Practical Rebels

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Trust is harder to earn than ever, and most brands only start thinking about it once something has already gone wrong. Travis Peterson, founder of Impact Campaigns, joins Logan Singleton to talk about how organizations of every size can build trust with their audience long before they need it. They cover the research behind declining public trust, why showing your values beats posting them on a wall, and how consistent “trust deposits” give you credibility to fall back on when you make a mistake. Travis also breaks down his “feel, facts, forward” framework for responding to a crisis, how to handle negative comments and misinformation on social media, and why staying silent is the worst move a brand can make.

In this episode:
00:00 Welcome and introductions
01:15 Travis’s path from political campaigns to Impact Campaigns
02:28 When trust became the common thread in his work
06:04 Why it’s harder than ever for a business to earn trust
10:09 Showing your values instead of just posting them
12:17 Trust deposits and the dollar cost averaging approach
20:20 What Travis needs to know when a client is in crisis
22:54 The feel, facts, forward framework
24:27 Why crisis response mirrors your personal relationships
26:39 Handling backlash and negative comments on social media
32:36 When your customers come to your defense
39:41 Why you need to be part of the conversation
42:58 Service recovery lessons from hospitality
46:30 Getting legal, finance, and leadership on the same page
48:52 Where to find Travis

Learn more about Travis and his team at https://www.impactcampaigns.com/.

Connect with Travis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thetravispeterson/

Practical Rebels is a podcast from HatchMark Studio, a branding and marketing agency in Pensacola, Florida. Stream more episodes by searching Practical Rebels on Spotify, Apple, and Amazon.

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What happens when a former political fundraiser and nonprofit marketer takes over corporate marketing for a mall ownership and management firm? Kristyn Bucciero Beckwith, Director of Corporate Marketing and Brand Strategy at Spinoso Real Estate Group, joins Logan Singleton to talk about why malls are still thriving in the right markets, why today’s in-house marketers have to be generalists, and how to tell when a project needs an outside expert. Kristyn also shares how she builds vendor partnerships that pay off with better work, urgent projects squeezed into packed schedules, and fresh ideas brought to her before she ever has to ask.

In this episode:
00:00 Welcome and introductions
02:08 From pre-law and political fundraising to corporate marketing
10:00 Why the “malls are dying” narrative doesn’t hold up
18:54 Marketing malls to owners and investors on the B2B side
22:45 The swing back to generalist marketing and what’s driving it
28:11 When to do it yourself and when to call in a vendor
36:24 Treating vendors like an extension of your team
47:39 Kristyn’s #1 tip for a successful vendor relationship

Connect with Kristyn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristyn-bucciero-beckwith/

Practical Rebels is a podcast from HatchMark Studio, a branding and marketing agency in Pensacola, Florida.

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On this episode of Practical Rebels, Veronique Zayas of HatchMark Studio sits down with Chris Platé, CEO of FloridaWest Economic Development Alliance, to talk about what it takes to sell a city. Chris spent 25 years building the largest aerospace cluster in North Carolina before bringing that experience to Pensacola, and he explains why the port, the airport, two interstates, available land, and a quality of life most markets can't match give the area a real competitive edge. He also shares why protecting the culture of Pensacola matters as much to him as growing it.

The conversation breaks down how economic development works a lot like marketing, from discovery and positioning to staying top of mind through a sales cycle that can stretch three to five years. Chris walks through how site selectors look for reasons to cut a community from the list, why trusted local partners make every promise believable, and how genuine relationships and a simple phone call still close more deals than any hard sell. He and Veronique also get into the creative side of his role, including in-house video and podcast production, using AI as a starting point for ideas, and why every leader should learn enough about marketing to communicate what they want.

Chris also covers the industries FloridaWest is targeting, including life science, aerospace, maritime, and cyber and defense, along with how CoLab gives startups and international companies a soft landing in the U.S. market. He makes the case for chasing singles and doubles over home runs, and he explains how manufacturing eases the tax burden for everyone who lives here.

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On this episode of Practical Rebels, Veronique sits down with Emily Ley, the Pensacola-based founder of Simplified, who turned a planner she designed for her own overwhelmed days into a national brand sold at Target, Walmart, Staples, and Office Depot. Along the way she's written 12 books, launched a podcast and a top-ranked parenting Substack, and built an all-remote team of women who've stuck with her for more than a decade.

Emily opens up about hiring for character before skill set, untangling her own identity from the brand she built, and her decision to stand up for small businesses as the plaintiff in Simplified v. Trump, the tariff lawsuit that put her in front of major national news outlets almost overnight. She also shares how turning 40 changed the way she decides what deserves her time and energy.

