AI, Branding & the Rebel Mindset — Inside REBL Risty’s Playbook for B2B Growth

In this episode of Inside Marketing with MarketSurge, we sit down with REBL Risty, founder of REBL Marketing and REBL Labs, to uncover how she’s shaking up B2B marketing with bold creativity, sharp strategy, and the smart use of AI.

From getting laid off during the 2008 downturn to building a thriving agency and AI division, REBL’s journey is a masterclass in turning setbacks into springboards. We dive into:

💡 How to align strategy with execution (and stop wasting time on “busy” marketing)
🤖 The right and wrong ways to use AI tools like ChatGPT for marketing
🎨 Why bold branding wins in “boring” B2B markets
💼 How corporate experience shapes entrepreneurial success
🔥 The real ROI of AI workflows and automations for service-based businesses

🧠 Key Takeaways

✅ AI isn’t here to replace you — it’s here to amplify you.
✅ Bold branding cuts through the noise — even in traditional industries.
✅ Automation ≠ emotionless. Done right, it personalizes your marketing.
✅ Going viral doesn’t mean going profitable — focus on strategy, not stunts.

💬 Favorite Quote

“Your job’s secure until you get let go. But when you run your own thing, you’ve got multiple fires going — one goes out, you light another.” — REBL Risty

🎙️ Guest Links – REBL Risty

🌐 Website: https://reblmarketing.com

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebristy/

🤖 REBL Labs (AI division): https://rebllabs.ai

🚀 MarketSurge & Podcast Links

🌐 MarketSurge Website: https://marketsurge.io

🎙️ Inside Marketing with MarketSurge Podcast: https://marketsurge.transistor.fm/

📅 Book Your “15-Minute Value or Free Coffee” Call: https://link.marketsurge.io/widget/bookings/15minutevalueorfreecoffee

💬 Book a Demo with Reed Hansen: https://link.marketsurge.io/widget/bookings/marketsurge/demozvwcxw

📱 MarketSurge Social Links

📘 Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100035121171654

👥 Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/15wpKr1WmN/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsurgeio

🐦 X / Twitter: https://x.com/marketsurging

🎥 YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@marketsurge-q7q

Creators and Guests

Host

Reed Hansen

Reed Hansen is a seasoned digital marketing executive with a proven track record of driving business growth through innovative strategies. As the Chief Growth Officer at MarketSurge, he focuses on leveraging AI-powered marketing tools to help businesses scale efficiently. Reed's expertise spans from leading startups to Fortune 500 companies, making him a recognized authority in the digital marketing space. His unique ability to combine data-driven insights with creative solutions has been instrumental in achieving remarkable sales growth for his clients. ​

What is Inside Marketing with MarketSurge?

Welcome to Inside Marketing with MarketSurge — your front-row seat to the boldest business insights, marketing breakthroughs, and entrepreneurial real talk.

Hosted by Reed Hansen, Chief Growth Officer at MarketSurge and a digital marketing veteran who's helped scale everything from scrappy startups to Fortune 500 giants, this podcast dives deep into what’s really moving the needle in today’s marketing world. Find us at Marketsurge.io

Each week, we’ll break down the latest marketing and business news (minus the fluff), explore tech trends you actually need to know, and feature unfiltered conversations with the most interesting minds in entrepreneurship and marketing.

Whether you're a founder, a marketer, or just a curious hustler looking to level up, this is where growth happens—loudly, smartly, and with just the right amount of sass.

Subscribe, tune in, and let’s scale something legendary. 🚀

Speaker: Welcome to Inside
Marketing With Market Surge.

Your front row seat to the
boldest ideas and smartest

strategies in the marketing game.

Your host is Reed Hansen, chief
Growth Officer at Market Surge.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hello
and welcome back to Inside

Marketing with Market Surge.

Today we're joined by

REBL Risty: Okay.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
built a marketing agency

that's anything but ordinary.

RebL Risty is the founder and head
rebel at Revel Marketing, a B2B

marketing agency that helps companies
stand out in crowded markets.

