Practical Rebels

Hosted by HatchMark Studio

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Latest episode

Nov 2026

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EN-US

About the show

Welcome to Practical Rebels: A Branding & Marketing Pod. Join the team at HatchMark Studio as we pull back the curtain and talk branding, marketing, entrepreneurship, and more with our friends, our partners, and our favorite industry experts. From actionable tips for businesses to implement with the resources they have at hand to industry insights for seasoned pros, we discuss the latest in this ever-evolving world. We’re here to share, help, and give a peek into the agency world. Through working with hundreds of clients at all phases of business development, we’re always learning, growing, and meeting incredible individuals. We’re excited to pass on that knowledge to you. The goal? To empower you with practical advice that you can run with in a way that’s genuinely you. To encourage you to stand out, be bold, and make your mark on your industry, no matter your space.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

November 2, 202644 min

67: Social Media as the New TV, and Why Followers Don’t Pay the Bills w/ Brandon Reyes

Send us Fan Mail Most business owners know they should be on social media, but plenty of them end up posting content that looks and sounds like a commercial, and their audience scrolls right past it. In this episode, HatchMark Studio’s Social Media Manager Savannah Coates sits down with Content Creator Brandon Reyes to talk about why casual, relatable content keeps outperforming the polished stuff, and how to find the right balance for your brand. Brandon shares how he went from struggling realtor to self-taught videographer, and the two get into why a strong message always beats fancy editing, how treating your page like a TV series keeps people watching, and when it makes sense to test something new without losing what your audience already counts on. They also cover what you should realistically expect when you hire a social media team, and why a big follower count has very little to do with bringing in business. In this episode: 00:00 Intro 00:48 Brandon’s path from realtor to content creator 03:15 What content creation looks like behind the scenes 04:14 Pairing a creative eye with a detail-oriented teammate 06:29 Why overly professional, salesy content gets skipped 09:24 Finding inspiration without copying what everyone else is doing 10:40 FaceTime-style content and why your message matters more than production 13:19 Storytelling and the campfire approach to content 14:45 World building and creating community online 15:20 Putting yourself in your audience’s shoes 17:35 How showing up consistently builds trust 18:17 Using the different personalities on your team as a strength 21:56 Social media as the new TV 24:31 Staying consistent vs. switching it up 29:11 Bringing the casual back to social media 31:36 Answering your clients’ questions before they ever ask 33:22 Being the same person online and in person 35:17 What to expect when you hire a social media team 37:39 Why chasing viral misses the point 39:20 The myth that you need a lot of followers 42:06 Using a professional camera without losing the casual feel 44:01 Wrap-up Follow HatchMark Studio on social to see more of the client work Savannah and Brandon create every day. Stream more episodes by searching Practical Rebels on Spotify, Apple, and Amazon.

October 26, 202650 min

66: Trust Deposits, Social Media Backlash, and the Art of the Apology w/ Travis Peterson

Send us Fan Mail 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.

October 19, 202650 min

65: Malls, Generalist Marketing, and Treating Vendors Like Your Own Team w/ Kristyn Bucciero Beckwith

Send us Fan Mail 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.

October 12, 202650 min

64: How Economic Development Uses Marketing, Relationships, and Trust to Bring Business to Pensacola with Chris Platé

Send us Fan Mail 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.

October 5, 202643 min

63: Growing Wiser, Bolder, and Truer to Yourself in a Complicated World with Emily Ley

Send us Fan Mail 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.

September 28, 20261 hr 13 min

62: Building, Selling, and Reinventing as a Creative with Mike Janda

Send us Fan Mail 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.

September 21, 202634 min

61: Full Pipeline? Don't Pause Your Marketing with Logan Singleton

Send us Fan Mail 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.

September 14, 202659 min

60: A Modern PR Playbook For Brands with Whitney Lee

Send us Fan Mail 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.

September 8, 202650 min

59: From Sports Newsrooms to Credit Union Marketing with Jennifer Perez

Send us Fan Mail 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.

August 31, 202644 min

58: How Professional Service Firms Can Win Trust on LinkedIn with Sean Johnson

Send us Fan Mail 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.