On designing for scepticism
I built it. Then I tried to break it.
Designing an analytics playbook system for a small team — with a work-in-progress limit, honest verdicts, and explicit instructions to disagree with its own operator.
Manual Mode
Writing about marketing, AI and digital change in higher education.
Essays on marketing, technology, AI and the places where they collide with culture, communication and how organisations work.
I'm Niall Walsh, Head of Marketing at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. I write about higher education marketing, AI, digital strategy and the systems behind them. More about me or get in touch.
Latest
Nobody is coming for your pint
Westminster council never planned to ban standing in pubs. How a routine licensing review became a national fun-police story, what the council's response got right — and where it handed its critics a second headline.
Start here
On building marketing systems with AI
Building a HE marketing analytics dashboard in a week with Claude
The analytics setup was there. The time, skills, and budget weren’t. What happens when you build it anyway.
On AI search and content visibility
Why your content isn’t showing up in AI search (and how to fix it)
AI tools now answer questions your content used to answer. How the shift from clicks to citations works, why most websites are invisible to it, and what to do about it.
On digital strategy and AI audiences
Building for the visitors who’ll never visit
How AI is quietly rewriting the rules of search — and why that changes everything about how we build websites
Stay in touch
Occasional essays and notes on higher education marketing, AI and digital practice.
All essays 21
-
AI visibility for researchers: the practical checklist
A tiered checklist for researchers and PhD students: what to fix, in what order, so AI assistants can find your work and describe it correctly.
-
I built it. Then I tried to break it.
Designing an analytics playbook system for a small team — with a work-in-progress limit, honest verdicts, and explicit instructions to disagree with its own operator.
-
The researcher AI can't see (and how to fix it)
Excellent researchers vanish from AI answers not because their work is weak, but because they are invisible to machines. The small fixes — ORCID, plain-language summaries, open access — that bring them back.
-
Every generation discovers history through the medium of its time
A generation is discovering history through AI-generated video. What Chloe vs History says about formats, scepticism, and how new media reshapes how we engage with the past.
-
I built a 2026 World Cup prediction game with AI in one afternoon
How my two kids and I designed and built a daily 2026 World Cup squad-building game with AI in a single afternoon, bugs, squad data and all. Play it free.
-
The Godfather's guide to website migration
Five Godfather quotes that explain content prioritisation, PDF redirects, and why you can never truly be out. A migration post written at 1am with GSC open in the next tab.
-
Building a HE marketing analytics dashboard in a week with Claude
The analytics setup was there. The time, skills, and budget weren’t. What happens when you build it anyway.
-
What football managers can teach us about AI and the developers who won’t adapt
Every generation of managers who dismissed the last wave got left behind. The same thing is happening right now with AI — and the developers who won’t adapt are already losing ground.
-
AI, accountability and harm: what a landmark tech verdict means for parents
A US court ruling shows that AI companies can be held responsible for what their products do to real people. What that verdict means for design, testing, and accountability.
-
Nobody lets the moment land
On the strange experience of shipping something you've spent months on — and moving straight to the next thing without ever acknowledging what you built.
-
Half term, Netflix, and the marketing lesson I did not expect
“A teenage question during a Netflix binge became the clearest explanation of value I’ve heard in years. Why ‘I’ll do it myself’ almost always costs more than you think.”
-
Meta’s ad changes: what local government comms teams should actually be thinking about
Meta’s consent-or-pay shift looks like a platform update. It’s actually a fundamental change in how public sector comms can operate on social — and most teams aren’t ready for what it means.
-
The stories that land always come from somewhere real
What a film scene can teach us about storytelling in global health, and why AI should support the work, not replace the human part.
-
FAQs: from content design sin to AI citation strategy
“FAQs were a content design red flag for a decade. AI search has changed the job — and the format we dismissed as lazy might now be your easiest route to getting cited and trusted.”
-
Why your content isn’t showing up in AI search (and how to fix it)
AI tools now answer questions your content used to answer. How the shift from clicks to citations works, why most websites are invisible to it, and what to do about it.
-
Digital ID in the UK: Why Hollywood has already shaped the public’s view
Decades of dystopian film have already written the story of digital ID in the public mind. Why the UK government's rollout has a trust problem Hollywood created — and what it would take to fix it.
-
Interest media: discoverability over followership, curiosity over hierarchy
Social platforms no longer reward your network — they reward your topic. What the shift from followership to interest media means for anyone trying to reach an audience.
-
When safety becomes a loophole
What Malcolm Gladwell got me thinking about with self-driving cars, street football, and unintended consequences
-
AI, Beer-Chugging Aliens, and a $2K NBA Ad
What a chaotic AI-generated TV commercial tells us about where content creation is heading
-
Building for the visitors who’ll never visit
How AI is quietly rewriting the rules of search — and why that changes everything about how we build websites