• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, June 8, 2015

Quick! What’s the difference between personalized and customized marketing? Ryan Deutsch, DVP of Digital Addressable Marketing at Sears Holdings Corporation, just quizzed attendees of MediaPost’s Email Marketing Summit, on this fine Monday morning. The answer? It’s a matter of one-to-one vs. one-to-many engagement, and, for Deutsch, it’s a disappointing distinction because it highlights the fact that marketers can rarely reach as many customers (on a personalized level) as they think. You solution? First and foremost, “Your analytics teams have to admit that they don’t know everything!” according to Deutsch. From there, you have to create “swim lanes” that are clearly differentiated the personalized and customized experience.