416: The Secret to Authentic Connection with Your Audiences Is Your Brand Voice with Ashleigh Harvey

Show Notes

As an entrepreneur or professional, you know the power of having a clear and compelling brand voice that resonates with your audience.

You want your message to attract the right clients, opportunities, and partners - but knowing how to express your authentic self can feel like a challenge.

Many women struggle with feeling like they need to fit a mold: too professional, not bold enough, or maybe even too much.

The fear of sounding "wrong" or "inauthentic" holds many of us back from fully stepping into our voice, whether we're delivering a talk, crafting website copy, or writing emails.

In this episode, I talk with Ashleigh Harvey, a copywriting and brand messaging expert (and Thought Leader Academy grad), about how you can confidently find and express your authentic brand voice to connect deeply with your audience.

Ashleigh shares practical strategies for honing your message, so you’ll attract the right people for you.

We talk about:

• The common challenges women face when trying to find their brand voice

• How Ashleigh and I describe our own brand voices (I was surprised to figure out what my brand voice is!)

• Why authenticity is more important than ever in the age of AI-driven content

• The power of having a consistent practice for developing your brand voice

• Practical tips for writing copy that connects, persuades, and inspires action

 

Plus, Ashleigh and I announce an exciting joint retreat we’re hosting in London next summer! Over 4 days (June 29-July 2, 2025), you’ll have the opportunity to immerse yourself in developing your brand voice and story, all while experiencing the rich performing arts culture and women’s history in an incredible city. Learn more at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/london/.

About My Guest: Ashleigh Harvey runs The Story Team, her persuasion copywriting business. Her mission is to empower female entrepreneurs to embrace their authentic voice and weave it into their business, creating consistent branding and copy that converts. She works with female entrepreneurs from South Africa to New Zealand, from India to South Korea, from the UK to the USA, helping them with badass brand voice and copy tips. She is an unapologetic vegan who started her business from her car while working as a care worker. She swears too much, is far too loud, is working more and more on not caring too much about what other people think, and she wants to tell her story so that it may help other women to find their power.

 

Links:

Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/416/ 

Ashleigh’s website: https://www.thestoryteam.org/ 

Apply for our London Brand Building Retreat in Summer 2025: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/london/ 

Discover your Speaker Archetype by taking our free quiz at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/quiz/

Enroll in our Thought Leader Academy: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/academy/ 

Connect on LinkedIn:

• Carol Cox = https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolcox

• Ashleigh Harvey (guest) = https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleigh-harveyldn/ 

Related Podcast Episodes:

• Episode 234: How to Create Content Using Your Authentic Voice with Ashleigh Harvey (Rennie)

• Episode 378: The Power of Women's Voices and Stories to Change the World

 

What is Speaking Your Brand: Public Speaking Tips and Strategies?

It's time to escape the expert trap and become an in-demand speaker and thought leader through compelling and memorable business presentations, keynotes, workshops, and TEDx talks. If you want to level up your public speaking to get more and better, including paid, speaking engagements, you've come to the right place! Thousands of entrepreneurs and leaders have learned from Speaking Your Brand and now you can too through our episodes that will help you with storytelling, audience engagement, building confidence, handling nerves, pitching to speak, getting paid, and more. Hosted by Carol Cox, entrepreneur, speaker, and TV political analyst. This is your place to learn how to persuasively communicate your message to your audience.

Carol Cox:
Learn how to uncover your authentic brand

voice to attract the perfect people and

opportunities for you.

With my guest, Ashleigh Harvey on this

episode of the Speaking Your Brand podcast.

More and more women are making an impact by

starting businesses, running for office, and

speaking up for what matters.

With my background as a TV political

analyst, entrepreneur, and speaker, I

interview and coach purpose driven women to

shape their brands, grow their companies,

and become recognized as influencers in

their field. This is speaking your brand,

your place to learn how to persuasively

communicate your message to your audience.

Hi there and welcome to the Speaking Your

Brand podcast. I'm your host, Carol Cox.

Today is a very, very special episode.