Without using the same generic tactics,
she has a background that ex that spans

from corporate communications, marketing,
leadership, and entrepreneurship.

She has mastered aligning
strategy with execution.

That is something that most
businesses really struggle with.

She is passionate about helping
companies clarify their voice, simplify

their message, and scale their impact.

And she's doing great work
with AI tools and workflows.

If we're going to dig into how Revel
and her team at Revel Marketing turned

complex ideas into the marketing
strategies that a actually resonate.

Welcome to the podcast.

REBL Risty: Wow.

That's like the best introduction
I've received in a long time.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

REBL Risty: Thank you.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Great.

That, that's a good transition into
our our first icebreaker question.

I would love to know, I don't
know if you're familiar with

professional wrestling, but
when they come in, there is.

the, they're, before they even enter the
arena, there, there's a blast of music.

And it, everybody

REBL Risty: Yes.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: the theme music.

If

REBL Risty: Yep.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: a theme song and
I can give you a second to think about it.

If you had a theme song that would
greet your entrance every time

you entered a room, what do you
think would be most appropriate?

REBL Risty: You know, it's so funny
when I, I actually know what song it is.

It's I've got the Power and I'm trying
to think of the band that sings it.

But it was one I used to listen
to, like if I was gonna go in and

interview or pitch or do something,
I'm trying, I'll have to look up who

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Factory, or is

REBL Risty: might be,

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: similar

REBL Risty: I think.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: though, right?

REBL Risty: Yeah.

Yes.

Very similar area.

Era, yeah.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Interesting.

I love it.

I, that one, that's a great,
that's a great choice.

And quite telling, so your marketing
agency is called Rebel Marketing, and

then you also have an ai group as well.

So

REBL Risty: Yep.

Rebel Labs.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Labs.

Exactly.

Thank you

REBL Risty: Yep.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
What made you lean into that?

Rebellious theme, and where was
the moment where you thought

that maybe just traditional
boring just isn't gonna cut it,

REBL Risty: Well, let's see.

It actually started off
with me getting laid off.

I was, yeah, working at one of
the big agencies in town in San

Diego, and it was oh eight and.

A lot of businesses were
cutting back on marketing.

Our two biggest clients were the airport
and the port, and me and the PR associate.

Got laid off.

And so what do you do?

You start consulting you, you know,
you start your own thing, but,

well, I looked for a real job and
that's kind of how Rebel started.

But I did find a real job.

I worked at the World Trade Center for a
while and then actually was at Qualcomm.

So I did a, a number of different
positions with Rebel, kind of always on

the side doing little ad hoc things here.

And then a good friend of mine who started
her accounting and finance company.

She started really growing fast.

And so she was asking me, can
you write this newsletter?

Can you help me with this flyer?

And I'm like, I, you should really pay me.

And she goes, well, you
should start your own agency.

And still about two years later, I,
it took me to get to that point, but

I did go full-time eight years ago.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: That's awesome.

That's fantastic.

REBL Risty: Yeah.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: I love
how your story starts with getting

laid off because, I feel like
I've had similar experiences.

It can be a jarring, obviously a
jarring and traumatic experience.

You're like, ah, but I was
willing to do the work.

Why, why am I being punished for,
seemingly just a random event?

And,

REBL Risty: Yeah.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: And I
love the fact that there are so many

people that have really emerged and
that's been the impetus to go into

entrepreneurship or make a career pivot.

And I think that's fantastic.

And, I appreciate the, further
affirmation of that thought.

REBL Risty: Yeah.

Yeah.

No, it is true.

You know, I had a, a
fellow consultant early on.

You know, we talked about is it
better to, you know, have your

own business consulting or have a.

Job and she put it great
like a job's secure until.

You get let go.

Yeah.

Or you get fired.

Right?

So, but if you have your own thing, you're
consulting, you're an entrepreneur, you

have multiple kinda sticks in the fire.

