The tab for 30 seconds of Super Bowl ad time is $2.6 million—almost 90 grand a second—and if you’re brewing Bud or churning out Chevys, that spot may be just the thing. SB XLI was the third-most-watched game in history, which means that for those who could pony up, more than half of all the households in America received their messages—a pretty good investment if you’re a high-stakes player.

But what if 90K per second is a tad beyond your means? What if a real-world budget demands real precision from your awareness efforts? What if you’re a small business, a smaller government agency, or a nonprofit?

The impact of a major commercial ad campaign is like a shotgun blast. You throw up a lot of lead hoping that some of the flock will fall—but those are doggone expensive shells.

Instead of a shotgun, consider a slingshot, a weapon where you have to get close and take careful aim if you want to hit your target. Slingshots cost less than shotguns, but can be quite effective when they smack the perfect target right between the eyes. A recent Forbes article cites a pair of industry experts who note that 30 seconds of Super Bowl money could purchase a marketer, plus:

“…50 different product placements on TV shows, movies, songs and video games…[and] two massive billboards in the middle of New York City’s Times Square, where a million people would see the ads each day for a full year.”

When it comes to reaching widespread audiences with messages about beer, cars, and prescription drugs, choosing to fire a shotgun might be the way to go. But others will fare better if they launch their messages from slingshots—aimed at a few thousand people who visit a particular website, attend a certain event, or participate in specialized training.

When you know your audience that well, the simple efficiency and effectiveness of a slingshot beats the expense and random results of a shotgun any day.