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In this episode of Marketing Espresso, I sit down once again with the incredible Leanne Shelton, CEO, AI coach and keynote speaker at Human Edge AI Training. Leanne brings her copywriting background and deep understanding of AI together to talk about something every business owner needs to hear - how to maintain your brand voice in the age of AI-generated content.

We dig into the reality of AI as a marketing tool, not a magic wand. Leanne shares how she went from feeling threatened by AI to embracing it as a creative partner - one that still needs a healthy dose of human oversight. Together, we unpack what happens when businesses sacrifice personality for productivity, why brand voice is the anchor that keeps your marketing genuine, and how to train AI tools like ChatGPT to actually sound like you.

There’s also a healthy dose of honesty in this chat - from the dangers of over-relying on automation, to why pumping out generic, lifeless content can quietly erode your brand. Leanne and I both share real stories from our own experiments with AI, what flopped, what worked, and why the human element always wins.

If you’ve ever wondered how to balance the efficiency of AI with the authenticity of your brand, this episode will help you rethink your approach. Leanne offers practical ways to work with AI - from teaching it your tone, to using it as a brainstorming partner rather than a replacement for creativity.

Key Takeaways & Actions:
Rather than handing your marketing voice over to a machine, treat AI like a junior team member - someone who can help shape ideas, speed up the process, and spark creativity, but still needs guidance. Train it with examples of your work, correct it as you go, and let it learn from you. The best marketing still comes from the human behind the keyboard.

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LinkedIn – Bec Chappell
If you're ready to work together, I'm ready to work with you and your team.

How to work with me:
1. Marketing foundations and strategy consultation
2. Marketing Coaching/ Whispering for you a marketing leader or your team who you want to develop into marketing leaders
3. Book me as a speaker or advisor for your organisation
4. Get me on your podcast

This podcast has been produced and edited by Snappystreet Creative

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In this episode of Marketing Espresso, I’m joined by Amy Winner from Wheels Up Collective, and together we dive deep into one of the biggest challenges brands face right now - trust.

We all know that trust in media and marketing has taken a hit. Between AI-generated content, polarised messaging, fake authenticity, and endless spin, audiences are increasingly sceptical about what they see online. At the same time, people are craving genuine human connection more than ever. So what does that mean for us as business owners and marketers?

Amy and I talk about how distrust shows up in media, the impact of AI on content saturation, and why brands need to come back to something simple but powerful - empathy. We cover why people don’t necessarily want more information, they want honesty and clarity. We also share practical ways you can create authentic brand experiences without falling into the trap of “performative vulnerability” or over-automation.

Some of the key takeaways from our chat:

• People buy from people they like - human-to-human connection still matters most.
• Brand empathy isn’t about telling the world your hardships on social media; it’s about showing care, listening, and creating meaningful interactions.
• Picking up the phone or making time for a genuine conversation puts you in the top tier of businesses today.
• Technology like AI can absolutely help with efficiency, but if it strips out humanity, your brand becomes forgettable.
• Trust is rebuilt when brands slow down, show care, and remember that values and relationships are what people actually connect with.

If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed by the volume of content, or worried about how to stand out authentically in a noisy digital world, this episode is for you.

Connect with Amy Winner

Wheels Up Collective

LinkedIn

DOWNLOAD MY CONTENT PLANNER - https://becchappell.com.au/content-planner/

Instagram @bec_chappell
LinkedIn – Bec Chappell
If you're ready to work together, I'm ready to work with you and your team.

How to work with me:
1. Marketing foundations and strategy consultation
2. Marketing Coaching/ Whispering for you a marketing leader or your team who you want to develop into marketing leaders
3. Book me as a speaker or advisor for your organisation
4. Get me on your podcast

This podcast has been produced and edited by Snappystreet Creative

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If you’ve ever felt awkward saying no - to a client, a colleague, or even a friend, this episode will be a relief. I’m joined by communication specialist Colleen Kavanagh, who unpacks how to deliver a firm no without triggering defensiveness, people-pleasing, or creating more work for yourself.

We dig into “can-do” language - a practical way of flipping the conversation from roadblocks to options. Instead of the reflex combo of “Unfortunately… I’m sorry… I can’t… due to…”, Colleen shows how to lead with what I can do, then position the boundary with confidence. The result is less pushback, a calmer tone, and stronger trust.

