I’ve got a bit of a sweet tooth.
And of aaaaall the sweet treats available, ice cream is by far my biggest weakness.
In fact, the first podcast I ever hosted was called Rain City Scoop, a show I created with two friends where we explored Vancouver’s craft ice cream scene one episode at a time.
In the process of creating the podcast we visited well over a dozen local shops.
Each and every one of them had fantastic ice cream, often with quirky and original flavour combinations and presentations.
But while it was hard to differentiate between them on pure quality, when it came to success as a business, there was a clear, standout winner.
That winner was (and still is) Earnest Ice Cream.
Over the past few years, Earnest has expanded from a single tricycle serving home-made ice cream at farmers markets into a thriving business with multiple storefront shops all over the city, and has claimed it’s place as a staple of the Vancouver food scene.
Here’s where it gets interesting, though.
It turns out, the playbook Earnest used to grow their ice cream business is the exact same one you can use to grow your podcast.
Here’s how Earnest did it.
- While you can grab a scoop (or three) of Earnest Ice Cream at any of their four locations, you can also find their prepackaged pints at literally dozens of other spots around the city.
- These include hipster coffee and artisanal donut shops, craft breweries, wood-fired pizzerias, and many, many more.
In podcasting terms, you might say Earnest has a fantastic distribution strategy for their ice cream.
The majority of this distribution is driven by well-executed strategic collaborations.
It’s not uncommon to see an Earnest Ice Cream flavour that’s been created in collaboration with one of their partners.
I’ve personally seen (and consumed) local donut, coffee, and beer-infused creations, all of which have been delicious, and all of which have served as advertising for those other businesses.
Most of those other businesses, I’ve then ended up visiting after first coming across them in my ice cream.
And while you can find Earnest’s ice cream in the coolers of many of their partners’ shops, you can also often find their partners’ products in Earnest’s.
The result is pretty simple.
Win for Earnest who get fantastic distribution of their product.
Win for their partners who get free advertising & additional distribution of their own.
Win for all of their customers who are exposed to great new shops they’re highly likely to enjoy.
These types of Win-Win-Win collaborations have helped make Earnest Ice Cream a ubiquitous presence in Vancouver.
And you can use the strategy to achieve the same for your podcast in your niche.
3 Steps to Win-Win-Win Podcast Collaborations
- Step 1: Identify other podcasts and creators whose content overlaps with your audience.
- Step 2: Send them a straightforward pitch outlining what you’re thinking and why it will be a win for them.
- Step 3: Hash out the details, execute, and repeat.
Don’t overthink this.
If the collaboration idea is truly a win-win-win scenario, you shouldn’t need to do much convincing.
When the value is clear to everyone involved, collaborations can become an almost effortless part of your ongoing marketing strategy.
And I don’t know about you, but “almost effortless” is exactly the type of marketing I want to be building my strategy around.
