Channel Mastery - Ep. 171: Stephen Regenold, VP of Strategy at Lola Digital Media

Lola Digital Media

**stephen regenold, vp of strategy at lola digital media**

“I hope in six months from now, it’s just much more clean experience for anybody that is looking to learn about gear and potentially buy something. That’s where the push seems to be going. And I think just getting those search results served you that are both relevant and trustworthy and engaging. That’s kind of the best scenario.”
- Stephen Regenold

show highlights

Vice President of Strategy, Stephen Regenold is focused on continuing to connect with Lola Digital Media’s and AllGear’s consumer through authentic content
Lola Digital Media recently acquired a number of sites. Hear what’s on the horizon next for the network of sites.
With an emphasis on authentic content, journalistic integrity and honesty, Lola Digital Media continues to be the reliable source for today’s evolving consumer

episode preview

It doesn’t matter what channel you, as a consumer, buy from or engage on - it all starts with trust. The entire universe has been built on relationships and reciprocity and my guest and longtime friend, Stephen Regenold with AllGear and Lola Digital Media lives and breathes this. He is the absolute caretaker for the focal consumer and works to grow the trust of that beloved consumer. As brands, we are responsible for giving the consumer what they need and empowering them to buy where they want to buy, maybe even more so than we were prior to COVID.

On this episode of Channel Mastery, Stephen shares how they are further fostering customer and brand relationships through the development of a new network of sites. With the ever-changing algorithms and data shifts, it’s nearly impossible to keep up, but what Stephen and his team at Lola Digital Media and AllGear are focused on is continuing to put a majority of their efforts into the heart and soul of true research, journalism and writing that leads to authentic content.

I have been lucky enough to call Stephen my friend for nearly two decades now and love hearing how he’s continuing to further media through the creation of authentic content and always staying closely connected to that North Star we’re always talking about - our consumers.

featuring

Stephen Regenold

Stephen Regenold is the Founder of GearJunkie, a publication covering the outdoors and active lifestyle categories with millions of monthly readers. GearJunkie was acquired by Lola Digital Media in April 2020, and Regenold now serves as VP of Strategy with the startup company building a new network, AllGear. Regenold is a journalist by training and former writer for the New York Times. A climber, skier, and ultra-endurance athlete, Regenold launched GearJunkie in 2002 as a nationally syndicated newspaper column. He lives in Minnesota with his wife, Tara, and their five children.

topics covered

AllGear, GearJunkie, Lola Digital Media acquisitions, Stephen Regenold, Authentic Content, Content Creators, Shifts in Algorithms

select quotes

“Well, the branded content and content commerce...I guess I would look at it in two different ways, but with both, it just comes down to - is it authentic, good, relevant information that a reader wants to look at and engage with? And if it's not, that's just, kind of the table stakes, right?”
“That's our lens. I certainly don't want to speak for Google, but it seems like we really saw that the good, again, like more human type content with original photography of people in the field, testing gear, first person, verbiage, anecdotes, advice like you would give to a friend, you know, that, that kind of style essentially what a reader wants to see when he, or she looks for the best tent for camping with family, they want to get like a great, easy to read clean article, which tells them objectively what to do or, or, you know, maybe with some, I should say subjectively what to do as in giving honest opinions on what products and what gear to pick.”
“I hope in six months from now, it's just much more clean experience for anybody that is looking to learn about gear and potentially buy something. That's where the push seems to be going. And I think just getting those search results served you that are both relevant and trustworthy and engaging. That's kind of the best scenario.”
“We're trying to kind of balance how much should we diversify versus how much should we build kind of sister sites and something like a Switchback Travel and a GearJunkie. There's a lot of overlap, but it doesn't mean that we can land in kind of the, the top of the search for both for best hiking boots. If Switchback gets positioned one and GearJunkie gets position two, that's amazing. Um, or we can diversify and maybe go into say, you know, the triathlon space or something a little more adjacent.”
“So we've been talking about products and content commerce all day, but we certainly, every week are publishing a, you know, 10+ articles on personality profiles and adventure stories and trends and sort of breaking news in our space. So we're not going to forget about that kind of journalistic direction, especially with some of the sites like Gear Junkie, cause it's just, it's how you stay relevant with your audience. And it's how, you know, a reader comes to identify with you and it becomes a part of your community and trusts use that when you do then write about best camping tents, you kind of have that, you know, you have that foot in the door with this consumer who knows you and trusts you.”