A long, long time ago, way before computers ruled the business world and being "online" means being present in the Internet, there was the person-oriented marketing.

This just means that marketing was usually done before as a face-to-face encounter with potential customers and buyers. Eventually, the marketing industry evolved (and apparently became costly) because it is now being outsourced.

According to the study done by Stage 4 Solutions, a California-based consulting firm, the rate for marketing outsourcing is expected to jump from the 29% rate in the year 2005 to 33% by this year.

I guess this means that many firms are opting to outsource their marketing tasks to companies whose "expertise" are in this field.