nearby foot traffic patterns, location-based behaviors, time-of-day activity, and even social media check-ins. This will help you understand what truly drives their decision-making. Soon, your campaigns will no longer be built on guesswork but on an evidence-based understanding of customer needs.
The next step is building meaningful customer segments. Never treat your audience as one large pool. Instead, divide them based on different aspects like behavioral cues or lifecycle stages.
For example, you could segment this way:
This helps in two ways. One, you could allocate budgets smartly. Two, you could target high-impact groups with precise messages while testing smaller campaigns with less responsive segments.
Even with the best customer insights and perfectly crafted segments, personalisation is nearly impossible to execute without the right tools. Salesforce provides you with a comprehensive ecosystem to consolidate customer data, convert it into intelligence, automate engagement, and deliver relevant messages across every channel.
For instance, a tool like Salesforce Einstein uses AI to predict customer intent and suggest the next best action in real time. This means you can go beyond static segmentation and deliver dynamic, adaptive experiences that evolve with the customer journey. Salesforce doesn’t just enable personalisation, it makes it scalable and future-ready.
Generic campaigns don’t resonate in a world where customers expect relevance at every interaction. Personalisation requires messaging that feels tailored to specific contexts. For instance, you could use eye-catching visuals or limited-time promotions on a digital board outside the entrance to spark curiosity and drive store visits among window shoppers. Or you could display exclusive loyalty deals or new arrivals in an area where most of your loyal customers live.
This shift from “one message fits all” to “the right message for the right moment” builds both trust and engagement. Over time, contextual messaging doesn’t just drive sales; it strengthens emotional connections with the brand.
The shift from spray-and-pray marketing to personalisation-first strategies isn’t just about adopting the right tech; it’s also about using it effectively. While we have established that Salesforce offers a powerful ecosystem to execute personalisation-based marketing, extracting its full potential requires the right expertise and guidance. That’s where Brysa comes in.