You're going to want to listen to the entire

thing, because I have a huge announcement to

make that happens to correspond with the

guest that I have on the podcast today.

Before we get to the announcement, we're

going to dive deep into your understanding

your brand voice, why it matters, why

authenticity in the messaging that you're

putting out to your audience makes such a

huge difference, especially in this day and

age of more and more AI driven content.

We're going to talk about how you can be

more authentic with your messaging, how you

can make sure that your audiences, whether

they're prospective clients, current

clients, audience you're speaking to,

whether it's on social media, in person, or

even in writing in books that you do, how

they make sure that they understand who you

are, what you do, and how you can help them.

My guest today is Ashleigh Harvey, who is a

copywriting persuasion extraordinaire.

She is also a graduate of our Thought Leader

Academy, and she was last on this podcast

way back in July of 2021, in episode 234.

For? Definitely take a listen to that one

after you listen today.

Ashleigh, welcome back to the podcast.

Ashleigh Harvey:
Thank you for having me.

I'm so thrilled to be here.

Carol Cox:
I am too.

You live in well, you live in England,

originally from South Africa.

Right now you are touring around the UK.

Can you tell us a bit why you're touring

around in the UK and what exactly you're

doing there?

Ashleigh Harvey:
Yes I am.

I am a performer, I work in the theatre and

I am in the UK touring production of Come

From Away, and we've been touring since

January this year and we will finish touring

in January next year.

And I'm currently in Norwich in one of the

theatre dressing rooms.

Yeah, and it's just been a total blast.

I've, I've just loved my time on the show.

So yeah, that's that's what I'm doing right

now.

Carol Cox:
And you moved to London from South Africa.

This was before the pandemic, correct?

Ashleigh Harvey:
Yeah. Well, like nine months before the

pandemic. Yeah.

Carol Cox:
And then how did you get started in doing

copywriting? I know we're going to talk

about why copywriting is really a misnomer

for the type of work that Ashley does, but

just for shorthand right now, how did you

get into copywriting and brand messaging?

Ashleigh Harvey:
I had been writing for businesses since about

2011, and I'd done I'd done press releases

and I'd done video writing for in-house

videos. And I came over to the UK and I had

a couple of auditions, and I had some work

here. And then Covid hits within about nine

months of me being here, and I had to find a

way to make money.

So I started actually working as a care

worker. I trained up as a care worker, and I

started working as a care worker in London,

in and around London, in private care.

And at the same time, I started my business

from the back of my car, in between care

shifts. And I really got to to, you know,

the root ideas of copywriting and what it is

and the foundations of it and the techniques

and I, I very slowly built the business over

about nine months, and then I was able to go

full time with it, which was just

incredible. And so now I work with clients

all over the world, and I, I write for

business owners and entrepreneurs mainly,

and it's been amazing.

It's just been one of the greatest, I think

one of the greatest gifts the pandemic could

have given me, as I think it did for a lot

of people.

Carol Cox:
Absolutely. And as I mentioned in the intro,

you did go through our Thought Leader

Academy. This was in the the end of 2021 and

then graduated in the beginning of 2022.

And Ashley, you have actually helped me

quite a bit with the copywriting on the

sales page for the Thought Leader Academy on

the speaking your Brand.com website, And and

I know obviously you had kind of an

insider's perspective on it because you had

gone through that. But I think what your

genius is, is that you really get into the

shoes and the minds and the hearts of the

audience, whoever that audience happens to

be, and really think about it from their

perspective. What do they need to hear?

What do they need to understand in order to

make that decision for themselves?

The decision to buy or whatever it happens

to be? And I cannot tell you how many women

I hear from on console calls who say to me,

Carol, your sales page spoke to me like,

like the words that you use are really

things either that I've thought myself or

things that maybe they hadn't been able to

articulate. They didn't have the right words

for, but as soon as they read them on the

page, they realized that, oh, this is the

problem I'm having, or this is what I want

for myself.

Ashleigh Harvey:
It's so powerful.

The words you choose to use in your

business, they're they're so powerful.

