Connect and convert with confidence

Feeling overwhelmed by marketing and unsure where to focus?

This Better Business Skills workshop led by three marketing specialists from the Surf Coast Women in Business community, offers a practical, confidence‑building session designed to help you cut through the noise and market your business with clarity, integrity and impact.

Whether you’re starting out, growing an established business, or looking for a strategy reset, this workshop will simplify marketing, set the record straight on trends and tools (including AI), and leave you with clear, actionable steps to better connect with your desired audience - online and offline.

This hands‑on workshop blends strategy with practical application to empower and reinvigorate your approach to marketing.

Topics covered:

Brand strategy, brand identity & organic marketing fundamentals
Social media & content creation: knowing what to post, when to post it and understanding your data
Ethical AI for content creation (creative concepts & copywriting)
Digital marketing foundations using AI‑savvy AEO (Answer engine optimisation)
Cutting through the noise and showing up consistently with confidence

What you’ll walk away with:

Clear, practical action points you can implement straight away
A simplified marketing framework that makes sense for your business
Confidence using social media, AEO and AI ethically and effectively
Strategic clarity on how to reach and connect with your ideal audience

Who should attend:

Business startups and sole traders
Established businesses ready for a refresh or reset
Anyone feeling stuck, overwhelmed or unclear about marketing
Business owners wanting to market with integrity and purpose

Connect and Collaborate

We’ve set aside time for networking and light refreshments before the workshop. Please feel welcome to enjoy some light refreshments, meet other local business owners and chat with Surf Coast’s business support team. It’s a relaxed opportunity to connect and meet others in the room before we get started.

Free, but registrations required.
Light refreshments provided.

Connect and convert with confidence is hosted by Surf Coast Shire Council business team, sponsored by NBN Local.

Your Presenters

Ebony Sugars is a brand strategist and graphic artist with over 15 years’ experience helping businesses build meaningful, values-led brands. Through Brand New Day Studio, she partners with the purpose-driven to bring clarity to their message, alignment to their brand and confidence to how they show up, connect, and convert.

Known for her deep, practical approach, Ebony blends strategy and creativity to help businesses cut through the noise and communicate what they do with integrity and impact.
She also leads the Surf Coast Women in Business community, a platform for women to connect, lead and succeed in their own right through networking, events & workshops.

Laura Heywood is the founder of Beeline, a strategy-led content and digital marketing agency working with businesses across Geelong and the Surf Coast. Beeline helps service-based businesses cut through the noise with clear, practical marketing that actually drives results.
Laura works closely with business owners to simplify their marketing, bringing structure, clarity and consistency to how they show up. Her approach focuses on aligning content, platforms and messaging so it’s not just active, but effective.
She specialises in how modern platforms work, including AI-led discovery and answer engine optimisation, helping businesses stay visible and relevant as the digital landscape evolves.
Laura is passionate about making marketing feel more organised, more intentional and easier to maintain, so business owners can show up with confidence and grow sustainably.

Nur Halik Creating social media content is something Nur has been doing professionally for 12 years, and 'unprofessionally' for 20 years ever since she first opened up a Facebook account at 18 years of age. It's fair to say that if anyone is a social media nerd, it's her.

Nur started fempowered social in 2020 (known as fempowered communications back then) after finding herself unemployed following the end of her maternity leave. Recognising the gap in affordable yet quality digital marketing services for female business owners, she decided to offer her services full-time and hasn't looked back since.

She has worked in PR & Communications since 2007, predominantly in government with a brief flirtation in arts and tourism. She specialises in working with regional businesses and although she has a corporate background - her approach is anything but! Her mission is to put the 'social' back into social media, focusing on building genuine connections between businesses and their customers, through authentic content that goes beyond aesthetics and vanity metrics.

Access:

The venue is wheelchair accessible. Please email the business team at business@surfcoast.vic.gov.au if you require additional support to attend this workshop.