Colleen walks through live reframes you can use today: returning sale items, rescheduling requests, and that dreaded airline-style announcement. We also talk about when empathy is essential (and when it isn’t), how to edit an email so it lands better, and why “customers” include your internal stakeholders too. Colleen shares a council case study where tightening everyday language lifted Net Promoter Score by 75% across 1,600 surveys - proof this isn’t fluffy, it’s commercial.

If you lead a team, handle clients, work cross-functionally, or simply want to protect your time without feeling guilty, this one’s for you.

Key takeaways:

• People are more interested in what I can do than what I can’t. When I lead with options and next steps, the “no” lands as professional and helpful.
• Ditch trigger words. “Unfortunately”, “I’m sorry” “I can’t” “due to” spike emotion and invite arguments. They’re habitual, not helpful.
• Reframe in a single move. Put the positive offer first, then the boundary:
  “I can offer Wednesday 8:30–10:30 or Thursday afternoon. I’m not available Wednesday midday due to a prior commitment.”
• Use empathy when the person needs to feel seen. Mirror back the facts and pressure points before you offer the path forward.
• Trust is built on reliability. If I’m starting emails with “Sorry for the delay…”, I’ve got a reliability opportunity. Communicate work-in-progress updates before people need to chase.
• Internal audiences are customers too. Clear, can-do language with colleagues improves influence and personal brand just as much as it does with clients.

Connect with Colleen
LinkedIn
Website

DOWNLOAD MY CONTENT PLANNER - https://becchappell.com.au/content-planner/

Instagram @bec_chappell
LinkedIn – Bec Chappell
If you're ready to work together, I'm ready to work with you and your team.

How to work with me:
1. Marketing foundations and strategy consultation
2. Marketing Coaching/ Whispering for you a marketing leader or your team who you want to develop into marketing leaders
3. Book me as a speaker or advisor for your organisation
4. Get me on your podcast

This podcast has been produced and edited by Snappystreet Creative

Send us a text

So many business owners see awards as nothing more than a shiny trophy or a pat on the back. But what if entering awards could actually be one of the smartest marketing moves you make this year?

In this episode, I sit down with Heather Marano, who knows the awards space inside out. She explains why awards are far more than vanity metrics and how they can become a fast track to building credibility, visibility, and trust with your audience.

We talk about how awards can open doors to PR opportunities, strengthen your brand story, and even help you connect with other high-performing businesses. Heather shares why being a finalist is just as powerful as winning, and how you can leverage that recognition across your marketing channels.

You’ll also hear practical advice on choosing the right awards to enter, how to make the submission process less overwhelming, and why it’s worth treating awards as part of your broader marketing strategy rather than an afterthought.

By the end of this chat, you’ll see awards in a whole new light - not just as a celebration of success, but as a powerful business tool that can boost your brand reputation, attract opportunities, and even help you uncover hidden wins in your business.

Links to connect with Heather

- Website - https://greendoorco.com.au/

- Download a customised awards report - https://greendoorco.com.au/award-cart/

- Book a meeting with Heather - https://meetings.hubspot.com/heather-marano

- Join the waitlist for early access to the AI award app -

DOWNLOAD MY CONTENT PLANNER - https://becchappell.com.au/content-planner/

Instagram @bec_chappell
LinkedIn – Bec Chappell
If you're ready to work together, I'm ready to work with you and your team.

How to work with me:
1. Marketing foundations and strategy consultation
2. Marketing Coaching/ Whispering for you a marketing leader or your team who you want to develop into marketing leaders
3. Book me as a speaker or advisor for your organisation
4. Get me on your podcast

This podcast has been produced and edited by Snappystreet Creative

Send us a text

If you’ve ever boosted a post on a whim, tried a week of ads, sent one email and then decided the channel “doesn’t work”, this chat is for you. I sat down with strategist Simran Kaur to unpack why one-off marketing keeps stalling and what it actually takes to build momentum you can measure. We didn’t chase hacks. We talked about rhythm, small tests, learning loops and the unsexy truth that consistency beats clever every time.

Simran and I started with the two mindsets that sink results before you even begin: the “I already know what to do because I heard it on a podcast” camp, and the “guarantee my ROI before we start” camp. Both avoid the same hard work - talking to customers, defining success up front and sticking with a test long enough to learn something. When campaigns underperform, the answer isn’t to pivot instantly. It’s to isolate what actually failed: the message, the audience, the timing, the offer or the follow-up.

