Back in the days BI (Before Internet) companies trying to reach customers were pretty much tied to television, radio and newspaper advertising with a few sending out advertising mailers to keep their customers informed about what they were doing and what they were selling. Networking meant going to meetings and mixers and swapping business cards with all of the other business folks, regardless of their industry.

With the dawning of the internet age, all this has changed. Sure, some die-hards still attend industry meetings and hand out business cards, but when it comes to reaching out to their customers they have turned to the internet to get their marketing message, as well as advertising, to their potential customers.

It took a few years for business owners to recognize that the internet was becoming popular and when customers started asking if they had a website, they started thinking that maybe this internet things wasn’t just a fad like the hoola-hoop. Now, nearly every business, small, medium and large has a website. Social media has allowed them to expand their interaction with their customers and find some new ones to boot. Not too bad for something that’s only been around for about 20 years.

When the internet was first plugged in it was basically a storage area for information. Today it is a means for people to interact with the world and businesses have realized the importance of having an online presence. Businesses have also learned new options of improving their relationship with their customers, such as engagement and how to provide customer service while never really coming face-to-face with them.

It took some of the older business owners a while to understand that the internet was changing the way their business will operate in the future. However, once they got a handle on the reality of electronic communications and how they could reach out to more customers, or at least potential customers, for far less money than their old advertising ways, the use of the internet by businesses took off.

Social media also presented a new opportunity to take their marketing plans to the next level. No longer are their marketing efforts limited to business mixers with industry peers and even leaders, but they now have access to the customers themselves. They understand that it is not enough to have a website explaining the company’s history and goals. To improve their reputation on a global scale they have to have a presence in the social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

They can now put out a message, as well as advertising, to hundreds of thousands of customers with a few mouse clicks at a fraction of the cost as traditional advertising. It may have taken a few short years, but more businesses are recognizing that the internet changed the way to do business, like it or not.