Book Review : Human First Marketing by Phil Treagus-Evans. There’s a strange trend in modern marketing where brands spend enormous amounts of time trying to sound human while simultaneously removing every actual human element from the process. More automation. More AI-generated content. More so-called personalised experiences, but no real person behind the words. Phil Treagus-Evans’s…
Why the robots may accidentally force us all to become interesting again. For years, the future of marketing has been described using words that sound faintly like instructions printed on the side of expensive kitchen appliances. Words like: automation, optimisation, personalisation, scalability, and “leveraging AI-powered synergy,” which sounds less like marketing and more like a…
The surprising strategic advantages of mild existential panic. Overthinking gets a terrible reputation. People say things like: “You’re thinking too much.” “Stop overanalysing it.” “Just post the content.” Which is all wonderfully easy advice to give when you are not the person responsible for accidentally publishing something catastrophic to the internet at 9:14 on a…
The increasingly modern habit of digging up seeds to check if they’re working. About three weeks after launching a marketing strategy, a certain kind of panic often sets in. It usually starts off quietly. Someone checks the analytics and looks as worried as if they’ve just spotted a comet coming straight for Earth. A meeting…
How to go viral briefly before quietly vanishing into the digital fog. There is a particular kind of panic unique to modern marketing. It usually begins with someone saying, “We need to react to this trend immediately.” At which point an entire organisation suddenly behaves as though it has spotted a rare celestial event that…
Book Review : Brains On Fire by Robbin Phillips, Greg Cordell, Geno Church & Spike Jones. There’s a particular kind of optimism in modern marketing that suggests if we automate enough emails, optimise enough funnels, and post enough short-form video content, customers will eventually fall lovingly into our sales pipeline. Brains on Fire offers a…
Innovation isn’t always loud, disruptive, or wrapped in Silicon Valley buzzwords. Sometimes, it’s hidden in overlooked feedback, awkward conversations, or the idea someone almost didn’t share in a meeting. In this episode of The Overthinker’s Guide to Modern Marketing, host Sean Makin explores the real meaning of innovation in modern business and marketing. From company…
How to spend less money without accidentally spending all of it. There is a moment, usually early in the life of a marketing plan, when someone leans forward and says: “Can we do this… but cheaper?” This is a perfectly reasonable question. In fact, it is such a reasonable question that it has quietly become…
How to follow all the rules and still be completely ignored. There comes a moment in every marketing meeting when someone, usually with excellent posture and a deeply reassuring spreadsheet, says: “Let’s stick to best practice.” This is generally received with nods. Warm, sensible nods. The kind that suggest nothing terrible will happen, and more…
Why even the boldest strategy is secretly clutching a cup of tea and whispering “Oh dear”. There is, buried deep within every marketing plan ever conceived, a small, persistent fear. It does not shout. It does not wave its arms. It certainly does not appear in the executive summary wearing a high-visibility vest and announcing,…