And I keep learning all the time about about

how to find those words and what works and

what doesn't work.

But there are there are certain strategies

that a lot of, of good copywriters employ

to, to get those kinds of reactions from,

from people who read a sales page or an

email sequence or whatever it may be.

So I'm so thrilled.

I'm so thrilled that that that you that you

get that feedback. That makes me very happy.

That's great.

Carol Cox:
And for those of you listening as you you

hear myself and Ashley talk about this today

in this episode. So this definitely applies

to writing, writing on your website, your

sales page, your email newsletters, your

social media copy.

But it also applies to the public speaking

that you do presentations and talks.

What what is such a core part of our

signature Talk Canvas framework is

understanding your audience.

What are their goals related to kind of your

big picture topic that you're presenting on?

What are their goals? What challenges are

getting in the way that they see.

What are those challenges that you see as

that expert guide that they don't

necessarily see, and how can you help them

get more of what they want?

Right. Get past those challenges and and

having that empathy for them and having and

validating where they're at is such a huge

part of being an impactful speaker as well

as an impactful writer for your brand

message and for the work that you do with

whomever your clients are in your business

and in your industry.

So, Ashley, let me ask you this.

Thinking about clients you've worked with, a

lot of the women that you've spoken to.

What do you feel is their biggest challenge

when they think about their brand voice, or

having an authentic voice, or how to convey

themselves to their audiences?

Ashleigh Harvey:
I think a lot of women are just frightened of

sounding too much of something, or too

little of something.

That's kind of been my experience.

And so they're either afraid of not sounding

professional enough or sounding too brash or

too confident or not confident enough.

And so it's always it's always seated in

this idea of being too much or lacking

something, instead of just sitting in what

you are and just being that thing and owning

that thing. And so I, I try really hard with

my clients to get them to sit in their voice

as their voice is right at this moment and

not not try and be something that it's not.

Not try and mimic someone else, or copy

someone else, or be too professional or too,

you know, professional sounding, if that's

not really their vibe.

So I try and work with them to just figure

out where they are now and sit in that voice

now. Because, you know, as we grow as human

beings, so do our voices, and your voice

will change. It's just the nature of being

alive. And so when you really sit in that

and you embrace it and you enjoy it like you

find like great enjoyment from it, it just I

see people flourish.

It's unbelievable what can happen.

Carol Cox:
And that that really is the heart of

authenticity is sitting with who you are and

being okay with that and expressing that in

the way that it is.

It is you. You're not trying to mimic or be

someone else. Because I think a lot of us

look at, like the Amy Porterfield's or the

Marie Forleo's or whoever the TikTok

influencers are today, which I don't know

because I don't follow them on TikTok.

And we think, well, they're they're

successful. Look at these massive audiences

that they've built, these businesses that

they've grown. So I need to be like them

peppy, you know, optimistic, enthusiastic,

whatever. And if that's you, yes.

Like, obviously we want to be enthusiastic

and and passionate about the work that we

do. But like how I convey that enthusiasm

and passion has to look like Carol and it

has to match the audience that I'm

attracting, right?

Not the audience that necessarily that

they're attracting and trying to be like

them. Do you hear that also sometimes from

the women that you talk to?

Ashleigh Harvey:
Yes. I mean, I'm nodding my head off here.

I can see my own head in the in the in the

visual in front of me, like doing this.

Yes, I, I have even fallen into that trap

of, of sort of seeing, you know, Amy

Porterfield as someone I follow on social

media and I see her stuff and I see the

response it gets.

But, you know, she she is a very particular

kind of person with a very particular kind

of audience selling a very particular kind

of thing. And we're not all fans like Amy

Porterfield has people in the world that are

not her fans like, and that's fine.

And she will say that to, you know, you

know, so it's so it's so important to when

you see what someone else is doing.

Absolutely. Learn from them and grow from

them. And because I totally believe in that,

I absolutely believe in infusing your brain

with as much information as possible, and

then picking out the stuff that works for

you and throwing away the rest.

And so when it comes to your voice, I just

feel like it's so personal, especially when

you run your own business.