So one client leaves, it's okay,
you've got other clients and

you can kind of maneuver faster.

So it's it, but.

To each their own.

I know not everybody loves running
a business or being an entrepreneur.

My husband, one of them, he's an engineer.

He likes doing his engineering
thing with his company.

He a thing, a thought of running
his own consulting business, just,

you know, makes his skin crawl So.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

And I think it, it is hard to make
that leap but once you do, it's,

me, it's hard to imagine ever
going back to the corporate world.

It just, it's so freeing to be in
an entrepreneurial sit situation.

But how would you say that your
experience in corporate has shaped

your approach to leading your own firm?

Do you think that learned a lot
of things not to do or were there

skills that you picked up that you
wouldn't have picked up otherwise?

REBL Risty: Well, I think the, the beauty
of having a corporate job or working in

an office space is you get, you learn
about, you know, timelines and procedures

and how to operate within a team.

Where I, you know, I've worked with
some younger entrepreneurs and they

struggle a little because they don't
have the concept of, you know, blocking

your time or how to manage a calendar.

And it seems like such simple,
rudimentary things, but this is really

what you do learn in the corporate rule.

It is kind of those basic administrative
manage yourself or you're gonna get fired.

And and then I, I think you're right.

Some of the things that you leave
behind is, that's so structured.

I have to show up eight to five.

You do have the freedom.

I can work weekends, but everything I'm
doing is now for me and my clients and

there is a direct benefit or loss, right?

So the motivation is just so much
different and I don't know, you know, I.

Never had a problem working from home.

And we've, al, my team has always been
remote, you know, even before COVID.

So that was just never
really a big problem for us.

I, you know, one time I did dream about
having the big marketing office, you

know, like mad men and waiting rooms
and conference rooms and all of that.

But the reality is today
clients don't really.

Care and they don't need
to meet in an office.

And if they do, you know, we've
got WeWork co-work spaces.

I used to, when I was living
downtown, used a university club,

which I people love to come to.

So there's lots of ways to still have
that kind of corporate professional feel

without having to have the office space.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

No that's a great thought.

And it's been my experience as well.

I've worked at a few larger agencies and
it didn't, as having a large, beautiful

space did not seem necessary at the time.

It just felt it's tradition or something.

I dunno.

REBL Risty: Yeah.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: was but
yeah, that's, that is interesting.

So let's talk about revel marketing.

And now, when I've as we've spoken and
I've followed your content, I just picture

it's a very bold, colorful, branding and.

REBL Risty: If you can't tell.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Exactly.

Then, but you also, you
own the brand of the rebel.

What would you say is has been your
approach to the marketing products

you produce, or the services you
produce, does that tie in with this

big bold, these big, bold colors?

What's the identity in the brand?

REBL Risty: Yeah, absolutely.

And I think it's showing its head
even more with our newest brand launch

rebel Labs, which actually takes
a whole different color palette.

But without that, you know, the whole idea
of we're really trying to expand people's

minds about how they can leverage ai.

And automation and that it's
not this big scary thing.

It's not gonna take your job.

It could really actually help
upskill you and used appropriately.

It can help your business function more
efficiently, get more pro productivity

out of your current team enable you
to do things that you weren't able to

do before and actually get you better.

You know, ROI, when you think about
the cost of what it would takes to

implement an AI tool, automate it,
get it customized, and then once you

have it set up, it's almost like,
you know, you said it, forget it,

but what it will do, the huge benefit
is the fact that it's low cost is.

It frees your team up to
start being more strategic.

More creative.

They're not down in the weeds
doing this administrative stuff.

And it's interesting, you know, I've
got two sides of clients or people that

I'm talking to that are all in and they
love it and they wanna try everything.

And those that are just, and
I, and I don't blame 'em.

There's still a little.

Scared, they're hesitant.

They feel like it's just icky.

So all that they but I, I, you know,
I am happy to say that rebel Marketing

and with our new brand, rebel Labs
were really kind of leading the charge.

