You sell more when you stop selling.

As financial market players know, advantage comes from reacting to news first. The same thing is true for all companies. When you start the conversation, you are recognised as someone who is plugged into the marketplace of ideas. If you talk about an idea early, you naturally get more exposure because the threads of conversation stem from what you have said. If you're in late you get lost in the cacophony.

The difference is conflict, an important yet overlooked aspect of all good communications.

Marketing is not about your agency winning awards. It's about your organization winning business.

Today's marketing success comes from self-publishing web content that people want to share. It's not about gimmicks. It's not about paying an agency to interrupt others.

You can buy attention (advertising). You can beg for attention from the media (PR). You can bug people one at a time to get attention (sales). Or you can earn attention by creating something interesting and valuable and then publishing it online for free.

Creating great content that educates and informs is always the best marketing strategy.