You're an entrepreneur. People are buying

what you sell because of who you are.

You have to lean into that and be brave and

courageous. And and if you're an introvert,

be an introvert and say, I'm an introvert

and I, I really struggle with this stuff.

And you will find so many people out there

who go, oh my goodness, so am I.

And this is the person I want to work with

because you're you're speaking like a human

being to another human being.

And I just think that is so important in

anything you write, and also in the speaking

work that you do in your business, you know,

that that kind of thing draws people in and

it draws the right people in.

That's the most important thing.

Carol Cox:
Ashley, I'm going to ask you to describe your

brand voice in just a moment.

But before we get there, I'm thinking about

that. What we were talking about earlier,

about how women feel like if, when, when

they try to write, either they're they're

sounding too much, you know, too brash or

too confident or too braggy or or they're

lacking something or they're not polished

enough or professional enough or whatever,

whatever the thing, thoughts are going in

their mind. And no surprise, because as

women and young girls, we're brought up in

socialized to be people pleasers, to make

sure that we're you're quote unquote good

girls that were that were not ruffling

feathers that were doing as we're told.

And that works for a lot of us.

We get we get good grades in school and

we're rewarded for that.

And then I know once we get to like

mid-career, we realize we kind of look

around and think, oh, like, stuff is not

really working the way that it should be

working. And we talk a lot about the, you

know, almost every industry is a male

dominated industry, and not because men

inherently are bad. I mean, I've had tons of

male allies in my career, professors and

colleagues. It's not that.

But when systems and industries are so kind

of myopic and aren't looking at and

addressing the needs of everyone, and I feel

like as women this is our opportunity to

say, well, hold on a minute.

Maybe there are, you know, quote unquote

best practices in our industry or company

that need to be changed.

Or maybe there are things that need to have

more perspectives, more different types of

people at the table.

And when we do that, we are ruffling some

feathers. There are some people who are not

going to like us, but then it's like, well,

then what are we? What are we doing here?

What is our mission? What are the what are

the things we want to change in the world?

But it's hard.

And that's why I think the work that we do,

actually the work that I do in this, in

speaking your brand with bringing together

women as a community, helps us to support

each other. When because it is hard to be

the only one, or feeling like you're the

only one doing this.

Ashleigh Harvey:
Yeah, yeah, I had a I had a really

interesting call with a woman because I'm

always I'm on LinkedIn a lot, like I'm super

active on LinkedIn and I love I love going

into my DMs and actually meeting people,

because I find I'm finding LinkedIn to be

quite a strange place at the moment and not

very personal.

So I go into my DMs and I meet people, and I

had a call with a woman because we kind of

clicked and I just said to her, what do you

what do you struggle with the most about

writing in your voice?

And she said to me, can I swear it's not a

bad swear word? She said to me.

She said, can I swear I have to get your

permission if that's okay.

Yes.

Carol Cox:
Oh, yes.

Ashleigh Harvey:
Go ahead. Yes. She said to me.

She said to me, I'm worried about all the

shit I'm gonna gonna attract.

And I was like, oh, that's really

interesting because I love attracting shit.

I find it one of my best, most favorite

things to do anyway.

And we had this conversation and I was just

reminded because I felt like that in my 20s,

like I was so frightened of what people

thought of me and I was so frightened at

what I said would upset people or attract,

you know, people just kind of going, oh, we

don't want to, we don't want that in our

orbit or whatever. You know, however people

respond and I don't know, I don't know if I

changed her mind, but I certainly just said

to her, you know, these are people you're

never going to meet.

They're not people you want to work with

because they're not into you talking about

who you are. And so you know, as much as you

can just try and lean into those things that

you believe in and the things that you want

to talk about. And I think you're the same

as me. Like I'm very vocal about my

feminism. I'm very vocal about empowering

other women. I'm very vocal about saying,

I'm a woman and I have a voice, and I want

that voice to be heard, and I want to help

you find your voice, you know?

Um, and so it's hard and it's scary, but no

one's going to die, right?

Carol Cox:
Yeah, exactly.

