Remember when you had to put on shoes and—gasp—leave the house … just to buy a pair of Levis or rent a movie or take Philosophy 101? That was the way we got things done just 20 years ago, until Amazon and eBay changed our world forever.

While the rise of eCommerce hasn’t made the storefront or salesperson obsolete, Marketing has become increasingly important to the sales cycle.

Which is why Target Marketing editor Thorin McGee asks this question in his recent piece: If marketing is responsible for getting the sale, then shouldn’t it have more power within the organization?

He sheds some new light on how Marketing has evolved.

One note we found interesting: The Marketer’s job is to “control the flow of information about your products and services to the end customer.”

And of course, information is power. So let’s see how this continues to evolve. Are you feeling more powerful this year?