We dug into the sales side too. There’s no point generating demand if you can’t respond quickly or nurture properly. If ten warm leads turned up tomorrow, who calls them, when, and with what? That gap between marketing activity and sales capacity is where good spend goes to die. Simran shared practical ways to match your activity to your ability to follow up, so you protect the brand while you scale.

The through-line in all of this is ownership. Agencies and AI can help, but you still need to understand your customers’ language, your numbers and your system. That means interviewing real buyers, using their words in your copy and running small, well-designed experiments before you throw serious budget behind anything. It’s calmer, clearer and far more effective than campaign roulette.

Key takeaways:

You don’t need a hack; you need a system. Start small with one audience, one message, one offer and one channel, and commit to a two-to-four-week run so you can actually learn. Don’t bin a channel without a post-mortem - change one variable at a time and retest. Keep sales and marketing joined at the hip so leads get fast, human follow-up. And keep the understanding in-house: know what you’re testing, what success looks like and what the numbers are telling you.

What to do next

Run a single micro-test and decide the success criteria before you hit go. Speak to five customers this month and borrow their wording for your ads, emails and landing pages. Map your follow-up so new enquiries hear from you within an hour, with a clear next step. Finally, write down your simple playbook - goals, audiences, messages, channels, KPIs and who does what - so the system keeps running even when you’re off the grid.

DOWNLOAD MY CONTENT PLANNER - https://becchappell.com.au/content-planner/

Instagram @bec_chappell
LinkedIn – Bec Chappell
If you're ready to work together, I'm ready to work with you and your team.

How to work with me:
1. Marketing foundations and strategy consultation
2. Marketing Coaching/ Whispering for you a marketing leader or your team who you want to develop into marketing leaders
3. Book me as a speaker or advisor for your organisation
4. Get me on your podcast

This podcast has been produced and edited by Snappystreet Creative

Send us a text

In this episode I’m joined by marketing strategist TanIa Fielding (Little Luxe Marketing), whose career spans Nova, 3AW, Fairfax Media, the Canberra Times and WIN. Between us we’ve lived through marketing before social, watched the rise of digital, and now blend both every day.

We dig into what many businesses are missing right now: traditional media still delivers when you pair it with smart digital execution. Think radio activations that feed email lists, local print that drives QR scans, a wrapped vehicle that points to a landing page, and community events that generate real conversations.

We also talk personal brand. It isn’t new or gimmicky - radio announcers, TV presenters and real estate agents have built careers on it for decades. The lesson for the rest of us: people buy from people. You don’t have to share your life story; you just need to decide what you want to be known for and show up consistently.

What you’ll hear

• Why the foundations of marketing haven’t changed - only the channels have.
• Real examples of traditional done well: radio street teams, local paper partnerships, mobile billboards, market stalls and community collabs.
• How to make traditional measurable with unique URLs, QR codes, dedicated landing pages and simple offer mechanics.
• Where personal brand fits for service providers and e-comm founders alike (and why real estate has been nailing it for years).
• How to set sensible KPIs for offline channels so you can compare apples with apples.

Key takeaways

Traditional isn’t old-school - it’s underused. Your audience still listens to radio in the car, reads community media and turns up at local events. When you engineer a hand-off to digital (QR codes, vanity URLs, landing pages, email capture), your brand benefits twice: you get reach and you get data.

Personal brand isn’t about oversharing. It’s about clarity. Decide the handful of themes you’ll speak to, keep your tone human and consistent, and let repetition do the heavy lifting. As Tanya puts it, own your story and the right people will lean in.

Actions you can take this month

• Pick one offline test that suits your audience: local radio live read, a community paper strip ad, a market stall, or a simple in-store collaboration (think colouring-in comp with a popular café or bakery).
• Make it trackable: a campaign-specific URL, QR code to a short landing page, or an offer code that’s only shared via that execution.
• Define success up front: impressions or foot traffic for awareness; scans, site visits and sign-ups for response; sales for conversion.
• Start your personal brand cadence: choose three topics you want to be known for and post once a week using your own words and examples.

DOWNLOAD MY CONTENT PLANNER - https://becchappell.com.au/content-planner/

Instagram @bec_chappell
LinkedIn – Bec Chappell
If you're ready to work together, I'm ready to work with you and your team.

How to work with me:
1. Marketing foundations and strategy consultation
2. Marketing Coaching/ Whispering for you a marketing leader or your team who you want to develop into marketing leaders
3. Book me as a speaker or advisor for your organisation
4. Get me on your podcast

This podcast has been produced and edited by Snappystreet Creative

Send us a text

In this episode of Marketing Espresso, I’m joined once again by Nicole Smith, founder of The Artisan Solutions, fractional COO and business systems strategist. Nicole and I often work alongside each other with clients, and this conversation dives deep into one of her favourite topics: why outsourcing expertise doesn’t mean outsourcing your understanding.