And to your point, I was I was thinking that

about this idea of feminism, and women are

so afraid of it. And I know there's some,

you know, people want to put some like, you

know, put controversies on it or some people

don't like the word. And that's fine.

You can use whatever your word that you

want. Feminism to me just means men are men

and women are equal.

And that's like full stop.

Like, there's, you know, in any other, uh,

details can be worked out later.

But every time I talk about my feminist

background, I've been a feminist since I

learned the word probably in early high

school. But I have, again, women who come to

me and say, thank you, Carol.

Like, I feel like I understand you, your

approach in the world, like why you're doing

the work that you do because you're willing

to talk about this. Otherwise I would just

be another public speaking coach.

And yes, like I can help you with speaking

skills and that's and like, and we're going

to help you create your signature talk and

understand your ideas and get clarity on

them. But there's so much more.

We want to we want to help you be that

person in the world that you want to be.

Be that woman in the world that you want to

be. And the skills are kind of the outer

part of it, but there's so much more that

goes inside.

Ashleigh Harvey:
And it's also about celebrating who you are,

right? Like, I think what I learned from you

in in the Thought Leader Academy was, I have

these stories that I'd never really told

about myself and I.

I wasn't ashamed of them, but I just I just

didn't know that anyone wanted to hear them.

And and so when I started incorporating that

stuff into not just my speaking, but in my

blogs and my emails and my LinkedIn posts

and my conversations with people online, I

just found people opened up to me more.

And because there was something in my story

that spoke to them and their story, and it

almost gave them permission to be more

human, and you just validate your life

experiences, the things that have shaped

you, the things that have challenged you,

the things that have felt really Difficult

or hard or painful or wonderful or joyful,

whatever it may be, you know, you just

validate your experience in the world.

And I just think that's so important.

Carol Cox:
Yes, yes.

And we learn from each other's stories and

we learn, I feel like as the as the person,

the woman sharing a story about myself, I, I

learn and grow. My audience will hopefully

will benefit from it for myself.

I know I have developed so much as a person,

much as a speaker and a business owner by

doing that.

Ashleigh Harvey:
Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely.

Carol Cox:
Okay, Ashley, so let's dive into Brand Voice

more specifically.

And you had a fun email just a few weeks ago

about these nine different types of brand

voices that you can be.

And we were looking at this before we hit

record, and I was like, I think I'm all of

them. No, I think I think I'm like half of

them. But you know, obviously there's

probably elements that we take from a bunch

of different ones. But can you tell?

Okay. First I want to know how would you

describe your brand voice?

Not necessarily one of these categories of

the nine, but just in general.

How would you describe your brand voice?

And then let's talk about some of these

different types.

Ashleigh Harvey:
So I think my brand voice is quite parental,

which does fall into it does fall into the

nine. Not that I'm not that I'm like an old

fuddy duddy. I think if I'm a parent, like,

I'm a I'm the cool, hip parent.

I'm the parent that everyone wants to hang

out with, right?

But I'm also like super strict.

Like I can get quite cross.

So I sometimes like, I'll post up on

LinkedIn and I'm like, listen, if I if you

can't, I can't help you.

If you can't help yourself, you know, like

those, you need to help yourself and then I

can help you.

So, so like I, I think, I think I sort of

have that kind of voice where I kind of, I

tell it like it is, but I also want to teach

people, and I want to inspire people, and I

want to get people excited about writing

because I love copywriting so much.

And I love, you know, branding and marketing

and sales and all of this stuff that a lot

of people are scared of.

So, yeah, I would say, I would say kind of a

parental voice, but, you know, straight

talker, straight down the line, I hope I'm,

I hope I inspire people, I hope I excite

people, and that's kind of the aim.

That's that's where I'm aiming.

Carol Cox:
Well, I love your writing.

I love your emails. I love your LinkedIn.

Listeners, go to the show notes.

Please connect with Ashley on LinkedIn and

sign up for her email newsletter.

You will enjoy.

Enjoy it so much.

And then I always call you.

Can I call you like a tough love parent or a

tough love nurturer?

