Embracing Marketing Mistakes

We return to consumer behaviouralist and CX expert Ken Hughes, first featured in episode 92, to revisit the moment that transformed how he believes brands should approach the customer. Ken explains how he spent the early part of his speaking career delivering stock, product first keynotes before realising that audiences and clients were focused on their own business challenges, not his rehearsed narrative. 
He introduces his blue dot consumer idea and shows how it reshapes everything, highlighting how customers now expect brands to move toward them in the same effortless way Uber and Lyft bring the car to you and Uber Eats or Deliveroo bring the restaurant to your door. 
Ken also explores how impatience, high speed connectivity and a world far removed from Commodore 64 loading screens have reset expectations. If you want your brand to stay relevant in an age of Gen Alpha, Gen Z and one tap convenience, this conversation will sharpen how you think about customer centricity. 
Click here for the full episode 92.
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John Espirian, the self-styled relentlessly helpful LinkedIn guy, joins Chris Norton and Will Ockenden on Embracing Marketing Mistakes to explain why LinkedIn reach is down for almost everyone and what still works. John is an independent LinkedIn consultant and author, runs the Espresso Plus community, and organises the UpLift Live conference.
John covers why direct messages avoid the algorithm, why you should comment ten times for every post, how LinkedIn newsletters feed search and AI tools, which content formats to test, and why most people do not need Premium. He also shares his own mistakes, including the year he stopped marketing and had his worst financial year, and why he now reserves 20 percent of his work time for marketing.
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 Your competitors are being named by AI. Are you? One of our clients went from being named in 4 of 50 buyer prompts to 19 in 90 days. Book your free AI visibility check with Chris here. 👉 [Book free AI Visibility Check] 👈 
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What happens when you pour your heart into a TEDx talk, expect it to skyrocket, and… nothing? We are joined with Niraj Kapoor back in episode 95, and dive into a brutally honest story of resilience, reinvention, and why failure isn’t fatal. Our guest shares how he went from a thriving career in London to losing everything, job, income, marriage, before clawing his way back through vulnerability and persistence.
We talk about the reality behind those glossy success stories, why some talks go viral while others barely register, and the lessons learned when life forces you to start over. If you’ve ever felt crushed by a setback or wondered why your big moment didn’t land, this conversation will give you perspective, hope, and a few laughs along the way.
Click here to listen to the full episode 95.
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 Your competitors are being named by AI. Are you? One of our clients went from being named in 4 of 50 buyer prompts to 19 in 90 days. Book your free AI visibility check with Chris here. 👉 [Book free AI Visibility Check] 👈 
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Britt Klontz started her career as an SEO agency intern, got a Mashable journalist to cover an infographic by following the journalist's own pitching guide, and now runs Vada Communications as a solo digital PR consultant. In this episode of Embracing Marketing Mistakes, Britt explains why so many PR pitches fail, why that is rarely the journalist's fault, and why a rejection can be the most useful reply you get.
Britt walks through her own mistake, leading a pitch to an editor at Metal Construction News with too many stats, and how his reply turned into a template she now uses for every outlet. She also shares her 2026 coverage tips, from proprietary data and journalist-run Substacks to contributor columns that feed AI search, plus the tools she uses to track results.
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 Your competitors are being named by AI. Are you? One of our clients went from being named in 4 of 50 buyer prompts to 19 in 90 days. Book your free AI visibility check with Chris here. 👉 [Book free AI Visibility Check] 👈 
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We had Mark Terry-Lush back in episode 94 started his career in the glory days of magazines when Vogue was the size of a phone book and PR was full of big personalities. He worked with some of the most iconic names in the industry and learned how to tell and sell a story. But after 30 years, he realised his biggest mistake: confusing adaptability with focus.
In this episode, Mark shares why chasing every opportunity can leave you feeling lost, what happens when you spend decades building everyone else’s brand instead of your own, and how to find clarity in a noisy world.

Click here to listen to the full episode 94.
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 Your competitors are being named by AI. Are you? One of our clients went from being named in 4 of 50 buyer prompts to 19 in 90 days. Book your free AI visibility check with Chris here. 👉 [Book free AI Visibility Check] 👈 
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