Backcountry Marketing

Hosted by Port Side

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Episodes

243

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Aug 2026

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About the show

Go behind-the-scenes with outdoor industry experts as they break down what it takes to produce creative work that works. Produced by: Port Side

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60 recent

August 19, 2026Episode 2431 hr 14 min

Bold Creative Is a Growth Strategy

Creative is often treated as an expense. Joe Prebich, the VP of Benchmade Knife Company, believes the best creative can become one of a brand's most valuable growth assets. In this episode, Joe shares lessons from his time at Red Bull and Benchmade about why bold ideas matter, how great content can create distribution and long-term brand loyalty, and why much of the outdoor industry has become too safe. We also explore the importance of having a strong point of view, why brands need to make real choices to stand out, how Benchmade thinks differently about organic and paid content, and why getting closer to the customer still matters more than another audience persona buried in a PowerPoint. About: This podcast is produced by Port Side , a creative agency that helps outdoor brands build relevance, recognition, and attention. Enjoy this episode and discover other resources below: Support Us | We've been bootstrapping this for 6 years. Help us keep this going Relevance Project | We're building three brands in public. Follow along Email List | Follow along and join our email list Slack Community | Tired of brainstorming with ChatGPT? Join us! LinkedIn | Connect with Cole

August 12, 2026Episode 24232 min

Can Organic Content Drive Business Growth? | Episode 1

In the first episode of the Relevance Project, Cole sits down with the teams at SkyGOAT, Kitworks, and Loon'r to understand where each brand is starting, what they want organic content to accomplish, and how they'll measure progress along the way. The conversations reveal a shared challenge. The brands have audiences, products, and stories worth telling, but they haven't yet built a consistent organic content system that creates engagement, strengthens the brand, and continues working even when paid media is turned off. This episode goes behind the scenes of establishing those benchmarks and introduces the larger experiment ahead: developing content that leads with value, earns attention, and *might* create a more durable path to growth. About: This podcast is produced by Port Side , a creative agency that helps outdoor brands build relevance, recognition, and attention. Enjoy this episode and discover other resources below: Relevance Project | We're building three brands in public. Follow along Email List | Follow along as we build in public by joining our email list Slack Community | Tired of brainstorming with ChatGPT? Join us! Insight Deck | Want 20 of our favorite insights shared on the show? LinkedIn | Join the conversation and share ideas with other industry peers. Apple Podcast | Want to help us out? Leave us a review on Apple. Guest List | Have a Guest in Mind? Share them with us here.

August 5, 2026Episode 24142 min

How Brands Grow According to Research

Professor Jenni Romaniuk, Research Professor and Associate Director at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, Adelaide University, breaks down the science behind how brands are remembered. We explore why memory is at the heart of effective marketing, why only a small percentage of buyers are in-market at any given time, and what marketers should be doing to build future demand. Jenni explains the concepts of mental availability, category entry points, and distinctive assets, and why they're some of the strongest predictors of long-term brand growth. We also discuss why so much advertising goes unnoticed, how outdoor brands can escape the sea of sameness, and why marketers should stop trying to communicate everything at once and instead focus on leaving behind one useful memory. About: This podcast is produced by Port Side . We help outdoor brands grow by building a content engine. Want to learn more about how we can help? Enjoy this episode and discover other resources below: Relevance Project | We're building three brands in public. Follow along Email List | Follow along as we build in public by joining our email list Slack Community | Tired of brainstorming with ChatGPT? Join us! Insight Deck | Want 20 of our favorite insights shared on the show? LinkedIn | Join the conversation and share ideas with other industry peers. Apple Podcast | Want to help us out? Leave us a review on Apple. Guest List | Have a Guest in Mind? Share them with us here.

July 22, 2026Episode 24017 min

The Forces Reshaping Marketing | The Relevance Project

Cole shares the thinking behind The Relevance Project and why he believes relevance has become one of the most important competitive advantages available to brands today. The goal of marketing hasn't changed, but the landscape and tools have. Attention is becoming scarcer, paid media is becoming more expensive, audiences have more control over what they consume than ever before, and brands now have access to free distribution at a scale that was unimaginable just a decade ago. The challenge? Most brands are still operating as if nothing has changed. About: This podcast is produced by Port Side , a content strategy studio that helps outdoor brands become relevant, recognized, and build an audience. Want to learn more about how we can help? Enjoy this episode and discover other resources below: Relevance Project | We're building three brands in public. Follow along Email List | Follow along as we build in public by joining our email list Slack Community | Tired of brainstorming with ChatGPT? Join us! Insight Deck | Want 20 of our favorite insights shared on the show? LinkedIn | Join the conversation and share ideas with other industry peers. Apple Podcast | Want to help us out? Leave us a review on Apple. Guest List | Have a Guest in Mind? Share them with us here.

