As we’re in the year of pivoting, quickly shifting consumer behaviors and uncertainty, I thought my guests today from the Springs Wealth Group would be great to feature on the show, which is our first official “Cross Training” episode, a new type of show we’ll be hosting every other month or so. In this series, we get to learn from specialty brands that are not retail or physical product related. No matter what kind of business you have, your customer is online today and we all need to be re-exa...
Sep 03, 2020•49 min•Season 4Ep. 145
Channel Masters are very entrepreneurial in how they think and approach problem solving. In fact, when they have a problem they can’t find solutions for, they build the solutions themselves. That scrappy approach is what makes us inherently nimble. Roy Steves, my guest on today’s episode, is one scrappy problem-solver, and his client base is grateful for that. In this episode, you’ll hear right from the beginning - the founder’s story of Roy’s company Statbid, that he ushered in a new approach t...
Aug 26, 2020•43 min•Season 4Ep. 144
For the past five-plus months, through the COVID pandemic, recession and also, the social unrest that’s become part of our day-to-day lives as we shepherd our businesses, we’ve been talking around the importance of connecting your brand to a cause. Today, we start a series on Channel Mastery about how to take action on that super important goal. Connecting your specialty brand with social justice, social impact or a cause is not a nice-to-consider any longer - it’s a must do. No matter how you r...
Aug 19, 2020•33 min•Season 4Ep. 143
This Channel Mastery episode originally aired as a live webcast produced by Outdoor Retailer in late June 2020. The webcast, The Weekly Chat , is an extension of The Weekly , a digital magazine for Outdoor Retailer. It launched in the face of the pandemic and economic shutdown and was very well attended by Outdoor Retailer’s audience. Channel Mastery host, Kristin Carpenter, was asked to appear on the show with Doug Schnitzpahn to discuss the battle for trust, and engagement, and how more tradit...
Aug 13, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Season 4Ep. 142
Though it’s still a few months away, the Winter 20/21 season will be here before we know it. Specialty businesses and brand leaders are in the throes of preparing for business with new best practices in the COVID-era. On this episode of the Channel Mastery podcast, I sat down with Wintersteiger’s Sales Director for Consumer Products, Ryan Eittreim. Wintersteiger is the leader in service and rental solutions for the ski and snowboard industry. Ryan’s led a super interesting initiative that Winter...
Aug 05, 2020•39 min•Season 4Ep. 141
We’re on the verge of August, 2020, which marks a shift into a new selling season, a kick-off into a key planning window for the coming year, and also, puts Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Holiday on the near horizon. Episode 140 is the start of our brand-new season of the Channel Mastery podcast. David Howell is managing partner and founder of Howell & Associates. He has helped hundreds of fortune 500 and specialty brands with selling online, keeping brand and pricing parity and offers valua...
Jul 27, 2020•54 min•Season 4Ep. 140
The Pro’s Closet continues to revolutionize the way people buy bikes. The company offers a very innovative channel strategy that enables consumers to buy used bikes easily online. They build trust with their 141-point inspection process and keep cyclists in their ecosystem with an easy to join and engage with approach where a cyclist is offered the option to trade in a bike and get a new one every year. They’re a retailer of all bike brands, have an incredible bike museum, and are amassing an in...
Jun 30, 2020•34 min•Season 3Ep. 139
While consumer behaviors continue to shift, one trend is here to stay: Our consumer is just plain comfortable being online now, for the entire decision and purchase journey. And with that, the battle for their attention is at an all-time high. Today’s guest is like a secret weapon for specialty brands struggling to engage and serve their target consumers. Kelly Ramirez is the founder and Chief Growth Officer of Prismatic, a Bozeman, Montana-based specialty brand growth agency. She has a backgrou...
Jun 18, 2020•43 min•Season 3Ep. 138
This episode of the Channel Mastery podcast was originally recorded as a webinar on April 30, 2020 as part of the Snowsports Industries of America Town Hall Thursday series, and can also be found on their COVID-19 hub . Since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, it’s an understatement to say that we have seen massive shifts in consumer trends, especially in the outdoor active lifestyle spaces. Speaking on the topic with me are Ryan Atkinson of Smartetailing and Ben Barenholtz of Quivers. Bot...
Jun 11, 2020•1 hr 28 min•Season 3Ep. 137
With the continued pandemic and some of the U.S. in the beginning phases of reopening store fronts and other businesses, I was so looking forward to speaking with my guest on today’s podcast. Jennifer Tetrick, Director of PR and Communications at Decathlon is a returning guest today on this episode of the podcast. She joined us last April for Episode 84 when Decathlon, now in 70 countries globally, had just opened a store near Oakland, Calif. As we begin to reopen here in the United States, Deca...