It’s tempting as a business owner to just “handball” things off our plate, especially when we’re stretched thin and overwhelmed. But Nicole reminds us that you can’t afford to disengage from the key areas of your business – particularly your strategy, finances, systems and operations. While experts can and should be brought in, the business owner still needs to be connected to the vision, values, and outcomes.

We talk about the difference between outsourcing and abdicating responsibility, and why understanding even the basics of what’s being done is vital to sustainable growth. We also cover the importance of clarity – clarity on your vision, values, mission and the business you’re building. Without this, you risk creating a business you don’t actually want.

Nicole also shares her own mindset shifts, including the moment she realised she was “choosing her choices” and how that reframed her approach to business and leadership. We dig into why values-driven businesses attract the right clients and team members, why outsourcing is powerful when done well, and how authenticity plays a bigger role in operations and marketing than many people realise.

Key Takeaways:

• Outsourcing works best when you still understand what’s being done and why.
• Vision, mission and values are non-negotiable foundations – they guide decisions, hiring and even which clients you attract.
• Avoid creating a business you don’t want by regularly checking in with your goals and personal alignment.
• Mindset shifts are just as important as strategy shifts – your choices shape your business more than you realise.
• Authenticity isn’t just a marketing buzzword – it’s essential to creating a business that’s sustainable and fulfilling.

Action Steps:

1. Revisit your mission, vision and values. Are they still true for you and your business?
2. Audit your outsourcing – are there areas where you’ve handed over too much without understanding what’s being done?
3. Consider where your business is reactive rather than intentional and identify one change you can make this quarter.

DOWNLOAD MY CONTENT PLANNER - https://becchappell.com.au/content-planner/

Instagram @bec_chappell
LinkedIn – Bec Chappell
If you're ready to work together, I'm ready to work with you and your team.

How to work with me:
1. Marketing foundations and strategy consultation
2. Marketing Coaching/ Whispering for you a marketing leader or your team who you want to develop into marketing leaders
3. Book me as a speaker or advisor for your organisation
4. Get me on your podcast

This podcast has been produced and edited by Snappystreet Creative

Send us a text

Verification on social media sounds like a badge of credibility, but is it really worth your money, data, or peace of mind? In this episode of Marketing Espresso, I unpack the truth about Meta and LinkedIn verification and why I personally won’t be handing over my cash or passport details anytime soon.

Remember when the Instagram blue tick was a symbol of influence and credibility? It used to mean you’d built a large following and had a presence worth protecting. Fast forward to today and anyone can pay for it, which strips it of the trust it once carried. Platforms like Meta have found a way to monetise what used to be free, asking businesses to pay for verification in return for supposed benefits like better customer service and algorithm support. But do these perks really exist?

On the LinkedIn side, verification doesn’t cost money it costs something more valuable: your personal data. To get verified, LinkedIn requires you to hand over your passport. In a world where major companies are hacked regularly, that feels like a risk that far outweighs the reward.

The key takeaways from this episode are simple:

• Verification isn’t a magic ticket to success. Unless you’re seeing clear ROI from the platform, paying for a blue tick (or giving away your most sensitive data) may not be worth it.
• Your data is currency. Every free platform makes its money by selling access to you, your habits, and your information. Think carefully before you give them more than they already have.
• Focus on what you can control, building a marketing ecosystem where your website, email list, and owned assets do the heavy lifting, while social media remains a secondary channel.

The action I’d encourage you to take is to review where your marketing time and money are being invested. Are you paying for verification, ads, or tools that aren’t bringing a return? Are you treating social media as your primary business driver instead of a supportive channel? If the answer is yes, it might be time to rethink.

DOWNLOAD MY CONTENT PLANNER - https://becchappell.com.au/content-planner/

Instagram @bec_chappell
LinkedIn – Bec Chappell
If you're ready to work together, I'm ready to work with you and your team.

How to work with me:
1. Marketing foundations and strategy consultation
2. Marketing Coaching/ Whispering for you a marketing leader or your team who you want to develop into marketing leaders
3. Book me as a speaker or advisor for your organisation
4. Get me on your podcast

This podcast has been produced and edited by Snappystreet Creative