It used to be simple.  Build a cool web site and maximize your SEO (search engine optimization) and your customers would find you when they were browsing for a particular product or service. 

In case you haven’t heard, the web is dead.  No, not the internet as Prince proclaimed, but the web is dead.  Our lives are now focused on apps that simply use the internet for delivery.  Think about it; Facebook, Twitter, podcasts, RSS feeds, Skype, IM, streaming movies, etc.  We are now about getting, and less about browsing.

Most companies are good at what they do.  They make a good product and/or provide a good service.  But most are not good at the fundamentals of business.  As Peter Drucker said, “Business is about creating and keeping a customer.” 

So how does a business create a customer in this new environment?  How are you going to crack these semi-closed platforms?  I can tell you, it isn’t easy and it’s getting harder.  But it can be done.

 Just when you thought you were figuring it out, the rules change.  The smart companies realize this and adapt.  They focus on their core competencies and align themselves to take advantage of it.