A slightly irreverent exploration of metrics, meaning, and mildly panicked marketing meetings. There is a particular moment in every business owner’s life when they sit across from a marketing agency and hear the words: “Of course, brand-building is measurable.” At which point the business owner nods in the same way one nods when a dentist…
Why do customers ignore perfectly logical arguments… and buy from the brand that simply “feels right”? In this episode of The Overthinker’s Guide to Modern Marketing Podcast, Sean Makin explores the delicate dance between warmth and competence, the two silent questions every customer is asking: Do I like you? Can I trust you? From chatbot…
There was a time, a gentler, more cardigan-friendly time, when a business could simply make something decent, charge a fair price, and rely on word-of-mouth to spread the news. You made a good pie, people told others about it, and society functioned beautifully. That system has since been replaced by what can only be described…
Marketing is one of those curious human inventions that, when properly understood, can transform a modest small business into something approaching a minor galactic presence. When misunderstood, it can also result in a great deal of frantic posting, several regrettable taglines, and a lingering sense that one has spent money shouting into the void. For…
Book Review: D&AD – The Copy Book If words are the atoms of great marketing, then D&AD – The Copy Book, published by Taschen, is the periodic table every creative thinker ought to have on their desk. Loaded with insights from some of the world’s sharpest copywriters, this book isn’t just a manual; it’s a…
Imagine, if you will, that social media is a vast cosmic ocean except infinitely noisier and full of kittens, memes, and the occasional existential crisis. In this ocean, every like, share, save, and emoji is a tiny ripple which, when squinted at very, very carefully, may just tell you where the next great marketing wave…
Book Review : Pitch: How to Captivate and Convince Any Audience on the Planet by Danny Fontaine. Modern marketing loves complexity. Funnels get deeper, decks get longer, and somehow the message gets smaller. Danny Fontaine’s Pitch arrives as a welcome antidote, reminding us that persuasion is not about slides, jargon, or frameworks, but about human…
Why do we trust five-star reviews from strangers, panic-buy when there are “only two left,” and somehow end up emotionally attached to things we never meant to purchase in the first place? In Episode 4, Sean Makin wanders into the delightfully illogical world of behavioural economics, exploring why humans aren’t rational consumers at all but…
Book Review : No Bullsh*t Strategy: A Founder’s Guide to Competitive Advantage by Alex M H Smith In an era where “strategy” too often translates to corporate jargon, buzzphrases, and fluffy frameworks, No Bullsh*t Strategy is exactly what its title promises: clear, direct, and genuinely useful guidance on how to think about strategy in a…
If you’ve spent any time in modern marketing, you’ll know it can feel a bit… overcooked. Every week there’s a new must-follow strategy, a new platform you have to master, or a guru promising to 10x your growth before breakfast. Meanwhile, many of us are just trying to do good work, build meaningful brands, and…