Ashleigh Harvey:
Yeah, I reckon so.

Yes, that's what I think.

And I swear sometimes I swear a lot

actually. Like a lot of F-bombs.

Like a lot of F-bombs in my LinkedIn posts

and my newsletters. And I think some people

don't like that. And that's also okay.

You know, so yeah, tough love.

Parents with some swearing.

Carol Cox:
Yeah, yeah for sure.

I love that. All right.

And then so there's there's other ones on

here. There's like the eternal optimist.

This is the Amy Porterfield Marie Forleo,

uh, women, you know, women out there, which

again, that's great.

Like, they're they have a lot of excitement.

They're kind of have this, you know, easy

cadence about the language and the the

writing that they put out shorter sentences.

You can read the copy faster.

It's upbeat, which is which is good.

They're very encouraging and all of that.

And then there's brands.

There's like the anti-establishment brand

voice. There's the underdog.

There's ones that are more like the what's

called the friend of the bar, the easygoing

voice, which is fun.

And then I was trying to figure out which

one I was.

And there's kind of like these umbrella

categories and there's Voices of Authority

is one category in the parent, like you are

in one of those and the other two in the

voices of authority are translator and the

voice of God.

And the translator makes things simple.

So you says you teach your audience in the

most basic way possible.

And I'd like to think that I'm I'm a good

translator because I like frameworks.

I like to kind of distill things down and

make them hopefully like easy to understand.

Obviously doing the podcast for so many

years has helped me to do that.

But then I was looking at that, and then I

was looking at the voice of God brand voice.

I'm like, well, I kind of feel like I'm also

this because it says this voice type speaks

confidently with with very little wavering.

Their language is definitive longer cadence,

more advanced vocabulary, a more serious

tone. So I feel like I also tend to do that,

even though, like, obviously I love to laugh

and have fun, but I am.

I call myself like a serious thinker.

Like, I read a lot like, you know, history

and non-fiction and think a lot about

politics and the world.

And so I'm serious in that way.

So I don't know. What do you think, Ashley?

Ashleigh Harvey:
I think they can definitely overlap.

Like, there's absolutely a world in which

these voices overlap.

And I think that's what creates the, you

know, the intricacy of a voice and, and what

differentiates one voice from another.

Um, you know, there are loads of brands out

there who have the parent brand voice or the

translator brand voice or the voice of God

brand voice, but it's the overlap and the

personality that comes in that

differentiates it.

So I, I would definitely agree with you.

I think there is a I think there is an

overlap for you of translator and voice of

God, but I also think there is I don't know

if I would say eternal optimist, but there's

certainly an optimistic sort of like, um,

you know, where can we go?

What can we do? What goal can you reach?

How far can you push yourself and kind of

edge in your brand voice as well?

Which is which is what I love about your

brand voice, because it creates a feeling of

possibility and of growth and aspiration,

you know, and um, so yeah, that's what I

would say about your one for sure.

Carol Cox:
Yeah, I agree, I actually have always called

myself an internal optimist, no matter how

things may seem in the world, but very

different than, say, like an Amy

Porterfield. Is that I, I'm an because I'm

an introvert. Maybe she is too, I don't

know, but I am not a social media person.

I have never made an Instagram reel in my

life. I have never I will probably never be

on TikTok, right? Because it doesn't feel

authentic to me. Like that type of, uh, that

type of content and channel is not authentic

to me. But if but for other people, it works

perfectly. Like they love it, like they look

forward to it, they enjoy it.

So for those of you listening, also think

about just because you see someone that is

successful, that channel may suit them

really well, but find the channel like the

medium that works for you.

Like I like podcasting because I can have 30

minute, 45 minute conversations and we can

go all I don't have to like, figure out how

to be fun and perky in 60s.

Ashleigh Harvey:
Totally. And, you know, finding your avenue

and the way you want to express yourself is

so important. And I, I mean, I, I've thought

about starting a podcast many times because

they are. So I love listening to podcasts.