And I knew now, oh gosh, a couple
years ago now, that this was the

direction we wanted to go to and
we really wanted to focus on.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: By, so by
extension, working in the AI space,

there's obviously some interesting.

Some challenges, some
definitely some benefits.

But of course you want to do it
right when you implement an ai tool

of any kind, whether it's an agent

REBL Risty: yeah.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: maybe for
those of us in the audience that haven't

had a lot of experience with that, what
are some of the pitfalls that somebody

maybe either trying to do it themselves.

Or, using generic AI tools might ex
encounter and what are some better

practices that they could use.

REBL Risty: Yeah.

Yeah.

I have a couple of thoughts.

I would say, like, for example, using
an LLM like chat or clot or Gemini,

probably the most common thing that
most of us are doing is they want it

to do a hundred things all at once.

And that's just not possible.

I mean, if you think about
human can't even do that, right?

We're much better when we're focused,
and that's the same with the LLMs.

So if you want, for
example, you want chat.

To be your content writer for
social media, but you tell it, Hey,

I want you to write the strategy,
the content, create the images.

Tell me when to post dah, dah, dah.

Right?

It can do that to some degree, but that's
when people start going, Ugh, yuck.

I don't like this.

It doesn't sound right.

It's not doing.

Not doing what I want.

And the Challenger is because it really
can't, and if you're more focused, so we

always say you gotta tell it its role.

So you are my LinkedIn content.

Strategist and writer and your purpose.

So your role, your purpose is
to first understand my style and

create a weekly plan and content.

And I'm kinda making this up right
for my LinkedIn profile, and my

goal is to increase engagement
and grow my audience right.

Now here is the simple tip I tell
everybody and it it, it's awesome.

So you kind of start, just put whatever
thoughts you have on paper of like

how you wanna focus on LinkedIn
and I'm just using that example.

And then ask chat, what
questions do you have for me?

And it will give you a series of
questions to clean up that prompt

and that instruction, and it will
make it a world of difference.

And you, it will also think of
things that you haven't thought of.

Like do you want long
format, short format?

What style do you want?

You know, so things that we.

We know inherently when we're doing it
ourselves, but a ai tool doesn't know

these things, so you have to tell it
and it'll kind of put it in a series.

So that's my best tip in instructions
for if you're trying to use one of the

LLMs, don't ask it to do everything.

Get very focused and specific, and
then you can tie different chat.

Custom GPTs together through
automation and make it even better.

So you could have, maybe you do have a, a
overall social media strategist, and then

you've got your LinkedIn content writer
because LinkedIn's different from Facebook

and then you've got Instagram, then you've
got, you know, maybe a, a video tool.

So there's lots of ways to
really, and then enhance.

But if you're just using one like chat,
that's the best thing is create your

custom GBT work with chat to help it.

Help you basically.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: No, absolutely.

And so are there certain business tasks
that you think AI is doing really well at?

And are there others that are used that
you think it's falling on its face or

do you have any experience with that?

REBL Risty: Well, I think we love content
production, so we're playing with that

constantly and it's always getting better.

I still think you need a human.

I wouldn't just let the thing fly and,
you know, post directly to your channels,

but it can do a lot of like the research,
the copywriting create the images.

Stage everything.

Do the hashtags.

You know, I was just actually just
presented yesterday with one of my

partners on automation and he's built
out an automation where it can pull

like today's news and create a post.

Well, for me to do that, I'm probably
never gonna get to it, number one.

And if I do, then I have,
you know, I have to write it.

So there's things where it can
do Yeah, kind of that automated

stuff until the end point where
you do need a human to check it.

But I, I'm seeing so many different ideas.

Claude now has come out with their
CPS and you can hook it into your

email, your Dropbox, your Asana, your
Google Drive, and I know people that

are using it, and I've set it up.

It will go through all of
their email, their inbox.

Categorize everything.

Write responses to the
emails that need a response.

Clean out all the junk stuff, and then
stage it in your draft folder like.

