Should you follow the marketing ‘rules’? Find out what Lisa Raebel thinks before you decide

What happens when you decide to break the marketing rules? Find out how thinking differently about marketing can transform your small business from overwhelmed to organized.

For many small business owners, marketing feels like taxes—conceptually understandable but overwhelming in practice. Lisa Raebel, founder of Rebel Girl Marketing and author of the Amazon #1 bestseller “The Rebel Girl’s Guide to Marketing,” has spent over 30 years developing a refreshingly simple approach that cuts through the noise.

The Birth of a Rebel Brand

The name “Rebel Girl Marketing” came to Lisa during a drive down the highway. Her brother-in-law had nicknamed her “the rebel of the Raebels,” and suddenly it clicked. But the name serves a deeper purpose beyond memorability.

“The rebel aspect reminds me personally not to think like everybody else,” Lisa explains. “It’s my own personal brand to remind me that I don’t have to follow all the rules in marketing and branding to make an impact for my clients.”

This rebel mindset has become the foundation of how she approaches client work—always questioning conventional wisdom and finding simpler paths to success.

Marketing Is Just Storytelling

At its core, Lisa’s rebel mindset approach boils down to one powerful realization: marketing is simply storytelling, and selling is telling that story to others.

When business owners grasp this concept, the overwhelm begins to fade. Instead of drowning in tactics and channels, they can focus on the fundamentals: What’s your story? How do you tell it? Where do you tell it? When do you tell it?

“Once we define those elements, that’s the strategy part of the branding,” Lisa notes.

The Kitchen Counter Perspective

Like any business owner, Lisa struggles with objectivity about her own work. Her solution? She’s trained herself to look at her content from her audience’s perspective, not her own.

She uses a brilliant everyday analogy: “When you clean your kitchen, it looks clean. That’s everyday clean. But then there’s mother-in-law clean when guests are coming over, and suddenly you notice things you’ve looked at 100 times.”

The same principle applies to marketing content. Lisa regularly sends drafts to marketing colleagues for feedback, asking “Does this make sense?” She’s learned that her laptop contains blogs that will never see the light of day—content that excited her but would bore her audience.

The reminder: “We’re not selling to you. We’re selling to your prospects. So you have to see everything from your prospects’ perspective.”

Strategy Before Tactics: The Grocery Store Analogy

When clients push back and want to jump straight into tactics, Lisa pulls out another perfect everyday comparison: going to the grocery store without a list.

“You’re not sure what you’re supposed to get. You don’t know what’s at home. You just show up and random stuff ends up in the cart,” she explains. “It’s the same with marketing. If you don’t know what’s already working, what hasn’t worked, and what you need to do, you’re just throwing money away.”

The first question Lisa asks clients: Why do you need marketing in the first place? Are you launching a product? Trying to get on stages? Building subject matter expertise? Without answering this fundamental question, no tactic will work effectively.

One client learned this lesson after hiring someone who “didn’t do very well.” When Lisa asked if they had defined their brand, identified their target audience, or established clear goals, the answer was no. “That’s their job,” the client protested. Lisa’s response: “No, let’s back up and build that foundation first.”

When Marketing Goes Wrong: The Email Campaign Case Study

Sometimes what looks like a marketing problem is actually a symptom of something deeper. One client approached Lisa about their struggling email campaigns—high opt-out rates and poor e-commerce sales.

The real problem? Four different departments were emailing the same list without coordinating, bombarding customers with multiple emails daily. Each department used different branding, colors, and formats.

Lisa’s solution was simple: one person coordinates all emails, consistent branding across departments, and a unified schedule. The result? Sales tripled. Their Black Friday sales tripled compared to the two previous years.

The Marketing and Sales Battle

An entire chapter in Lisa’s book addresses the dysfunctional relationship between marketing and sales in many companies. She once stood in a boardroom watching the marketing and sales heads yell at each other while the CEO looked on helplessly.

Her intervention was direct: “You work for the same company with the same goals. Help me understand why you’re yelling at each other.”

Her solution? Make marketing go on sales calls and make sales sit in on strategy sessions. Once each side understood what the other did and how hard their job was, collaboration followed naturally.

“When sales and marketing get along and understand each other’s business, these companies do very, very well,” Lisa observes.

The Shifting Buyer’s Journey

Today’s buyers are 68-70% through their buying journey before ever contacting sales. They’re reading reviews, watching videos, comparing competitors, and gathering information on their own terms.

This shift means marketing’s role has expanded dramatically. Your digital footprint—everything findable online—must be accurate, engaging, and comprehensive.

“We have about eight seconds to grab somebody’s attention,” Lisa warns. “You have to make sure whatever is out there grabs their attention and makes people want to engage.”

The Nutrition Analogy

Lisa offers one final powerful analogy for consistent marketing: “Think of marketing as the nutrition and food to feed your brand. You can’t gorge on pizza and beer one day and think you’re good for the rest of the week. You need consistent, sustainable, high nutrition density marketing to help your business grow long-term.”

Lisa’s Mission

For Lisa Raebel, helping small businesses isn’t just work—it’s a mission. “Every large business started as a small business,” she emphasizes. “Small businesses are the lifeblood of our communities. Without them, our communities die.”

Her 30 years of experience in sales and marketing isn’t about theory—it’s about practical strategies that help small businesses stay in business and thrive.

Find Lisa at RebelGirlMarketing.com or reach her directly at Lisa@RebelGirlMarketing.com. Her book “The Rebel Girl’s Guide to Marketing” is available on Amazon.