Marketing and sales used to be about correctly guessing what type of customer was most likely to buy what you were selling, and interrupting them with an advertisement in their favorite magazine, or maybe a phone call. You had a chance to talk to them before they made a buying decision.

The Internet has empowered media consumers with a large number of choices, including ad-free or ad-skippable choices. The days of effectively interrupting your target market while they read, listen, or watch are all but over.

The Internet has also empowered consumers to look for what they want, when they want it, at the price they want to pay. This is even more important than the changes in media consumption. Modern businesses often don’t get to interact with the potential customers at all until after they’ve made a purchase decision.

People increasingly shop online for everything from routine purchases like insurance, to big things like cars and houses. By the time I call a salesperson I often know exactly what I want to pay for. The company I didn’t choose won’t even know I was looking.

The job of most modern marketers is to do the work in advance to be found and be chosen. This means appear in search results and other places customers are looking, and prepare a web site, pricing, and product offering that fit what the customers want. You don’t find them, they find you.