Marketing has changed dramatically over the past few years — not by choice, but out of necessity. As customer preferences and habits change, marketers have been forced to adapt and refine their marketing tactics, going wherever buyers go and evolving as buyers evolve.

Not so long ago, customers only had a few channels through which to find information about companies. For businesses, radio, print advertising, and television were the go-to channels for reaching customers, and these channels were easily dominated by the companies with the largest ad budgets. Billions of dollars were poured into controlling the messages reaching consumers through these channels. Beyond local word-of-mouth, there were few ways for customers to seek out reviews or unbiased insights about a product.