May 22, 2020•34 min•Season 3Ep. 136
Outdoor recreation will be a healer for all of us post pandemic and through the recovery of the recession. Taxa Outdoors is a revered client partner of Verde Brand Communications, the presenting sponsor of the Channel Mastery podcast, and I had the honor of interviewing CEO and founder of Taxa Outdoors, Garrett Finney, on the podcast today. So what is Taxa Outdoors and why do they make mobile human habitats built for adventuring? And why do they have only four products named after insects? The M...
May 21, 2020•47 min•Season 3Ep. 135
“The consumer is the channel,” said Mike Massey of Locally. He’s absolutely right, and with COVID-19 creating new consumer behavior dynamics weekly, it’s even more true. Channel Mastery was launched three years ago this month to enable specialty brand and business leaders to know what’s working best, and what’s not, with consumer behavior. A big part of that is how we are serving them with both product and content through a perfect overlay of channels behind the scenes. All they want is to have ...
May 08, 2020•26 min•Season 3Ep. 134
Imagine you’re sitting with your team at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, in one of the early and most active hot spots, Seattle, Wash. You lead a manufacturing team at a 39-year-old outdoor apparel and gear company that’s been a U.S. manufacturer for the entirety of your brand history. You all know there’s a bigger role to play. Within an instant, you all agree to go forward and go big to serve in the COVID-19 crisis. In this instant, the reality of pivoting to become a manufacturer of FDA-c...
May 05, 2020•28 min•Season 3Ep. 133
This episode is the second installment following the panel I led for Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) and the Snowsports Industries of America (SIA) focusing on manufacturers pivoting to produce Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The full webinar took place on April 13th with leaders from Outdoor Research, Chaco, DPS Skis, and the Office of Outdoor Recreation for the State of North Carolina. Lyndi Bell, Chaco’s Consumer Experience Marketing Director, is the first interview in this double-hea...
Apr 27, 2020•46 min•Season 3Ep. 132
In the crisis, innovation and deep meaning continue to emerge. And I’m honored to be able to facilitate conversations that are fueling collaboration and forward progress in our communities. I led a panel for the Outdoor Industry Association and the Snowsports Industries of America focusing on manufacturers pivoting to Personal Protective Equipment, to meet the insanely huge demand for front-line health-care professionals. We had a huge amount of interest. Here’s the replay of the panel webinar t...
Apr 23, 2020•39 min•Season 3Ep. 131
This episode is Part II of a series on Consumer Psychology through the Coronavirus crisis and beyond. It is in connection with Channel Mastery Episode #128 and along with that show, was recorded on Facebook Live. In the first of the series, I offered a foundation to consider to better understand where consumer behavior might be going. I shared research with you that considered how we are wired as humans to survive things like pandemics. I presented these mechanisms and matched them with the coro...
Apr 19, 2020•30 min•Season 3Ep. 130
I don’t know about you, but I’m very ready to talk about something other than COVID-19. My friend Jayson O’Mahoney, founder and publisher of Gravel Cyclist , offered to do his very first podcast interview with me. So, we’re offering that to you as a respite from the pandemic and ensuing recession. I’m also pretty bummed that I haven’t been able to be with my people - the gravel cycling community - due to the change in dates of the Belgium Waffle Ride (BWR) and most recently, the Dirty Kanza . Ja...
Apr 16, 2020•44 min•Season 3Ep. 129
NOTE : This episode originally aired as a Facebook Live on Thursday, April 2nd, 2020. We study consumer behavior a lot in this community. It’s without a doubt one of the absolute core areas of focus for any Channel Master. Because of that, I’ve been asked repeatedly what my take is on how the pandemic will affect consumer behavior. In this episode, I’m laying the groundwork for our forthcoming work around this, Channel Masters. Yes, today we take our first swing at how a ‘typical’ consumer reces...
Apr 05, 2020•31 min•Season 3Ep. 128
Please note - this episode was recorded in early March 2020. Since the recording of this episode, the store has released the following information: they have shifted their water services to outside only and the station is sanitized in between each use. Their inventory is available online for shipping or pickup at store and customers are no longer admitted inside the store. Staff is located at the door for pick up and shopping needs. Credit cards and cash is being sanitized and disinfectant wipes...
Mar 31, 2020•50 min•Season 3Ep. 127
This episode of the Channel Mastery podcast offes another installment of the series for effectively communicating as a specialty business during the Coronavirus crisis. It was recorded live on Facebook Live on Monday, March 23, 2020 and is available on that platform as well. The message of this broadcast focuses on taking steps forward and the paradigm shift that is happening right now as we continue to learn how to navigate through these difficult times. Two weeks ago, we were seeing people in ...