I just like I can binge podcasts for ages

and ages, so they are a really fantastic

avenue for deeper thinking, deeper

conversations. Yeah, I love your podcast.

It's great.

Carol Cox:
Oh well, thank you. And it really has helped

me to develop my brand voice because I have

to create content all the time.

You know, I think that's what you have

found, Ashley, with the writing that you do

that your email newsletter, is that having

this consistent output that you know, that

you were doing week in and week out forces

you to develop your brand voice.

Because number one, you have to think of new

topics to talk about, but then you also have

to try to make them interesting in a way

interesting to the receiver, but also,

frankly, interesting to like me.

Like I have to figure out how to keep this

podcast interesting after over 400 episodes,

right?

Ashleigh Harvey:
Yes.

And some days you just don't want to write.

Like some days you just do not want to do

it. And, you know, I think I think that's

also the really important thing about having

having it as a practice.

So for you, recording this podcast has

become a practice for me.

Writing my my newsletter every week is a

practice and the more you practice

something, the better at it you get.

And that voice just develops so beautifully

and and becomes so full that you don't even

have to think about it anymore.

It's just there. It's just part of

everything you create.

And that's why it's so powerful?

Carol Cox:
Yes. And to that point, this is what, for

those of you listening, this is what we want

for you. We want someone to open up their

email inbox and read an email from you, or

see a LinkedIn post from you, or hear a

presentation from you, or a podcast

interview that you've done and say, yes,

that sounds exactly like I would expect her

to sound like, whether it's in writing or in

voice, because as we talked about in the

intro, with more and more artificial

intelligence content being created, it is

easy for people to put out how to expertise

content, and there's a use for that.

But people want to hear from you.

Like what's on your mind, what matters to

you, how are you seeing what's going on?

And they want to hear that from you in your

own brand voice, not from what I call like

the generic internet voice.

Ashleigh Harvey:
Yeah, yeah yeah yeah.

And it's, you know, it's I think AI is great

and it's powerful and it's super helpful and

it's helping us to create more and less

time, which is which is fantastic.

But if you rely on it too much and you

don't, you don't continue to hone what it

creates for you. Like you don't edit it, you

don't shape it, you don't modify.

You don't bring your own human brain to the

eye brain.

You're you're just going to sound like

everybody else. And I think what's so

interesting to me is that in this world of

rapid content creation, it's actually given

us more of an opportunity to stand out than

ever before, because there's more and more

people use AI.

It's all going to it's all going to just be

quite generic, I'm sorry to say.

And the more you keep writing your own stuff

and creating your own stuff, the more you'll

stand out.

Carol Cox:
Yes, absolutely. So, Ashley, can you tell us

a bit, tell us about copywriting or what you

would rather call it? Because as we were

chatting before we hit record, that people

hear copywriting and they think, oh yeah,

but I write my own emails.

Or, you know, I wrote the homepage of my

website. So copywriting, yes, there's

writing involved, but it's not really just

about writing. So can you tell us more about

that?

Ashleigh Harvey:
So copywriting I like to call it sort of a

deep, deep persuasion technique where you

create something in writing that somebody

reads and then they take action on that, but

they think they've persuaded themselves to

do it. Like that's how persuasive the

writing is. So at no point do they think to

themselves, this person wants me to do X, or

this person wants me to buy from them, or

this person wants me to sign up to their

email list or whatever it may be.

They think they've totally made that

decision all on their own.

Actually, every single word you've written

has guided them to that point.

So really for me, it's about deep research.

It's about data mining.

It's about funnel creation.

It's about strategy.

It's it's about nurturing an audience to

buy. It's it's it's a lot of different

components. And the writing part is the

smallest, tiniest fragment of it.

Carol Cox:
So now we're going to do our best at

persuading you, not selling you on our big

announcement that I teased at the top here.

So Ashley, as I mentioned, lives in London.

I visited London for the first time this

past July and I fell in love with the city.

I mean, Paris will always have my heart

because I studied French history, but I

really adored London much more than I

thought that I would. So as soon as I got

back, I had a zoom call with Ashley because

I knew she lives in London. I said, we have

to do a retreat together next summer in

London. And of course, Ashley was jumping up

and down and saying yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,

so so excited.

