Embracing Marketing Mistakes

Mat Thomas joined us back in episode 49 as he reveals the surprising social media misstep that held Lexus back for years. He explains how the brand’s social team that's tucked inside the PR department and disconnected from strategy, audiences, and brand codes that ended up chasing engagement numbers rather than meaningful impact. From posts about Zodiacs, audiobooks, and even favourite steering wheels, Mat breaks down how the pursuit of “high engagement” pushed Lexus toward light, attention-grabbing content with no commercial value. 

He also reflects on the moment when brands rushed to post about the Queen’s death, highlighting how reactive, irrelevant posts exposed a deeper issue in social thinking. Mat shares how Lexus eventually realigned its approach, rebuilt the team, and refocused social content on real brand objectives. Marketers will learn why relevance matters more than reactions and how to avoid the engagement traps that look good online but deliver little in the real world. 

Listen to episode 49 here.

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Sam Dunning co-owned an agency with two other founders, has hosted the Breaking B2B podcast since 2020, and now runs Breaking B2B, an AI SEO agency for SaaS brands. In this episode of Embracing Marketing Mistakes, Sam explains why a keyword with tiny search volume can be worth more than one with thousands, why he thinks many marketers are stuck in what he calls the top funnel trap, and why AI tools recommend brands on buying-intent searches but not on how-to questions.

Sam walks through a page Breaking B2B built for a YouTube agency that works with SaaS companies, on the best YouTube agencies for SaaS in 2026. He says it gets about 20 searches a month on Ahrefs, yet it brought seven booked calls for 50k ACV deals within a month of publishing and got the agency recommended in ChatGPT, Claude and Google AI Overviews. He also shares his 90 days to revenue playbook, built live around Prohibition, why he recommends the sales book Gap Selling to marketers, and the early mistake where outsourced, unchecked content wiped out his own agency's rankings.

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Jenna Hannon was the first marketing hire at Uber Eats, where the team launched the service in roughly a new city every week for about a year and a half. She left in 2020, became a fractional CMO for Series B and C startups, and is now co-founder of Hatter, a San Francisco AI search agency and platform she started with Peter Holc, formerly of Microsoft and Deliveroo. Chris Norton has been testing Hatter on Prohibition's own website. In this episode of Embracing Marketing Mistakes, Jenna explains why she thinks Google is fine despite ChatGPT, why most company websites have too many gaps to show up in AI answers, and why the backlink game is over.

Jenna walks through the fractional CMO mistake that led to Hatter: a startup doing about 10 million in revenue that relied mostly on ads, until investors pulled out at the last minute, the ad spend stopped and revenue dried up overnight. She also shares why 90 percent of the AI search traffic Hatter sees still comes from ChatGPT, why content needs commercial intent and regular updates more than volume, why niche and trade press now carry more weight, and the car journey to the Sahara with OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, who turned down her offer to invest.

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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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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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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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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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A 20-year agency founder built his reputation turning Pizza Express back into a cult favourite, then years later made the mistake he now calls his biggest regret. Gerry Hopkinson, founder of Unity and now a cultural strategist, joins Embracing Marketing Mistakes to explain how he sold his agency, why he stayed on for five more years, and the commercial decision that cost him a loyal client.

Gerry walks through the Pizza Express "living lab," a real restaurant handed over to customers, chefs, designers, and even an acoustics professor to redesign together, and the customer-psychology insight that made it work. Then he tells the story of Absinthe, the Pernod Ricard brand his agency grew by 300% through a platform called Think Work Play, before admitting he dropped the client to chase a bigger, more famous brand, and regretted it immediately.

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Social media can feel like the best networking tool in the world, until it throws you a curveball. We were joined by Asif Choudry back in episode 96. We talk about the early days of Twitter when it felt like a friendly space for real conversations, and how one superhero-themed event turned into a lesson in handling criticism. From swag bags to unexpected backlash, this is a story about resilience and why staying visible matters even when things get uncomfortable.

We also dive into the reality of trolling, online pile-ons, and why ignoring negativity is often the smartest move. If you’ve ever had that sinking feeling after a public misstep or worried about what people might say, this conversation will give you practical advice and a reminder that mistakes don’t define you, they shape you.

Click here to listen to the full episode 96.

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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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