That's a, I couldn't train a VA to do
that, like, you know, so definitely

lots of practical uses and every day I'm
hearing more and more and it's like, oh

wow, you can do that, you can do that.

Another example is sales.

Sales follow up, right?

If you.

Miss a call or don't get back
to somebody in a timely manner.

We all know everybody's so
quick, quick, quick, right?

So we can automate things.

Like let's say you've got somebody who
fills out a form on your website, and

if you're asking certain questions,
you can even, you can invite their IP

address, figure out like where they
are, what industry they're at, and

then serve them customized content.

Directly to them while the sales
person, the sales rep before

they can even get back to them.

And so there's things to do that
yeah, we kind of did before through

some general marketing automation.

But now you really tailor it and make
it feel personal which was so as a

marketer, you know, oh, segment your list.

You gotta customize your messaging.

Well, that just takes forever.

Yeah.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: So you've
been doing content in particular

for a long time and I've probably
seen a lot of trends come and go.

I wouldn't be surprised if you've
heard, I've heard this request, I'm

not quite the specialist that you
are, but I have heard this request to

like, can you make me something that
will go viral and I'd one of those.

Please.

Have you had that request?

And what, how do you deal with that?

REBL Risty: Yes,

yes we do.

Usually my response is, well,
you don't wanna do what you have

to do to go viral, number one.

Usually things that go
viral are insane, right?

Like Mr.

Beast level stuff.

Number two is viral doesn't equal dollars.

Doesn't equal business.

Right?

So I think we see a lot of things.

We're like, oh my God, wouldn't
it be great if I had a million

people looking at this?

Sure.

But.

You're not selling cats, you're selling,
you know, CPA services or finance.

My, my target is my clients are in
the outsourced accounting, finance,

hr CPAs, insurance attorneys.

I would say they're really sexy industry.

Hey, these are such
important industries, right?

So yes, we get that a lot.

Oh, I would love it if I got
all these you know followers

or all these, you know, views.

But at the end of the day,
what is it really selling?

Is it just selling a gimmick or
are we really going to sell some

business and get you some leads?

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

REBL Risty: And that's
usually not a viral video.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
no, that's an excellent point

and good way to help refocus.

I think it's really easy to get
caught up in views, subscribers,

and I struggle with it too on our
own content when I'm creating it,

REBL Risty: Yeah.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: But I
think recognizing that B2B marketing

doesn't quite work the same way
as B2C is probably critical.

REBL Risty: Yeah.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

REBL Risty: Yep, for sure.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Now,
and you're working with these

B2B companies you're ahead of the
game, you're working on building AI

workflows and tools for these clients.

What do you see as other future
opportunities in B2B marketing

and tech over, the coming years?

REBL Risty: That's a great question.

You know, with AI there's so
much evolving and changing.

I do think right now, you know,
the content does feel AI ish.

It's not very clean and fresh.

But what is what we are actually doing
with some of our clients, because

they're accountants and CPAs and
attorneys, they don't necessarily love

being on camera, but we know video
outperforms any other piece of content.

By far across all the platforms.

So what we're able to do now with
products like Hagen or AI Studios is.

Take their image and create a
avatar that looks like them, speaks

like them, and repurpose that
avatar to create some videos now.

So we're so personalizing
it, using their image.

Using their voice, but it's not them.

They don't have to sit
in front of the camera.

Well, they do a, the first few times for
us to get the, you know, original video.

But after that we can we can also.

Pumping the script.

There's no ums, no mistakes.

Oh, I have to film that again.

And it, not only does it relieve them of
the filming, which they love, but it's

a lot less expensive because we don't
have to go in studio, we don't have to

have a film crew, all of those things.

And the editing is so much easier
because we're not editing out

the ums, the, oops, I start over.

All of that.

So it's that to me, I think is
gonna be a game changer once B2B

professionals start figuring that out.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Yeah.

No I think so.

And it's funny, you're the, you're
like the third person I've talked

to in the last few weeks that
has mentioned Hagen specifically.

