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,…
In a world where everyone is publishing, posting, filming, and sharing, why does so little content actually stick? In this episode of The Overthinker’s Guide to Modern Marketing, Sean Makin explores the paradox of modern content: more of it than ever before… and yet less of it that truly resonates. From the “Great Content Flood”…
Trust isn’t built through a logo, a slogan, or a perfectly curated feed. Trust grows from the gap between what a brand promises, what it delivers, and how reliably it keeps showing up over time. Today’s digital world is crowded, and customers are more sceptical, informed, and overwhelmed than ever. Trust is now a brand’s…
Book Review : Alchemy by Rory Sutherland. There’s a comforting belief in marketing that people are rational. That given the right information, presented clearly enough, they will make sensible decisions. Alchemy by Rory Sutherland exists to gently, brilliantly, and repeatedly destroy that belief. The Big Idea (Spoiler: Logic Is Overrated) Sutherland’s central argument is both…