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A “safe” creative career can flip overnight, and Mike Janda has lived that reality from the inside. We talk through his jump from a creative director role at Fox into freelancing after the dot-com bust and 9/11 fallout, then the gritty path of building Riser from a basement setup into a fast-growing agency. Along the way, Mike breaks down what actually creates momentum in the agency business: relationships that turn into referrals, the scary first hires, and the mindset shifts that help you keep moving when the ground changes.

We also get real about downturns. Mike shares what the 2008 recession felt like when you are responsible for payroll, watching budgets tighten, and trying to protect your team while the market keeps sliding. From there, we move into what many creative leaders debate today: office culture versus remote work. We unpack why a great space can be a “home court advantage” for client confidence and team cohesion, while still admitting remote models can unlock talent and scale in ways a single city can’t.

Then we step into the AI era with clear eyes. We discuss tools like Claude and Meta’s Muse, why content is getting noisier, and why authenticity matters more when anybody can generate polished “AI slop.” Mike lays out the most important strategic shift for designers and agency owners: you can’t just sell logos and layouts anymore. The future is consulting, business fundamentals, brand strategy, marketing strategy, and positioning yourself between the client and the AI tool so your value keeps rising.

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When things get busy, marketing is usually the first thing to get “paused” and it is one of the fastest ways to lose momentum. We sit down with Logan Singleton from HatchMark Studio for a practical look at always-on marketing and why treating your own business like an ongoing client is the difference between steady demand and stressful peaks and valleys.

We talk through the psychology behind turning off ads, slowing social media, or skipping content when your pipeline is full. Then we zoom out to the long game: marketing has lag, sales cycles vary by industry, and the habits you build now are what keep you visible later. We share real examples of lighter-touch marketing like email newsletters, education content, and simple updates that keep you top of mind without running 100 miles an hour.

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AI is already telling people where to eat, where to stay, and what brand to trust. The question is whether your business is giving it anything worth recommending. We sit down with Whitney Lee of True Story PR, a hospitality-focused PR and marketing leader.

We get specific about the misconception that PR equals press releases or “getting on the news.” For Whitney, PR is the visibility engine that pulls new eyeballs in and keeps loyal customers from forgetting you. She explains how earned media, influencer marketing, partnerships, and pop-up activations fit together, why editorial coverage is tougher in a search-driven publishing world, and what metrics actually make sense when a client asks for ROI.

Then we go deeper into the human side of brand building. We talk thought leadership on LinkedIn, why faces outperform logos, and how to humanize brands that do not have a neat founder story. We also dig into differentiation, the courage to be known for something, and how to handle reputation risk and crisis communications with transparency instead of fear.

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A credit union rebrand is one of the fastest ways to learn what your audience really trusts and what they ignore. We’re joined by Jennifer Perez, VP of Marketing at Gulf Winds Credit Union, who brings a rare perspective from sports broadcasting, journalism, and mortgage marketing into the world of community banking and financial services branding.

We talk about the storytelling rules she learned in newsrooms and how they translate directly into content strategy today: know your audience, move faster than your approval process wants to, and stop treating “polished” as the goal. Jennifer shares why raw, timely content often beats perfect content on social media, and how marketing teams can build repeatable content pillars that work across LinkedIn, Instagram, and whatever platform changes next.

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Most professional services leaders don’t need another reminder that “you should post on LinkedIn.” You need a way to do it without feeling cringe, without turning into a motivational influencer, and without getting trapped by metrics that don’t translate into real business development.

We sit down with Sean Johnson, founder of Madison, to break down what actually works for boutique consulting firms and other B2B service businesses: executive thought leadership that sounds like a real human, shares specific lessons from client work, and builds trust over time. Sean explains why faces consistently beat logos, why company pages still matter as an on-ramp, and how a service-first mindset removes the narcissism objection. We also talk about the “trust in the aggregate” approach, the belief that no one post's metrics define the success of your efforts.

If you want a simple, repeatable LinkedIn marketing strategy for B2B growth, hit play.

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Most people think economic development is a closed-door game of incentives, spreadsheets, and political talking points. The truth is messier and far more human: companies don’t just choose a site, they choose a life their workforce will tolerate or even love. That’s why we brought on McCall Lugo, Director of Economic Development at the Baldwin Alliance, to talk about what modern economic development really demands from a fast-growing county like Baldwin County, Alabama.

We dig into how Baldwin Alliance supports recruitment, retention, and expansion while also working in workforce development, talent attraction, and the partner-heavy reality of being a “connector” across government, industry, and local communities. McCall shares how and why Belong In Baldwin evolved from a talent attraction campaign into a flexible community identity used by municipalities and employers to help new hires plug in faster. We also unpack why a strong brand and online presence can give a region an edge long after incentives get attention.