You probably test a lot of these.

Would you recommend that?

Is that a one that you further

REBL Risty: yeah.

Hey, so Hagen's making some improvements.

I will admit.

Their dashboard is not very intuitive.

So in that respect, I
found it frustrating, but.

Like anything you, once you start getting
used to it, you kind of figure it out.

They have added a lot of, lot more
kind of benefits and, tools add-ons.

Now you can also put Cgen into Canva,
so there's some benefits there.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Okay.

REBL Risty: so they're doing a lot.

Yeah, a lot more partnerships.

The other one that we liked is Vid io

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: I,

REBL Risty: also that they had a, a
little bit more kinda a simpler dashboard.

They allow you to do some different
things like breaking out the

voice and, putting in different
scenes, which Hagen is now doing.

So you know, I, we use
multiple tools, depending.

Yeah.

And like you, we used a script for
final editing to add in things, if

we wanna add some more to the video.

So you can't always just use one tool.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
Yeah I've noticed that too.

And I've, I'm always one to experiment
and actually I have my free account

set up and I built my avatar on Hagen.

And I haven't quite made the
full video yet, but it's just,

I, and of course of course, we're
devolving into a marketing nerd.

Talk, but this is still
very interesting to me.

Maybe there's a few
people that, that agree.

REBL Risty: Is interesting.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
Revel I mentioned I want to

keep it, to 25 minutes or so.

And this has been great.

You have a lot of great info.

I would love to ask you
just one final question.

As we're wrapping up just.

Tell us what would be the three apps that,
so you had to clear your phone and you

could only have three apps on your phone.

What three would you keep?

What do you think are the most useful?

And I'll give you a pass
on like texting and phone.

Like you can

REBL Risty: Okay.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
on top of the three

REBL Risty: I definitely chat.

I use chat a lot.

It's great for just voice talking to it.

I mean, I have mine set up.

She's very nice.

So we have very good conversations.

Definitely chat.

I, oh gosh, that's a good one.

I'm trying to think what
else would I wanna keep.

I do like having, for me, 'cause I'm
an iPhone user, just having iMovie

and being able to edit and so I Yeah.

Being able to record.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: as well.

Okay?

REBL Risty: Yeah, I do.

Yeah.

So sometimes I just want something quick
and I don't wanna send it to the editor.

And gosh, three, this is a hard question.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: I was trying to

REBL Risty: I'm trying to.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: I was
talking what my three would be, but

one would probably be, let's see, I'm
just looking at what's most common,

REBL Risty: I know.

What do I have on here?

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: know,
I think I really like, yeah,

chat is essential at this point.

And then I do.

Music, I use the Apple Music and then

REBL Risty: Yes.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
probably the podcasts is the other

REBL Risty: Gotta have that.

Yep.

I agree.

That would have to be in there.

And then I also use a app
called Future for workouts.

Yeah.

So it, they have it's like kinda
all prerecorded workouts, but

then they also have a live coach.

So she sends me a message every
morning and then I can always

schedule like a 15 minute call.

I can send her videos on my workouts.

So yeah, I would probably keep that one.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
Re Renaissance woman.

That's awesome.

I have really enjoyed our
conversation, revel, and I've

enjoyed getting to know you.

And if people would like to work with
you either on AI workflows or agents

or on content, where can they find you?

REBL Risty: Yeah.

Best place I can check us out
is at Rebel Labs, REBL Labs.

AI And then I'm on the socials, LinkedIn's
my preferred, so you can come find me

at, actually, it's Rebecca Rubble Rusty.

Or just call us [phone].

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: I'll
include all those links in the

show notes and we'll be in touch.

REBL Risty: Yeah.

Thanks Reid.

Yeah, it's fun.

Speaker 3: Want to stay ahead of what's
actually working in marketing right now.

Head over to Market surge.io

and see how we're helping businesses
grow smarter, faster, and louder.

That's market surge.io

because your next breakthrough
shouldn't be a guess.