About me

Where I Started

I came into marketing through student recruitment – inspired by how transformational university had been for me personally. Over time, I shifted from recruitment to more traditional marketing roles, learning how the broader marketing mix could be applied to amplify access, engagement, and value.

That journey started with a BSc in Psychology and Criminal Behaviour. While I don’t run experiments in a lab anymore, that background shaped my thinking in a fundamental way. I’m still driven by empirical rigour, by the question: “How do we know what we know?”

Cognitive psychology had the biggest influence — especially in understanding how marketers can misuse behavioural biases. I’m critical of crude tactics that exploit cognitive shortcuts. Lazy psychology doesn’t make for better marketing; it makes for weaker trust.

Nick HB but its older and got hair

Where I Am Now

My MSc in Digital Marketing has been transformative — not just academically, but professionally. I didn’t want a surface-level understanding of trends and tactics. I wanted to go deeper: to understand the frameworks, ethics, and long-term implications of our choices as marketers.

Modules like Strategic Digital Marketing changed how I approach planning. Frameworks like SOSTAC, RACE, and the Digital Marketing Mix now shape every campaign I build — from the first brief to final optimisation. I no longer start with “what could we do?” — I ask, “what should we do?” That distinction matters.

My dissertation focuses on digitally mediated incentives for zero-party data collection — specifically among Gen Z audiences. While much of the industry is chasing the promise of generative AI, I’m focused on the bigger question: how do we responsibly acquire the data that fuels it? Without ethical, audience-consented data, all that AI potential stays surface level. I want to help solve that problem.

Where I Am Going

I’m now building a career in digital marketing strategy, and I’m especially driven to work with businesses that need clarity, not just content.

I’m increasingly focused on supporting SMEs and mission-driven organisations, especially those who don’t have an in-house marketing expert yet, and who too often get handed outputs instead of outcomes.

It’s easy to get a website built. It’s harder to know if you actually need one. Social media pages? Great, are they converting, or just filling space? I want to help businesses ask better questions before they spend a penny.

I’m particularly passionate about helping smaller teams understand:

  • What marketing is for, not just how it looks
  • Which audiences to prioritise — and how to speak their language
  • How to measure success in a way that ties back to actual business goals

Over the next few years, I want to grow this advisory side of my work — offering strategic consultation, workshops, and frameworks to demystify marketing and make it work smarter, not louder.

To support this, I’m:

  • Completing a distinction-level MSc in Digital Marketing
  • Applying academic models like SOSTAC and RACE in live environments
  • Developing zero-party data strategies for a post-cookie landscape
  • Writing and speaking on marketing that earns trust — and earns its keep

I believe that great marketing starts with a plan, not a platform. And I want to help more businesses discover that for themselves.

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