So we have already Ashley found the venue.

It is beautiful in London, on the Thames.

It is. We booked the venue, we are all set

to go. So we are doing this June 29th

through July 2nd.

So we have four days a Sunday, Monday,

Tuesday, Wednesday.

We encourage you to come at least by that

Saturday morning to kind of get adjusted.

We have some optional activities that

Saturday to fun stuff, walking tours and

picnics to do together.

And then Sunday through Wednesday.

We are going to take really good care of

you, not only the workshops and activities

on your brand voice, getting that radical

clarity on what you do, your unique gifts

that you're bringing, who you serve, the

change you want to make in the world.

So really helping you to develop your brand

voice. And then but then also understanding

how to fit that in with whatever projects

you're working on, whether it's your

business, your personal brand, your

speaking, your writing, your copywriting,

what have you is really helping you to

develop that. But we're going to have so

much fun doing that by really immersing you

in women's history, performing arts, Lots of

activities. So, Ashley, tell me, what are

you most excited about this experience?

Ashleigh Harvey:
I can't choose one thing that's crazy.

I, I think for me, I think for me, it's

going to be meeting women who, who believe

similar things to me, who want to explore

similar things that I want to explore, and

helping them through that journey and giving

them tools that they can use going forward.

I feel like every time, every time I'm in a

group of women where we're like just sharing

and connecting and growing, it just feels it

just feels like possibilities kind of become

endless. And I, I just, I want to be able

to, to broaden my network and meet new

people and share in like a real experience.

You know, I feel like this is going to be a

real experience in this incredible city

where People won't just be learning from me,

but I'll be learning from them, and we'll be

learning from each other and and really

getting to grips with who we are and what we

want to do in this life and in this world

and who we want to help.

And it's just I think that's the most

exciting thing for me.

Carol Cox:
Absolutely, I cannot wait.

We wish it was next month, but obviously we

need time to let you all know about it and

to sign up for it as well.

So again, it is the very end of June, very

first part of July 2025, in London.

And you can get all of the details by going

to speaking your brand.com/london speaking

your brand.com/london.

It is limited to 12 women because we want to

make sure that everyone has enough time to

work with us to really, you know, get the

most out of their time together.

We're going to have a photographer there for

one day, so you can get some really cool

brand photos of yourself that you'll be able

to use on your website and your social

media, and more.

So it's really going to be such an

incredible immersion for you to really

decide, what do you want to do next for

yourself? Like, what does that look like in

your business, or your speaking, or your

career or your writing?

What does that look like?

How do you want to how do you want to

develop yourself? And we're there to help

you do it and have a great time along the

way.

Ashleigh Harvey:
The best time. The best time in summer in

London. Oh my goodness.

Yeah. Amazing.

Carol Cox:
And I anticipate we're going to have women

from the US, from Canada, probably also from

Europe and the UK who are coming.

So no matter where you live in the world,

Australia, we've had clients all over the

world. And so I imagine that they'll want to

come. You can come early, do some

sightseeing, you know, stay past the the

retreat, do some more sightseeing and

traveling. It's just a it's a great

opportunity to come have something fun for

yourself. Get something for your business as

well, and meet an incredible group of women

along the way. All right, so again, go to

speaking your brand.com/london to get all

the details and to apply because we want to

have a zoom call with you.

We want to hear more about what you're most

looking forward to doing.

Answer all the questions that you have.

We're going to have hotel recommendations,

the itinerary with all the dates when you

should arrive, and all of those details are

on the website. So if you and if you have

any questions after you go to the website,

please reach out and we'll be happy to chat

with you. Well, Ashley, thank you so much

for coming back on the Speaking Your Brand

podcast. It's always a pleasure to talk with

you and I can't wait to see you in person in

London.

Ashleigh Harvey:
I know, I know, I can't wait.

Thank you so much for having me.

This has just been just fantastic.

Thank you.

Carol Cox:
Until next time. Thanks for listening.