Before the Web—a zillion years ago now—marketing copy was a one-way, broadcast affair. Companies simply pushed their promotional messages out through mass media.

And their audiences had no way to push back.

The Web changed all that because it's a two-way—or multi-way—medium.

It's the perfect medium for marketers to truly engage with their readers and viewers. It's a place where you can really listen and get into conversation with your prospects and customers.

Wonderful. Transformative.

And yet...

Here we are, more than 20 years after the arrival of the Web, and most marketers are still in push mode—still broadcasting their sales messages at their audiences.

Perhaps I exaggerate a little when I say most markets are still in push mode. But if I do, it's not by much. Pretty much every one of us could do better.