An overthinker’s guide to being comfortably, strategically human. Modern marketing has a strange and sometimes worrying habit. At some point, a meeting took place. In that meeting, someone said: “What if we made everything… perfect?” Instead of being shown the door for such an unrealistic idea, they got a budget. The Pursuit of Flawlessness (and…
In this episode of The Overthinker’s Guide to Modern Marketing Podcast, Sean Makin takes a thoughtful and sceptical look at one of modern business’s biggest trends: personal branding. Opening with the line, “You are not a brand,” Sean explores how professionals have shifted from simply being themselves to becoming carefully curated online identities, complete with…
An overthinker’s guide to not accidentally ghosting your customers. There is, in the vast and mostly uncharted universe of marketing, a peculiar phenomenon. It is the moment a brand spends an extraordinary amount of time, energy, budget, emotional resilience, and at least one poorly considered brainstorming session involving sticky notes… just to get your attention.…
Book Review : They Ask, You Answer by Marcus Sheridan. There’s a moment in every marketing meeting where someone says, “We should create more content.” No one is entirely sure what that means, but it usually results in a blog post nobody asked for, answering a question nobody had. They Ask, You Answer by Marcus…
How to be trusted without being boring, and likeable without being useless. There is a moment in every marketing discussion where someone says: “We need to show more personality.” This is immediately followed by someone else saying: “Yes, but we also need to sound professional.” And just like that, the problem appears. Because what follows…
How to know what’s about to happen slightly before it does. There is a moment in every marketing meeting where someone says: “We need to be more on trend.” This is usually followed by nodding, a brief silence, and the quiet realisation that no one is entirely sure what that means. Because trends, much like…
How to exist loudly enough that people realise you exist at all. There is a persistent and deeply unhelpful myth that if you start a small business and are very good at what you do, people will simply find you. This is a charming idea. It is also, in most cases, spectacularly wrong. Because the…
How to spend money without immediately regretting it. Marketing budgets are fascinating things. They often begin life as a number someone feels comfortable saying out loud, evolve into a spreadsheet that no one fully understands, and eventually become a source of mild anxiety when results don’t immediately appear. At no point in this process is…
Book Review : Building a StoryBrand 2.0 by Donald Miller. There’s a particular kind of confidence that creeps into marketing after a few strategy sessions, the belief that if we just explain things thoroughly enough, people will understand. Add a bit more context. Refine the messaging. Maybe a diagram. Building a StoryBrand 2.0 arrives as…
How to avoid spending money on something no one understands. There is a moment, just before launching an advertising campaign, when everything feels impressively official. There are slides. There are budgets. At least one person is saying, “This will perform well,” and yet, somewhere in the background, a small voice whispers: “Are we absolutely sure…