July 15, 2026Episode 2394 min

Meet the Three Brands | The Relevance Project

After reviewing 19 brand applications, Port Side has selected three brands to work with: Kitworks , loon'r , and SkyGOAT . The Relevance Project is a public experiment exploring whether outdoor brands can become more relevant, recognizable, and memorable by creating audience-first content that builds attention, trust, and long-term demand. About: This podcast is produced by Port Side , a content strategy studio that helps outdoor brands become relevant, recognized, and build an audience. Want to learn more about how we can help? Enjoy this episode and discover other resources below: Relevance Project | We're building three brands in public. Email List | Follow along as we build in public by joining our email list Slack Community | Tired of brainstorming with ChatGPT? Join us! Insight Deck | Want 20 of our favorite insights shared on the show? LinkedIn | Join the conversation and share ideas with other industry peers. Apple Podcast | Want to help us out? Leave us a review on Apple. Guest List | Have a Guest in Mind? Share them with us here.

July 1, 2026Episode 2381 hr 4 min

Marketing Sucks | Andy Pearson from Liquid Death

Andy Pearson , VP of Creative at Liquid Death, explains why brands should stop thinking like advertisers and start thinking like entertainers. We dive into how Liquid Death built one of the largest organic audiences without relying on paid media, why humor is an underrated marketing tool, and why the best brands behave more like memorable characters than carefully managed style guides. We also pressure test some of the ideas behind The Relevance Project, discussing audience building, paid media, share of voice, and why Liquid Death doesn't have a brand book. About: This podcast is produced by Port Side , a content strategy + production studio that helps outdoor brands become relevant, recognized, and build an audience. Want to learn more about how we can help? Enjoy this episode and discover other resources below: Relevance Project | We're building three brands in public. Follow along Slack Community | Tired of brainstorming with ChatGPT? Join us! Insight Deck | Want 20 of our favorite insights shared on the show? LinkedIn | Connect with Cole Apple Podcast | Want to help us out? Leave us a review on Apple. Guest List | Have a Guest in Mind? Share them with us here.

June 17, 2026Episode 2377 min

15 Brands Have Applied | The Relevance Project

The Relevance Project is underway! 15 brands have applied to be considered. If you want to apply, reach out to us and submit your application by June 26th. About: This podcast is produced by Port Side , a content strategy studio that helps outdoor brands become relevant, recognized, and build an audience. Want to learn more about how we can help? Enjoy this episode and discover other resources below: Slack Community | Tired of brainstorming with ChatGPT? Join us! Insight Deck | Want 20 of our favorite insights shared on the show? LinkedIn | Join the conversation and share ideas with other industry peers. Apple Podcast | Want to help us out? Leave us a review on Apple. Guest List | Have a Guest in Mind? Share them with us here.

June 10, 2026Episode 2365 min

Let's Build in Public | The Organic Content Experiment

In this solo episode, Cole shares why he believes many outdoor brands already possess something unique beneath the surface, but struggle to translate that uniqueness into content that earns attention, builds an audience, and drives business results. Cole also announces a public experiment: We're looking for one outdoor brand willing to partner with Port Side to test these ideas in real time. Together, we'll document the process, share the wins and failures publicly, and explore what it actually takes to build relevance and an audience through organic content. About: This podcast is produced by Port Side , a content strategy studio that helps outdoor brands become relevant, recognized, and build an audience. Want to learn more about how we can help? Enjoy this episode and discover other resources below: Slack Community | Tired of brainstorming with ChatGPT? Join us! Insight Deck | Want 20 of our favorite insights shared on the show? LinkedIn | Join the conversation and share ideas with other industry peers. Apple Podcast | Want to help us out? Leave us a review on Apple. Guest List | Have a Guest in Mind? Share them with us here.

June 1, 2026Episode 23542 min

Why Outdoor Brands Still Get Social Wrong | Former Head of Social at Columbia

Laura Jastram-Wrend joins Cole live at the HikeExpo to discuss what most outdoor brands are still getting wrong about the power of social. Laura breaks down why social should no longer be treated like an afterthought, how creator ecosystems outperform one-off influencer activations, and why "edutainment" is the new standard for outdoor content. About: This podcast is produced by Port Side , a creative production studio creating content strategy + production for outdoor brands, rooted in emotion. Want to learn more about how we can help? Enjoy this episode and discover other resources below: Slack Community | Tired of brainstorming with ChatGPT? Join us! Insight Deck | Want 20 of our favorite insights shared on the show? LinkedIn | Join the conversation and share ideas with other industry peers. Apple Podcast | Want to help us out? Leave us a review on Apple. Guest List | Have a Guest in Mind? Share them with us here.

May 20, 2026Episode 2346 min

Save $10,000 a Month With Organic

Cole hit the floor at the HikeExpo to interview founders about the reality of running social at a small brand. Is there an alternative to spending $10,000 a month on paid ads in a small business where cash flow is critical?