Mar 26, 2020•26 min•Season 3Ep. 126
Kristin Carpenter, host of the Channel Mastery podcast and CEO/Founder of Verde Brand Communications, is offering a second episode with current best practices (as in for today, 3-17-20), for specialty brands communicating in the throes of the novel coronavirus. We continue to get new information daily and a lot has changed since we were last together, just six days ago, when we released the first of the Channel Mastery episodes focused around COVID-19. In this episode you’ll get comfortable with...
Mar 14, 2020•20 min•Season 3Ep. 125
In this episode of the Channel Mastery podcast, I’m sharing a brand-new framework that the Verde Brand Communications team and I created for our roster of specialty brands to support crisis communications for the COVID-19 virus crisis. We wanted to share this with you, Channel Masters, because we strongly share a collective opinion that specialty brands must take a communications strategy that’s, well, specialized. And in this podcast, I explain what that means and why it’s important, and offer ...
Mar 07, 2020•24 min•Season 3Ep. 124
It wasn’t long ago that the only thing we knew about Bentonville was that it was home to Walmart’s headquarters. Now in 2020, this small Arkansas town has made a name for itself in the cycling community and is continuing to grow by the day - literally. The town welcomes an average of 34 people moving to the area every day! Aimee Ross, Director of Bike Bentonville, is my guest on this episode and shares how collaboration is key. By structuring Bike Bentonville under the city’s tourism bureau, Vis...
Mar 03, 2020•53 min•Season 3Ep. 123
Tyler Benedict, founder and publisher of Bikerumor.com, is my guest this week on Channel Mastery. Eleven-plus years ago, Tyler started Bikerumor.com and during that time, he's seen a lot of evolution in terms of how consumers use and share his content, and how his site factors into the consumer decision journey. In this episode, Tyler gives his well informed take on what's working, and what's not, with endemic content today. You'll learn how his team approaches and optimizes content across multi...
Feb 25, 2020•50 min•Season 3Ep. 122
This episode of Channel Mastery is quite different than our usual episodes, but I was so impressed with the program my guest leads for Texas Tech University that I wanted to share it with all of you. Jerod Foster is an Associate Professor of Practice in the Department of Journalism and Creative Media Industries at Texas Tech University. He’s also an editorial commercial photographer focusing on outdoor and conservation. Foster, along with a team of Professor’s of Practice, lead an adventure medi...
Feb 20, 2020•43 min•Season 3Ep. 121
It’s solocast time, Channel Masters! In this show, we’re going to deep dive on three things you need to know for 2020 when it comes to successfully serving today’s connected shopper. An entirely new decade is here and in just the first month of that decade, Amazon, Starbucks, Anthropologie, Target and Nordstroms have all announced new retail and brand experience concepts. Keep in mind, Channel Mastery does not advocate that you stop what you’re doing and shift tactics to respond to what the majo...
Feb 12, 2020•32 min•Season 3Ep. 120
My guest today, Rick Saez, is host of The Outdoor Biz Podcast, and the author of a new book entitled, Trails to the Top: Outdoor Adventure Insider Stories and Advice to Manage Business and Grow Careers , which took form using the content from his first 65 episodes podcast episodes. Obviously, I’m a huge proponent of podcasts as a messaging, discovery, engagement and even conversion channel for consumers today. That’s become Rick’s specialty - helping brands use podcasts to do just that. In this ...
Feb 04, 2020•29 min•Season 3Ep. 119
Machines for Freedom Founder, Jennifer Kriske is my guest today on this episode of the Channel Mastery podcast. Kriske discovered cycling, like so many of us do, when she was working a job that entailed super long-hours, where she was always on. Cycling gave her the window to shut off work and re-invigorate. She was a beginner cyclist, and that gave her a very clear view into the experience - meaning, there wasn’t anyone telling her what she should, or should not do. She noticed that she was not...
Jan 28, 2020•44 min•Season 3Ep. 118
I had the opportunity to sit down with Sutton Bacon and Darren Bush, the founders of Paddlesports Retailer and now, the Big Gear Show . This episode is co-produced by Verde Brand Communications , the leading source of multi-channel specialty brand communications, and SNEWS , the source for outdoor active lifestyle industry news. This show is positioned for “Main Street, not Wall Street,” and invites hardgoods manufacturers (no apparel), from outdoor, bike and paddlesports for the first time ever...
Jan 21, 2020•53 min•Season 3Ep. 117
My guest today is a well-known thought leader in the evolution of retail, more specifically, marketplaces. In this episode, you’ll meet Kiri Masters, the Founder of Bobsled Marketing, The Marketplace Institute and a Forbes contributor. As Amazon continues to change on a monthly, weekly (and sometimes daily) basis, it is Kiri’s mission to help specialty brands and businesses navigate the Amazon marketplace. Kiri began her Amazon quest in the early days of the platform in 2012/2013. Needless to sa...
Jan 13, 2020•37 min•Season 3Ep. 116
