Fire all your marketing staff – you don’t need them

This argument is rolled out by every CEO in the land. Except I'd probably extend it to PR executives...

Anyway - I guess it can also depend on how innnovative a site is. If you're offering a never before offered service (ie Flickr etc), then naturally you're going to gain a lot of attention by word of mouth.

Marketing comes into its own when your trading in a crowded market. Lastminute.com's regular newsletters put it way ahead of any other travel site I use (or rather) used to use. In this case, marketing means the difference between me searching for a no frills break or opting for the more expensive option. 

Youth sites are notoriously difficult to market, no matter how good your content is. Targeted marketing in key publications, on web sites and radio stations can do wonders for a site (see www.need2know.co.uk). 

Dan Williamson
Cimex.com