Gareth Richards bridging the gap between outdoor industry professionals, brands and specialty retailers

Episode 169 May 28, 2021 00:46:31
Gareth Richards bridging the gap between outdoor industry professionals,  brands and specialty retailers
Channel Mastery
Gareth Richards bridging the gap between outdoor industry professionals, brands and specialty retailers

May 28 2021 | 00:46:31

/

Hosted By

Kristin Carpenter

Show Notes

Episode Highlights:

Description:

For specialty brands and businesses, referrals and recommendations from industry pros are a make it or break it tool and ultimately, a channel in and of itself. I invited Gareth Richards, CEO of Outdoor Prolink on the podcast for this episode to offer insight into the Outdoor Prolink membership, and how the members continue to drive the relationship between brands, specialty retail stores and consumers. 

Outdoor Prolink was created to connect outdoor industry professionals directly with brands. Through a handbuilt approach for accepting applicants and monitoring members, they’ve grown immensely over the years and now have a database of over 130,000 industry professionals. They have never wavered from their original business model and still require proof of employment and annual verification to continue membership.

Influencer marketing has existed since the dawn of time, though it hasn’t always been known as it is today. Guides, along with specialty retail associates, were the original influencers offering advice for newcomers in the sport on which gear and equipment they used and put full trust in to keep them safe. What Outdoor Prolink does is continue to build the relationship between brands and outdoor industry professionals through a tech driven platform, which eventually drives consumers to independently owned retailers. 

With a quickly changing landscape, brands and retailers should be focused on consumer centricity now more than ever. The members of Outdoor Prolink offering third-party testimonials continue to drive consumers directly to retail and master their channel.

Gareth Richards is CEO and owner of Outdoor ProLink. He has a demonstrated history of working in the sporting goods industry and is skilled in retail, sales, event management, team building, and sporting goods. He is a strong business development professional with a MA focused in Experiential Education from University of Colorado at Boulder.

Other Episodes

Episode 112

December 03, 2019 00:47:27
Episode Cover

112: Frank Ledwell, Publisher + Editor-in-Chief, Outdoorx4

I’ve got a great guest to share with you on this episode of the Channel Mastery podcast; you’re going to meet Frank Ledwell, founder,...

Listen

Episode 180

February 04, 2022 00:29:56
Episode Cover

Scott Buelter, Ascent 360

Description: We’re humbled to welcome back to the show, Scott Buelter, CEO of Ascent360 - a data-driven marketing platform that has grown tremendously in...

Listen

Episode 144

August 26, 2020 00:42:55
Episode Cover

Roy Steves, Co-founder of StatBid

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...

Listen